Blog 101

Thought I should continue on from the previous post.




Just some images from Edinburgh for Hogmanay 2006-2007. The weather was pretty rotten when we arrived, but we all had high hopes for the 2nd biggest New Years celebration in the world (following one in Brazil). So we went on the giant ferris wheel, and saw many a piper on our first evening there. But our high hopes faded a little once we were confronted with gale-force winds on the 31st. Growing up on the coast in oz, I wasnt feeling so threatened by something like wind, until we were at the gates to the street party and the traffic lights were dancing in the breeze with great big metal barricades flying down the street (I may be exaggerating slightly, but it is the honest truth to say that nobody could stand up straight.) It was the first time in my life I had seen horizontal rain, and drunken tourists attempting to do the moonwalk in the wind/rain. Crazy guys considering the rain was absolutely painful when it hit you on the face.
So, we spent most of the evening in your typical British pub, surrounded by Kiwis and others not from Scotland. One major problem in Britain... ALL pubs shut at 11. So, even though the street party was cancelled, they still shut the pubs, and thousands of people poured out onto the wet yucky windy streets with relatively little to do. So, as a bit of fun (catalysed by alcohol consumption) we ran up to Edinburgh castle, started a pretend countdown, then headed back down to the middle of the royal mile, and saw in the New Year on an intersection somewhere (also with a countdown started by us, due to the lack of any knowing what the exact time was). I think we were all in bed by 1:30. Odd thing is that when we departed on the 2nd of January, the sky was so blue, not a single breath of wind and warm. TYPICAL!

So, considering we paid a visit to the walkabout (for those of you who dont know these bars, you're not missing too much) and joined 3 countdowns (east coast oz at 1pm, SA at 1:30pm and Qld at 2pm), plus a countdown at edinburgh castle somewhere around 11:45 then the 'official' at midnight, we saw in new years 5 times! Could think of worse way to spend new years!