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Published: January 3rd 2007
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New Year's Eve Extravaganza
The London Celebration took place along the banks of the Thames, with the fireworks around and from the London Eye lasting an eye-popping fifteen minutes after Big ben struck midnight. New Year's Eve! Being in London for New Year's Eve was something pretty special. I saw the first hours of 2006 in from a camp chair in Taranaki, New Zealand, and seeing the year out in a huge city on the opposite side of the world was a remarkable contrast. I was determined to make the most of it.
Most of the day was spent in the mundane business of tying up loose ends, so as to enter the New Year with a clean slate. (In theory, if not quite in practice!) In the evening Jenny, Tim, Becky and I met up in Chinatown for a yummy New Year's dinner, before they headed off to a house party and I treked through the city to meet one of my housemates, Shannon, down in Parliament Square.
Our midnight destination was Westminster Bridge: the London New Year Celebration was a fireworks display along the South Bank and from the London Eye, so we positioned ourselves to see the Eye and the face of Big Ben, and settled in to wait: well, Shannon did - I decided to queue for the toilets while it was still early, and the next Shannon
Arriving on the Embankment
Shannon and I got to Parliament Square just after 9pm, and pointed ourselves directly at Big Ben. saw me was over an hour later, after I had spent all the intervening time in line!
For the next hour and a half we chatted and admired the crowds. The Embankment was closed off just before eleven, so we were glad we had arrived early. The last hour before midnight passed quickly as the crowd entertained itself, the music built up, and the spotlights and coloured lights on the Eye picked up the pace. I wrote my last diary entry standing there in the crowd in front of the eye, and spent an entire camera battery taking photos of Big Ben.
Shannon and I were beside ourselves with excitement by ten to, jumping on the spot and not knowing which way to look, as the music intensified and the building behind the Eye lit up with a 'Ten Minute' image.
With one minute to go there was a countdown beamed on the building, the lights on the Eye were whirling, the crowd was chanting, and the music was ‘Right here, right now.’ At midnight the music stopped, Big Ben struck, and the fireworks errupted from the river banks and the Eye. People were jumping up and
down and hugging, Shannon and I were screaming and laughing and taking photo after photo. The spectacular display lasted fifteen minutes, allowing me to drain another camera battery.
Twenty minutes later the barriers were lifted and the river of people flowed out the gates. There were police holding back more crowds who were still jostling to get onto the Embankment. We headed for Victoria, and despite the free transport decided not to use the underground - our reward for not adding ourselves to the crush was our bus stopping right beside us one minute later, and being the first people on we claimed the front seat on the top deck and floated home.
We still felt as if we had a bit of celebrating left in us, so were pleased to find two friends up when we arrived back at the house, and a couple more arrived home shortly after us. The six of us sat up for a while talking about our nights, what the year was going to bring for us, and laughing at the extreme inebriation of Ange, who kept falling off her chair.
Far from being a New Year’s Eve that blends into
Eerie lights
The night was cool but not cold, and it had been raining most of the day so there was cloud cover and a lot of moisture in the air - very atmospheric. others in my memory, I will always be able to say of this year - I was in London when Big Ben struck the first notes of 2007.
Reflections on the past year 2006 was quite incredible. As I celebrated its last hours, I couldn't help but reflect: I have accomplished and experienced so much. The year was full of firsts for me: the first of my friends got married and are now celebrating their first anniversary; another group all got engaged; I left the Pacific for the first time, drove on the wrong side of the road, and saw the Atlantic, and Vegas, and the Grand Canyon, and New York; my visit to Germany was the first time I have ever been in a country in which English is not the main, or even the first language spoken; I saw London for the first time; I met an actual celebrity, the incomparable Dame Judi Dench - and gazed upon others from afar; and I bought my beloved Harry, the first computer of my very own - and his memory is now crowded with the multitude of photos and stories of things I have seen and
Right here, right now
(Taken at one minute past midnight.) done, some of which I still have to share with you.
So I am feeling very lucky and very happy about the year ahead - roll on 2007!
I started it off by attending the London New Year's Day Parade, which turned 21 this year. Standing outside the Ritz on Picadilly I watched as marching bands, cheerleaders, vehicles of every size and shape, beauty queens on floats, singers and clowns and actors and church groups and temple tableaus and inflatable creatures and more paraded past in splendour under a cold sun and against a raging and icy wind.
And then I raced home and warmed up by sitting tucked up in bed eating a hot dinner and watching a movie (on Harry, the afore-mentioned beloved computer.)
Hope all of you had a great New Year's Eve, and are embarking on 2007 with as much happiness, love and prosperity as is humanly possible. All the best for the New Year!
x jubeedoo
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Jenny
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Happy noo year!
Can only imagine what it was like in times square, maybe we should plan to be there next time round! What an amazing year, thanks for sharing so many adventures with me! :D