1st January 2007
Hi all,
Had a good night last night. Not the most spectacular evening in the world, but then again now Lorraine and I have a baby we're probably not going to have spectacular Hogmanays for quite a while. With that in mind I thought it might be a good time to rate some of the best and worst New Year's Eves I've witnessed since I was old enough to stay up and see in the New Year.
I feel this is especially important now given that I've just read American sportswriter Peter King question NYE by
asking, "Does anyone over 22 actually like New Year's Eve?" Speaking as someone nine years over that benchmark my answer is a clear yes, although maybe I'm not the best person to answer that given that a) I live in Scotland, where Hogmanay is a huge deal, and b) I don't entirely trust a sportswriter who spends far too much time writing about coffee.
Anyway, onto the ratings.
- 1992 (into 1993) My first New Year's Eve apart from my parents. I end up going out with another friend of mine from college and for fiscal reasons we decide to go to the one pub which wasn't charging an entrance fee. We soon realise why they weren't charging. I end up drinking Castlemaine XXXX for the evening (I've never been a fan of Australian beers) and my friend stuns me when he correctly tells me who I fancied in our History class. I thought I'd been subtle. I thought wrong.
+ 1993 Rather oddly end up seeing in the New Year with Hampshire legend/hellion Nick "Zimmer" Tanter. It wouldn't be especially memorable apart from the Conga down the street with a lot of the neighbours and Zimmer's phone call to Astrologer Patrick Moore's answerphone. "You probably don't know who I am," Zimmer said, "I emptied your bins once. Happy New Year!" If Patrick Moore's x-directory now you'll probably know why.
As an additional bonus I got to enjoy the hospitality of the Hotel Tanterfornia, brought to you in the form of a bare mattress and a threadbare sheet. Zimmer's stepmother was always about as welcoming as a floating elastoplast in a swimming pool.
- 1996 My last New Year's Eve in England. My parents are in Malaysia for the New Year so I have an empty! However being in England the opportunity for late night fun isn't taken, as all my invited friends have left by 1.30am. The lesson as always, I invited the wrong friends. I ended up staying up until 5am to see the New Year arriving in New York on CNN, something I think I'll need to do in person one day.
+ 1997 My first Hogmanay as a Scottish resident. Big evening get-together, tour of various houses and ending up at a big party where a friend of mine joked about spotting local footballer Jose Quitongo (it was funny if you were there, trust me). I ended up getting home at 5am, got a second wind and stayed up until 7am. I slept until 6pm that night. Quite an introduction to a Scottish New Year!
(N.B. That was also the first night I remember seeing Lorraine, although I guess our paths would have crossed before that. I never let her forget that she ignored me that night, although she claims that I ignored her first. Whatever.)
- 1998 My first New Year with Lorraine and it also coincided with a visit from one of my best friends. So it should have been great, right? Well it would have been, but my friend's wife decided to be a psycho for the week, falling out with everyone and being a general pain in the backside. Thankfully she didn't come out that New Year's Eve, but her shadow was over the night. It also didn't help that a young girl the group of us knew had suddenly passed away after contracting Meningitis. Not a good few days.
Incidentally I'm pretty sure it was this New Year that Jamie Sturt made an absolutely hysterical joke in regard to a Rangers alarm clock we saw at a house we stopped at that evening. Unfortunately I can't repeat the joke or verify the year (I don't fancy my odds against 50,000 Ibrox season-ticket holders), but it was funny, and if it was that New Year then laughs were definitely required.
+ 1999 The new millennium approached and Lorraine and I had the pleasure of Neil Taylor's company for the New Year. We did another tour of various houses before ending up at a c?ilidh that people had paid to attend. As it was 4am we didn't have to pay to get in, and by the looks of the people who were there it was a good job we didn't pay to be there all night. Less is more it would seem in regard to New Year celebrations.
- 2001 My brother-in-law got engaged this particular New Year's Eve. Unfortunately he got it all wrong by letting his sister be about the last person to know. What was supposed to be a pretty enjoyable night ended up fizzling out as Lorraine and I quietly seethed, and we ended up being home at the relatively early hour of 3.30am. Ugh.
+ 2004 Lorraine was working a nightshift and because of the usual issue with mobile phone signals I couldn't speak to her until about 2am (not the reason for the positive marking, honest!). I spent the evening with friends, played about umpteen games of Jenga with them and ended up coming home to watch the Peach Bowl live from Atlanta before going and picking Lorraine up from work. Got to bed at about 8am but was up in the early afternoon for some stupid reason.
- 2005 Got a nice invitation to join some friends for the evening at their house. We would have had a terrific time but for one thing - someone thought it would be a good idea to get a Monopoly board out. Not just any Monopoly board either, a Star Wars Monopoly board! Even Gerald Ratner, Nick Leeson and the board of Enron thought that was a bad idea. Horrendous, dull, repetitive and boring, rather like that evening's annual instalment of "Only An Excuse?" (N.B. I'm glad to say I thought "Only An Excuse" was much better this year.)
Hmm, only two really enjoyable nights since I turned 23. Maybe Peter King's onto something here.
(Happy New Year anyway!)
Have a great year!
Tony
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