New Year's Eve celebrations.

In a different age - around 1980 - for about 3 or 4 years I used to go up to Trafalgar Square to see in the new year. Me and a mate go would up early on the train and get eats and drinks in the West End first, ok yes, a bit of a pub crawl☺️

One year for something to do to fill in the time we went and saw The Last Starfighter in the cinema in Leicester Square. Due to some confusion at the box office we got in for free. We'd usually go and see my uncle who had The Devonshire Arms in Denman Street, just off Piccadilly Circus before heading down to Trafalgar Square for midnight. All very exciting at that age. We stopped going after the year that rozzers clamped down on alcohol in the square and confiscated whatever anyone was carrying, throwing it all into big wheelie bins next to the barriers they'd built across all entrances to the square 😞.

Afterwards we'd walk back through the party-atmosphere of central London to Paddington Station and wait on the station until the first trains started running to get us back home. You'd meet some "interesting" characters at Paddington in the early hours of January 1st. There was at least a 24hr Wimpy close by where you could get a hot drink and watch the young ladies who would occasionally leave and get into a car, returning a while later with more cash than they left with.

For un-ticketted firework watching these days Primrose Hill has a good atmosphere and a clear if distant view of the main firework display as well as others across the city.which is where I went for 2018-19.

Last night however after a day at work I couldn't work up the energy or enthusiasm to get up to Primrose Hill, didn't fancy the local pub packed with people I don't know, and couldn't face the jolly end-of-year TV shows. So 2019-20 involved a sofa, NCIS box set, and lemsip (and a small single malt gifted by a nephew for Xmas).

Which doesn't explain why I still didn't wake up until twenty to twelve this morning...