Not just another New Year’s Eve

Once upon a time I spent New Year’s Eve in hotels.  It began at the Top of the Hilton until that midnight when someone, not my husband, kissed me on the lips, and it turned out to be the maître d’.  He joined the bustling crowd of kissers and kissed me. That ended the Top of the Hilton New Year’s Eves.

When I was 32 we were at The Manila Hotel. My relationship then felt like something endangered. Shortly after midnight I got a severe headache and went to sleep. That was the last of my hotel New Year’s Eve celebrations. After that my life became much simpler.

I don’t have any more memorable New Year’s Eves. Like any other night I have dinner at around 6 p.m. Play computer games afterward. Then settle in with a book and read until I get sleepy. Then I go to sleep. Firecrackers aren’t intrusive where I live so the year passes very quietly.

This New Year’s Eve at around five in the afternoon I was at my computer solving a jigsaw puzzle. My phone rang. It was my friend, Linda, asking what I was doing that night. Nothing, I said. Read then sleep as usual.  

“You know I have reservations at The Peninsula Manila for me, my daughter Christina, and my son and his wife,” she said. â€œBut my daughter-in-law is sick and my son needs to take care of her. So why don’t you come with us?” 

“Okay,” I said. But feared I had nothing to wear. I rummaged through my closet. Those leggings with silver studs at the side. The blouse I bought in Kuala Lumpur also with silver studs. Then I remembered. I had fixed my closet recently and come across a stole that I had bought from Inno Sotto 24 years ago. It is beautiful, beaded with silver and gold beads on black chiffon. I tossed that over my shoulders, wore one of my Trickle earrings in gold and thought I looked stunning enough. 

The Peninsula’s lobby was all dressed up for its theme: The Great Gatsby, the movie that refuses to die. They made a new one with Leonardo DiCaprio playing the lead role, the role Robert Redford played in my day. Up in the high ceiling thousands of white balloons were held up in nets to be released at midnight.  In the middle of the lobby were gigantic vases with white flowers bordering the dance floor. There were sparkly things in hoops hanging from the ceiling. The color scheme was white and gold. Our reservation was in Escolta and as we walked there I read the names of the people who had reserved and didn’t see anyone I knew.

We ate and talked and laughed.  I had wine, lobsters, crabs, oysters, shrimp, sushi, roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, roast duck rolls, a little lechon. They had some of that plus salads and ice cream. We ran into a classmate at jewelry class who was in the table behind us with her family. 

I looked around and assessed that most people were bored. Yes, they were at The Pen and dressed to the nines but most of the men were either at their cell phones or staring into space. At the tables that had older children, the mother was preoccupied with them, fixing their gold hats, fussing with their behavior, then taking their pictures with their cell phones.  What would people do without their cell phones?

At 11:30 p.m. Escolta was closing so we went to join the people in the lobby. That place was jumping. Most of the tables were empty; people had gone to dance. We stood next to the wall watching. At the table in front of us was a lone woman texting. I watched her. She was sort of involved in a text conversation, sweet longing smiles flashed across her face when she received a reply. 

“How much you want to bet she’s texting her married lover,” I told Linda.

“How would you know?” Linda asked.

“It’s her manner,” I said. But then that is my main preoccupation. I love to go out and watch people and invent stories about them. She was alone. She was probably in her 30s. If she had a single boyfriend he certainly would be with her on New Year’s Eve because he would be older than she. 

But it was noisy. It was midnight. The music was loud. The balloons came down. I couldn’t see if people were kissing on the dance floor. Kissing at midnight was the thing to do in my time. From where we stood it looked like taking pictures was the thing to do at midnight.

Actually I did enjoy myself just getting dressed, watching people, and making up stories. I had fun! Next year, when you make reservations, ask me. I may want to go with you again, I told Linda.