Happy New Year!

It's that time of the year to say 'Happy New Year!' or more specifically 'Happy Gregorian New Year!' I'm not keen on the whole ringing in the new year in the freezing cold, so I was more than content to have a subdued celebration.

Smee and I had a few peeps over for drinks and nibbles. Nothing overly fancy. Spag Bol was one of the dishes! Luigi (not his real name) brought his authentic spag bol, none of that run of the mill, imitation stuff. Nope, this came from a real Italian.

The sauce had simmered for a good three hours. And yes, the spag bol was indeed very nice.

My contribution were rice paper rolls *boring*

The Portuguese couple (I think I'll call them P1 and P2) brought cakey and wine.

A few drinkies and some very well fed stomachs later, it was time to mosey on down to the bridge for some fireworks. Not the best bridge to view the London fireworks, but hey, it's a bridge and we didn't have to fight massive crowds nor sit there for six hours minding our spots.

The highlight of our two minute walk to the bridge was passing a couple engaging in coitus. You read that correctly, they were having a good old fashioned root. Doggy-style to be precise. No, they weren't naked, just pants down around the ankles. They thought they had found a secluded lane, but little did they know that the surrounding area is indeed fairly residential. At first we walked past them with barely a glance but then doubled-back to confirm that we weren't hallucinating. Did they see us? Sure they did. Did they stop? Nope. I was going to take a photo but was quickly hauled away by Smee. Clearly these two people had some loose ends to tie-up before embarking on any New Year resolutions. I didn't bother warning the people walking behind us, but they had a similar reaction to ours.

I think I've said it before but I'll say it again. For a city this size, you would think that the fireworks would be super dooper spectacular, but in my humble opinion they're quite crap. I hear that the Bonfire Night fireworks are much better. The Thames is a decent length of river and really, it would be a good idea to have fireworks at different sections. However it all just seems to be concentrated at the London Eye. You can imagine the crowds and possible fistfights on Waterloo and Westminster bridges.

Anyway, correct me if I'm wrong and that fireworks are elsewhere on the river but I couldn't see any others east of the London Eye. Btw, fireworks in Greenwich don't count - too far! I think Sydney NYE fireworks set such a high standard, anything else is just blah blah in comparison.

Here's a video of what I saw. That is not me cheering in the background.

The view of the London Eye as we headed back home.

We retired back to the flat for some Caiprinhas. Aaaah.... nice.... Happy New Year y'all!