31/12/08 23.59 - Sydney takes a Deep Breath

---

The countdown started at 11 withe fireworks. First at 11, the half past, then quarter to, then ten to, then five to. Then with ten seconds to go the fire started to creep to the centre of the bridge and when it struck...

It was as light as it was during the day. All across the harbor the sky was on fire. The bridge was on fire. The water was on fire. The opera house was on fire. All of the tallest skyscrapers. the night exploded and erupted and imploded and combusted around us. The cheers and screams were blocked out by the thunder of explosions. Fifteen minutes. And there is no way to describe the scene. No way at all. Imagine a million fireworks exploding a second. Imagine each explosion created stars and suns. Whole universes appeared and disappeared. Imagine Gandalf's fireworks. And then multiply it all by infinity and you are no where near.

I wanted to be in Sydney for New Years. Guess what...I was. I saw the whole lot.

The easiest way to describe it is not by what i saw but by what i did.

I cried. I laughed. I cried. I shouted. I hugged. I cried. I kissed. I sang. I cried. I screamed. Then all at once. Why the hell did i cry? It was so emotional. For so bloody long all i have done has been building up to that second and then it disappeared (no pun intended) in smoke and fire. I was crying because i was loving it. I felt so alive. I felt alone. I felt part of the 2.5 million all watching the same fireworks live. I felt part of the 6 billion in the world who will recognise the new year of 2009. I felt invinsible. Stupid? Probably. But all this at once coarsing through my veins. I cried because of adrenalin.

Shit! I was the other side of the world with two mates and a bunch of people i barely new and a shit load of people i didn't know all celebrating the same thing. "Let all aquaintance be forgotten". True. It doesn't matter. Your all celebrating the same thing. Life! The new! The old!

Every firework, every flash, every bang. That is what its about!

I was 17435 km's away from everyone i love, apart from Rob and Mat, celebrating the new year that hadn't yet reached those in Cardiff! Nuts!

---