Dec. 31 Ended a Sad Year With a Whimper

Dear Nica Times:

Dec. 31, in many ways, was a perfectly appropriate way to end 2007. In other words, it was a pathetic day to conclude a pathetic year.

The day started with a freak rain shower – quiet uncommon for late December, one month after the end of the rainy season, but appropriate for a freak year that saw record rains and maddening weather.

It didn’t rain hard enough to entirely dampen the day, but was sufficient to wash all the dirt and garbage into the streets to fill the muddy potholes – a fitting year-end tribute to a disastrous municipal government that has failed on most accounts to provide basic services, such as trash pickup, street cleaning and basic road maintenance.

Then, of course, the power went off for six hours in the afternoon to mark the celebration of another year of energy crisis.

So hold on to your hats, folks, cause here comes 2008 in all its splendor! I, for one, will be curious to see just how deep this rabbit hole goes.