A New Year alive with possibility… as all years begin, before they are somehow bogged down with that mundane thing called living.

Bright eyes are soon replaced with the same old jaded ones we used last year.

There are a few bright spots on the horizon: one, the slim possibility of change as we enter election year, and the other that the government of the day might actually be serious about combating corruption.

We are now in post-Madiba South Africa, and what that means will be for the history books to tell.

One certainty is that if the petrol price continues to rise and the rand continues its abysmal performance against other currencies, we are going to be poorer.

Whether that is me looking at the situation with a ‘glass half empty rather than a glass half full’ attitude remains to be seen.

However, from where I am standing, 2014 is going to be a rather hard, tough slog for the average Joe…