HAPPY NEW YEAR!

In general, I avoid any New Year’s celebration. It’s only in the last few years that I’ve even been coaxed out for dinner with friends. It has long been this way and I’m quite happy with it, thank you very much. But, this is a new city, so new rules apply. As a pair of newly minted Londoners, what better away to celebrate than to go to the annual fireworks display.

We took the Tube to Waterloo station, on the south side of the Thames. The Tube is free on New Year’s and runs all night. Which is unlike Christmas, when there is no transit at all. There was a company that gave out stickers a few years ago for the Tube on New Years. You wrote the name of your stop on the sticker and put it on your coat. That way, if you passed out on the train, your fellow passengers could wake you at the right station.

We stood on Waterloo Bridge, looking at the London Eye. We could see Big Ben through the centre of the Eye and just off to the left of that Jo and I could see the spire of Westminster Abbey. The only way to be more cliché would be to watch from an old Routemaster bus.

After the fireworks we stopped halfway across the bridge and stood looking down the Thames. The river was filled with boats hosting parties and enjoying the fireworks display. We talked about the year that has passed, the good and bad things and how we are starting to feel settled here.

At the end of the year, a little reflection is in order. This has a been a year encompassing a lot of change. Christmas marks six months that we have been here in London and this has been a great time. It has been a lot of hard work, getting started here, but looking forward at the opportunity presented to us, it has been well worth it. Joanne and I are looking forward to the adventure that 2007 will bring.

Travelling home on London's Central Tube line.