As we stumble our way towards the new dawn, when our dreams will become enshrined in a shining dome, we perhaps forget that we have one more obstacle to cross, one more year of the old century to negotiate.

Will this year be portentous? Significant? Or just 365 unremarkable days before we reach the new millennium, and encounter all the disasters, excitements and enchantments that the soothsayers prophesy?

Take heart, I too have consulted the crystal ball, the tea leaves, the tarot cards, and left no stone unturned to let you, Evening Press readers, know what 1999 has in store...

January: Toy makers build a new breed of Furbys, providing a creature that can not only speak and move, but also procreate. The new Furbys come either in pairs, or as pre-impregnated single mothers.

March: After the magnificent display of courage and fighting prowess by our lads against the devilish Saddam and his hordes, Tony Blair orders the building of a new fleet of gun-boats.

July: York City Football Club seek new chairman when current leader Douglas Craig joins the Diplomatic Corps.

September: Julian Cole blames a national shortage of vitriol for his curiously benevolent attitude to the sleaze-ridden Labour government. "We used huge quantities during the Thatcher era," he explained, "and stocks haven't recovered yet."

December: York NSPCA is inundated with unwanted two-month-old baby Furbys as a whip and top craze hits the country, to become the new Christmas 'must have'. Parents queue outside Toys R Us for three days in an effort to get the latest fad.

Happy New Year.

Michael Pritchard,

Eastholme Drive,

York.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.