New Year's Eve

Our last day of 2018 started at a slightly more leisurely pace than previous days as we didn’t have much planned as we knew we would be having a late night tonight with the New Year’s Eve fireworks. Relaxed in bed with a cup of tea – Earl Grey leaf tea from Harrods! – then it was breakfast, showers and sandwich making before heading out about 10am. It was another grey but fine day and today’s destination was Camden Markets. Caught the tube there and spent a few hours looking around this very extensive markets with all sorts available for purchase. Lauren bought some t-shirts and I got a lovely necklace and a woollen top. We ate our packed lunch while overlooking Camden Lock and saw a couple of boats come through. It is so interesting watching the lock system in action as they raise and lower the water level to allow movement of

the boat through the lock. It was a bit cold sitting outside but fine so not too bad – there was even a little bit of sunshine at times.

We got home about 4:30pm for a rest and dinner before heading out to fireworks. Back to my turn to cook tonight – chicken curry and rice with naan bread and salad.
We left home again at 8pm and got to our designated viewing area just before 9pm. Found an area to sit and then Ian & Brianna went for a wander while Lauren and I guarded our spot and watched all the hundreds of people streaming in. Once Ian and Brianna returned, Lauren and I decided to have a walk to stretch our legs. The food trucks were doing a roaring trade and it was very congested trying to get passed them but other than that it was easy enough to move through the crowd. There was a DJ playing some music to get everyone in the party mood. We hadn’t bothered to take any alcohol in with us but you were allowed to take in enough for your own personal consumption. There were people having some drinks but Ian and I commented on how well behaved

everyone was and there didn’t seem to be anyone having excessive amounts to drink or causing any trouble. We did the countdown for the last 20seconds to midnight and then the sky exploded with fireworks coming from the London Eye. The fireworks were amazing, lasted for about 10minutes and then as everyone started singing Auld Lang Syne we made a bolt for the tube. We were expecting a long, crowded train ride home with lots of waiting to get into the tube station and onto the train but it was surprisingly very easy, much less crowded than leaving the footy after a game in Perth, but maybe we were just lucky and managed to beat the crowds. Got home at 1:15am ready for our beds.