Happy New Year!

...at the Bongs of Big Ben the fireworks went crazy. It was a spectacular show, although I confess that it looks far better on television than viewed on Waterloo Bridge. Unfortunately, I suffered from being downwind of the fireworks so the smoke from the detonations obscured all but the first and highest fireworks from view. The London Eye should be in the centre of this blip, but it cannot be seen. The folk who were staying in A Room for London had their own viewing platform.

It was fun and I'm glad I've seen the London New Year's Eve fireworks at least once.

However, getting home was a problem. With at least 250,000 people trying to leave central London, the trains were completely out of the question. Besides, my last train had already left the platform by the time the fireworks started. The only way home was the tube to Brixton and a night bus or the N68 night bus from Elephant and Castle. The latter was decided upon, but it soon became clear that all south-east Londoners were heading for the night buses (since there are no tube services in south-east London). Fred and I walked and walked and walked and walked, from bus stop to bus stop, looking out for the N68. Eventually one came after an hour of walking the bus route, but it was packed with people standing all along the top deck as well as crammed to over-capacity on the lower deck. Not a chance of getting on there so we walked and walked and walked and walked and two hours later another N68 appeared, but it was just as packed as the first bus and we were almost home. So, thank you Mayor of London for putting on less night buses than is normal and royally ignoring south-east London. You won't get my vote this year.

Ooh, my first grump for 2012!

I will be mostly working this afternoon - back to the grindstone and all that.

Happy New Year blippers. I hope 2012 is e a fantastic year for you all.