2011 kicked off on the North Bank of the River Thames in London, spot on across the water from the London Eye which was the centrepiece for the first few minutes of the new year. As hinted earlier, on 31/12/10 we met up with the freshest newly weds from our Maltese circle of friends and by 8.45pm, we had occupied a prime location along Embankment where we awaited the first few "tocks" of the Big Ben signalling the start of 2011.
I must say it was a long wait of almost 3 hours till the real excitement began but the atmosphere was festive, the weather perfect (dry and not that cold) and by 11.45pm the action was gaining momentum. A massive countdown "clock" was projected onto the Shell building (10 or 15 floors high!) and as soon as the clock hit 12 the Eye set off with an incredible show of fireworks synchronised with the best of Brit music which lasted a full 10 minutes non-stop of colour and fire. As soon as it was all over, I witnessed the largest exodus of people ever; I later found out that 250,000 people were along the River Thames that night (that is more than half the population of Malta!) and all went seamlessly well with no accidents or confusion. Well, the tube stations were packed beyond their capacities and the journey home (which usually takes 20 minutes) took 2 hours, but once home we had champagne awaiting us and the night stretched till the early hours of 2011.
The next day was marked with a massive lunch at China Town and a farewell to our Maltese friends who flew back to Malta that night. And us? Well, it was still holiday time for me but my poor wife had to revise and study for the upcoming exams!
No comments:
Post a Comment