I spent Christmas Eve at the Conrad Centennial, one of my favourite hotels in Singapore. I think it’s because the general manager, Heinrich Grafe, has been there for longer than the furniture – it shows in the consistency and service standards.

Compare that with The Fullerton which just when everyone thought was in for some stability with Louis Sailer at the helm for the past five years and then, whoops, he’s left and now the staff have to prepare for another change in leadership.

But that’s another story.

Oscar’s, where I had dinner, was packed with mainly local families who can never resist a good value buffet. Champagne was flowing. The manager told me champagne sales were brisk over Christmas. “I think everybody just wants to celebrate after a difficult year,” she said.

A friend of mine, an occupational therapist, also told me she had a busy year end. She didn’t get a break. She was too busy counseling people who came near to nervous breakdowns and work exhaustion from the horribilus year that was 2009.

There was a time in Asian societies when seeing a therapist came with a stigma but in 2009, it became fashionable. “Not tonight, darling. I’ve got therapy.”

So some people opt for therapy, some people go on holidays, some people insist on massage – whatever, I reckon we all needed some form of therapy or other to get us ready for the new year.

So now that we have dusted off 2009, what’s next? It’d really be tempting to go into the new year, full of unbridled hope and optimism. The newspapers are telling us the patient has recovered, the tide has turned and the only way from down is up.

And while I reckon that’s the kind of KA attitude one should face every year with, I think it’d be prudent to keep a little caution in reserve – you know, just in case.

When I was in Berlin last month, I met a German tour operator friend who told me, “This isn’t over.”

At a New Year gathering in Singapore, I met a hotelier who said, “There’s more to come.”

Over the telephone yesterday, I asked a friend in Hong Kong who runs an online business how things were looking for 2010. “Well, the plan looks good but you never know. So far, the first five days have been good.”

Now that’s the attitude – one day at a time. After all, we live in an unpredictable world and as the “underpants bomber” from Nigeria has learnt, things can blow up in your pants rather unexpectedly. I hope his genitals never recover.

Here’s to our recovery, friends.

• This article also appears in Asian Correspondent