If you remember, last year we had our Pink Countdown Party at our place to usher in 2009. Has the year past by that quickly??
This year, I was undecided on how to spend it, right down to the actual day itself.
See Alicia and JL had their friends over and they were planning to have a steamboat dinner. That sounds good but because their place is really small, they warned us that we need to squeeze and share chairs coz they only have 4 chairs and it's already 5 of them at the moment. Hmm... somehow doesn't sound very appealing to me, makes me feel very extra.
Jos' bf Dom is here over Christmas and NYE. They are very nice to hang out with but they couldn't decide what to do. Jos has her own group of S'porean friends here and she was waiting for them to confirm. And I don't know her group of friends. Somehow sounds like I am tagging along if I do join them.
And then there is VJ, my rocker chick friend from church. Everytime I think of her, I always smile because we seriously don't look like we hang out with each other. She always says I am like an angel and she is this heavy metal - loves Marilyn Manson - kind of girl. But truth be told, the group of 5 or 6 of us in Sarah's connect really enjoy hanging out with one another (and surprise, none of them are English in case u were assuming). She just moved into this room near Brick Lane ("to be close to the arty scene" according to her) and invited me, Gabby and friends over just to hang out and head out together to see the fireworks. So I figured this is the most sincere invitation.
The Lithuanian-Ecuadorian-Australian-English-Singaporean countdown.
Thanks to Gabby, who turned up with her gang- her bf, and her brother and 2 other friends, that made the night more fun. I've only met her brother on times when we have connect at her place, and her bf Ben a couple of times who never fails to make us laugh.
Some pics we took while at her place before heading out...
Try figuring out the nationalities of my friends?
we love VJ's wallpaper
The guys goofing around;
The pair of siblings showing us how to salsa since it's in their spanish blood.
Anyway zooming in on the countdown. We very bravely headed towards Embankment to see the fireworks which were supposed to be fired from the London Eye. People were everywhere as you can imagine. We reached at 1140pm and so time was crucial. The scariest part was when we were stuck in this underpass which leads to some bridge. People lining along the Thames river refused to budge. It got really claustrophobic and scary because people were pushing from behind and people in front refused to move to create space. All 7 of us held hands to form this chain just so we won't lose anyone in the crowd. Seriously I felt like I couldn't breathe. We were stuck! This guy beside me started yelling "we wanna see the fireworks!! Move in front people!!" Nothing happened. So he continued "people, at the count of 3, let's push forward in front!!" And then at 3, everyone surged forward bringing us along since we were already stuck in the crowd. Damn scary!! Gabby was almost crying and I was thinking "ahh I don't wanna die here like that!" Now I understand how people can actually die in a stampede or similar situation like that. Thankfully a few attempts of pushing forward really did push us out of that hole and we were all in a state of shock. Quite funnily, Gabby took the bottle of champagne which we were supposed to pop open after the countdown, and decided that it was time for a drink to calm everyone down.
And the fireworks started.
Fireworks was nice but I think the few minutes of shock earlier kind of dampened the mood a little. I was thinking I won't do this again. We were out freezing in the 3deg cold pushed around with no breathing space. And gotta figure out the strategy to head home after that. But of course, there is the buzzing atmosphere around; people in the crowd got really excited and wished one another Happy New Year loudly in the streets.
We started the long journey of getting out of that place. And the most amazing thing that could happen at that time, which I seriously believe is from heaven, was that it started snowing!! wheeee I was so happy! Happier than seeing the fireworks to be honest!! haha
"Happy New Year!"
p/s yes so if you caught some shots of the fireworks from the London Eye on TV, remember that Bel was part of that 200,000 crowd. *shudder*
This year, I was undecided on how to spend it, right down to the actual day itself.
See Alicia and JL had their friends over and they were planning to have a steamboat dinner. That sounds good but because their place is really small, they warned us that we need to squeeze and share chairs coz they only have 4 chairs and it's already 5 of them at the moment. Hmm... somehow doesn't sound very appealing to me, makes me feel very extra.
Jos' bf Dom is here over Christmas and NYE. They are very nice to hang out with but they couldn't decide what to do. Jos has her own group of S'porean friends here and she was waiting for them to confirm. And I don't know her group of friends. Somehow sounds like I am tagging along if I do join them.
And then there is VJ, my rocker chick friend from church. Everytime I think of her, I always smile because we seriously don't look like we hang out with each other. She always says I am like an angel and she is this heavy metal - loves Marilyn Manson - kind of girl. But truth be told, the group of 5 or 6 of us in Sarah's connect really enjoy hanging out with one another (and surprise, none of them are English in case u were assuming). She just moved into this room near Brick Lane ("to be close to the arty scene" according to her) and invited me, Gabby and friends over just to hang out and head out together to see the fireworks. So I figured this is the most sincere invitation.
The Lithuanian-Ecuadorian-Australian-English-Singaporean countdown.
Some pics we took while at her place before heading out...
Try figuring out the nationalities of my friends?
we love VJ's wallpaper
The guys goofing around;
The pair of siblings showing us how to salsa since it's in their spanish blood.
Anyway zooming in on the countdown. We very bravely headed towards Embankment to see the fireworks which were supposed to be fired from the London Eye. People were everywhere as you can imagine. We reached at 1140pm and so time was crucial. The scariest part was when we were stuck in this underpass which leads to some bridge. People lining along the Thames river refused to budge. It got really claustrophobic and scary because people were pushing from behind and people in front refused to move to create space. All 7 of us held hands to form this chain just so we won't lose anyone in the crowd. Seriously I felt like I couldn't breathe. We were stuck! This guy beside me started yelling "we wanna see the fireworks!! Move in front people!!" Nothing happened. So he continued "people, at the count of 3, let's push forward in front!!" And then at 3, everyone surged forward bringing us along since we were already stuck in the crowd. Damn scary!! Gabby was almost crying and I was thinking "ahh I don't wanna die here like that!" Now I understand how people can actually die in a stampede or similar situation like that. Thankfully a few attempts of pushing forward really did push us out of that hole and we were all in a state of shock. Quite funnily, Gabby took the bottle of champagne which we were supposed to pop open after the countdown, and decided that it was time for a drink to calm everyone down.
And the fireworks started.
Fireworks was nice but I think the few minutes of shock earlier kind of dampened the mood a little. I was thinking I won't do this again. We were out freezing in the 3deg cold pushed around with no breathing space. And gotta figure out the strategy to head home after that. But of course, there is the buzzing atmosphere around; people in the crowd got really excited and wished one another Happy New Year loudly in the streets.
We started the long journey of getting out of that place. And the most amazing thing that could happen at that time, which I seriously believe is from heaven, was that it started snowing!! wheeee I was so happy! Happier than seeing the fireworks to be honest!! haha
"Happy New Year!"
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