All's quiet after a noisy night.

On New Year’s Eve, the city of Carbonia in Sardinia sounds a little like a war zone. Explosions galore. Fireworks lighting up the sky. Far more revelry than I’ve experienced in the USA. We Americans are more sedate in welcoming in the new year. I don’t know why folks in Carbonia feel they have to celebrate in such raucous manner. I’m puzzled. Maybe they’ve perceived 2011 as a bad year. And they wanna say good riddance. I’m told that much the same goes on all over Italy. And that it’s been that way for a long, long time. Every New Year’s Eve, at least one or two Italians kill themselves with explosives. Just for the sake of making a big bang. They take all sorts of risks. Fortunately, nobody was killed in Carbonia. But I’d be surprised if there weren’t a fire or two. From all the fireworks. Anyway, now I’m amazed that all is so very quiet on New Year’s Day. I went for a 13-mile walk, and hardly spotted anyone. They must have stayed home. To recover. Businesses were closed. Except for one coffee bar. I suspect it did brisk business. From customers trying to sober up. –Jim Broede