2012 The End of The World or Business as Usual?

2012 The End of the World or Business as Usual?

2012. The Mayan Calendar…Planetary Alignment…Tsunamis, Volcanoes and Earthquakes. The end of the world is nigh! Or is it?

O.K. So you’ve seen the film 2012, you’re mightily convinced we’re doomed and you think it could be curtains for the lot of us. Well look at it this way, if everything Hollywood told us was true, then Pinocchio is now a real boy, 3D cinema doesn’t give you a headache and Ricky Gervais is the funniest man on the planet!

In other words the moral of the story is don’t despair. If you take a quick look around us, it’s reassuring to see who thinks that after the 21st of December 2012 it will be business as usual.

The Future President of the United States of America.

Image via Wikipedia

Yep, that’s right, start at the top. On the 20th January 2013 the future President of the U.S.A. is sworn in at noon. Right now in smoky corridors, leading politicians are planning their assault on probably the most powerful job in the world. Now if they thought the world was going to end in 2012 my guess is they’d probably be on holiday enjoying themselves while they could. Or, be heavily investing in a one-way space trip to the Milky Way.

Brazil

Image via Wikipedia

Ah Brazil, famous for coffee, the samba and the Brazilian love of Soccer.

The last time Brazil was host to the FIFA World Cup was back in 1950 and now sixty-four years later they’ll be doing it again. We’re talking millions of dollars of investment here, thousands of jobs and bucketfuls of national pride. You can guarantee the Brazilians are sure the world isn’t ending in 2012.

New Orleans

Image via Wikipedia

You can’t keep a great city down and New Orleans is hosting the Super Bowl in 2013. The first time since Hurricane Katrina devastated the area back in 2005. Now it’s probably going to feel like the end of the world for the losing team but that’s not exactly devastation on a global scale is it?

 European Capital of Culture

Image via Wikipedia

On January the 1st 2013, Marseille in France (along with Kosice in Slovakia) becomes the European Capital of Culture. Now make of that what you will, but the good people of Marseille are throwing themselves headlong into a frenzy of cultural activity. Exhibitions, workshops, street parties and goodness knows what else will be the order of the day – perhaps they know something that we don’t. After all Nostradamus was French, wasn’t he? 

 And what if it 2012 does finish with a bang?

Image via Wikipedia

Well, spare a thought for the Girl Scouts of U.S.A. It’s their centenary in 2013 and President Obama has recently granted them the honour of having 350,000 silver dollars specially minted for the occasion. Will they ever see the light of day?

And what about poor old Canberra in Australia! On the 12th March 2013 it’ll celebrate its 100th birthday as Australia’s capital. Ouch! That’s got to hurt…so close and yet so far!

The chances are though you’ll start 2013 just as you will in 2012, with loads of fireworks, kissing your loved ones and drinking a bit too much. Apart from that you’ll be a little bit older, a little bit wiser and thankful there’s going to be a brand new day in the morning.