Newer Directions
Monthly Column of Driving Events

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!

I hope everyone enjoyed the Holidays and had a nice New Year!!!
My guess is that it was a quiet, but a nice time! Tim and I celebrated Hanukkah, & Christmas alone with our puppies and brought in the New Year with one other couple at their house.

SO THRILLED TO FINALLY SAY ….BYE BYE 2020!!!!! With very HIGH hopes, I am anticipating some of our driving events may happen in 2021! With that being said, I will be reaching out to previous event organizers and hosts to see if they want tentatively get their event on the calendar.

I do have some exciting news to inform you on…..I received an email from Jim Vondran early this month regarding the Car Care Safety Clinics for 2021. As he mentioned, 2021 is going to “slowly recover” from the restrictions and isolation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, but with an optimistic attitude, Jim has scheduled a Spring Car Care Safety Clinic tentatively on Saturday May 8th and a Fall Car Care Safety Clinic on Saturday, October 9th 2021. I will keep everyone informed as we see where we are at with any progress come this spring. In the meantime, I look forward to keeping a positive outlook and hope to hear from some of you on any clever and original ideas you may have on planning a driving event!!

I would like to present AN HONARABLE MENTION AWARD TO: Doug Clark for an EXTRODINARY JOB he did for our “ZOOM” Holiday party which took place on Saturday December 12nd!!! For those who participated, you know how FUN and entertaining the party was!! Doug hosted an incredible scavenger hunt which entailed MG paraphernalia and other objects one would maybe have in their house. It was extremely clever and we had a lot of MUCH NEEDED Laughs and fun running around our homes trying to gather as many of the items as we could to win the game!!!! (I apologize, I forgot who scored the most points)

He then proceeded to host his version of NAME THAT TUNE, being the concert goer and music enthusiast that he is!! The tunes were from all different eras. We all had a blast guessing the songs he picked to play!! Thank you Doug for putting that event together! IT WAS A FABULOUS gathering and was so wonderful seeing everyone, even if it was just on our computer screens!!!! For those of you who did not make it to the party –
TOO BAD FOR YOU…..YOU MISSED OUT!!!! It was really great fun!!!!!

TIME FOR MY “GIMMICK” for the Pandemic season –
JANUARY FUN FACTS “(my ongoing monthly article filler)”

The name for January comes from the Roman god, Janus, who is always depicted with two heads. He uses one head to look back on the year before, and the other head to look forward into the New Year!

In leap years, January always starts on the same day as April and July.

London is famous for their extensive subway system, nicknamed “The Tube.” This makes sense, because they’re also responsible for opening the first operational underground railway on January 10th, 1863.year for Alaska! As of January 3rd, 1959, Alaska officially

January was a monumental became the 49th state of the United States.

In the United Kingdom, some people practice “Dry January.” This is a movement to encourage people to quit drinking alcohol for the month in order to encourage public health.

One of the most influential events in U.S. happened in January – on January 1st, 1892, Ellis Island opened, allowing for the immigration of over 20 million people!

Finally, Julius Caesar added a 31st day to the month and completed it to the full month of January we practice now!

Be well and stay safe!!!! HERE IS TO 2021!!!!!!!!!!

~~Jamie Schafer