New Years Eve

We slept for nearly twelve hours and I woke feeling a bit disoriented but otherwise very good.  We had a large buffet breakfast with the rationale we would not need to have another meal to until much later. 

The rest of the day was spent buying shoes for me, and a coat for Bev.  I managed to get two pairs of Ecco shoes for around half the price I would pay in New Zealand.  Bev got a nice coat from Armani Exchange for a ridiculous amount (about $380) and it was all wool.  In between we managed coffee at Sacred a café run by New Zealanders who provide wonderful coffee that is like we get in New Zealand.  Even the food is similar to what we used to get a few years ago (they need to visit again to see some of the changes in food).

It gets dark at 4pm so it was very weird wandering the streets after that time in darkness but there were lots of lovely lights to look at.  We had an early pub meal at a chain called Nicholas Nickleby’s.  The food was ok and both of us were ready to eat. 

The main event of the evening was to watch the fireworks display on the Thames.  It is a big event in London and it was suggested that we get there early.  We thought about an hour early would be soon enough so we caught a train from Euston to Embankment.  Just as we were leaving our hotel we heard loudly “aussie, aussie, oie, oie” clearly wanting to be identified in some way.   We soon  discovered that this was not soon enough.  The trains were packed with young noisy people whose attitude to alcohol was not dissimilar to New Zealand young people.  They were carrying beer, vodka and other concoctions.  However, the mood was good.  When we got out at Embankment it took us about ten minutes of being carried along by the crowd to reach the surface.  Once up there we were literally guided up several roads and along the Strand.  There was much gaiety and noise with people in various stages of intoxication.  Every now and again there was a sight that we would remark upon such as a woman tottering along on super high heels.  I don’t know how she was doing it for such a distance.  There were a couple of guys dressed as Roman gladiators with swords running through the crowd.  We would have been amongst the older people on the walk.  It was very atmospheric and I would not have missed it for anything.  I heard a cop say that about a million people come out for this event. 

We finally reached our destination which was one of the bridges to the west of The London Eye.  We heard an amplified version of Big Ben tolling midnight and then fireworks let forth.  We saw a few of them but most were obscured by buildings and the smoke from the gun powder.  Unlike Wellington where we have a natural amphitheatre to watch our display. 

We were lucky that by midnight the light rain that had fallen all day cleared away and it was still and relatively mild.  Like a Wellington winter’s evening. 

After watching what we could we then made our way to Bank Station for our train back to Euston.  The train was remarkably empty but there were a number of people in various states.  One guy could not even say where he was going.  Several others were clearly not feeling well and I was worried that they might vomit.  Fortunately we were off the train before anything like that happened. 

For once time travel had worked in my favour as I felt reasonably awake despite the late hour, although a few hours earlier I could have easily gone to sleep. 

I like London.  The narrow streets, the energy, the superb public transport system, and the fact that I can navigate it a bit better now although I did get my directions mixed up and ended up going one way when I should have been going the other (the underground and the way light falls is disorienting).  It was a contrast to Hong Kong, not the least it was  10°C cooler.  The subway system is significantly older and not as smooth and clean as the MTR in Hong Kong.  They are clearly doing much to make it more reliable and have been upgrading it.  In a few years time it might be very nice.  Some things are much cheaper here than when I was last here.  Shoes and clothes seem to be significantly cheaper.  Drinks were more expensive in some cases and restaurant food also a bit dearer.