View from window at New Year around midnight.
While I've had a number of years by now to get used to Christmas on my own, I can hardly remember any New Year's Eves spent alone. (Maybe once, as I do seem to recall one time when I tried going to sleep before midnight, but it proved hopeless because of all the noise.) In later years it's become a tradition to spend that evening with the same small group of friends, always at my place. This year, that traditional get-together had to be cancelled though, with the corona situation getting increasingly worse again during the autumn.
So even though I'm otherwise used to spending most evenings in my own company (and even more so this year), New Year's Eve this year felt a bit weird. I decided to still follow our tradition of watching a film, though; and my choice (for Me, Myself and I) this year was an old classic in the feelgood genre: The Sound of Music. It's been I-forget-how-long since I last watched it, but somewhat to my surprise I found it still captivated me. And it's a long one, so lasted most of the evening until the midnight fireworks outside broke loose.
Even during the week before (since Christmas) there were too many random occasional explosions for my liking in the evenings. After a couple of more serious incidents in the neighbourhood last year, every abnormal 'bang' still makes me jump now. This time of year, most of them are probably 'just kids playing around' (which can be dangerous enough). But there have also been reports in the news of criminal gangs in the cities intentionally using fireworks to cause both chaos and physical damage (and never mind that it's of course forbidden). So really not easy these days to decide when to ignore vs call the police.
The fireworks set off in the hour just around midnight on New Year's Eve are usually less scary as one is mentally expecting those. From my window I had quite a good view of some that were probably fairly safely launched from the park in the middle of the estate where I live. If the video works you'll be able to see about half a minute of what went on for more or less an hour or so. (If you hear a bit of music in the background that's from TV, though.)
Whether you enjoy fireworks or prefer quiet time - Happy New Year to us all!
12 comments:
You had a wonderful view from your apartment! Lots of others are in your situation; not able to get together. I am sorry.
I watched only a few seconds enough to see your view and hear the noise. One of my pet peeves is fireworks that are ILLEGAL here, as they are forbidden where you are. only people with permits, as in a park are allowed and that only at midnight. the noise you have here is what I heard for 7 hours. there were at least 5 houses surronding us, maybe more tht started the noise at 5 pm, and off and on until thebig blast at 12. I was trying hard not to hope they blew themselves up, but since the thought went through my head, i guess that was not good. I hate fireworks and the noise. if people want to go to a place that does them legally at MIDNIGHT that is fine, i don't have to be there. sorry i am ranting. sorry you could not have your friends over but it sounds like you had a party of your own.. we watched a good movie, My Spy....but that was last night. it was on Prime
I've got very used to being on my own in the evening most of the time now too. During lockdown we couldn't have visitors. Then we could for a while. Now we can't again. I did spend Christmas day visiting the family in the morning and then went to friends for Christmas Dinner in the afternoon. Now we can't have people in our houses again. No fireworks in our township this year. Stay safe.
What a great view. Like everyone else, our holidays were far from normal and we did not get a chance to see our kids nor spend time with them like we have in the past.
I hope next year is a better one for you-and all of us.
Happy New Year, Dawn. Diana
I like to watch beautiful fireworks but I detest the noise and the ones that just go BANG for the sake of it. Also, it really annoys me when people start the day before or during the afternoon of New Year's Eve.
This year, there was not much in terms of fireworks here; shops were not allowed to sell any, and it was highly recommended NOT to use last year's leftovers, as they can be unpredictable past their use-by date. In public areas, no gatherings of people and no fireworks were allowed this time, but of course there were still enough folks who either had some "rockets" left or got them illegally, and lit them in their own gardens or on the streets in front of their houses. Much less than normal, though, and it only lasted for about 20 minutes in O.K.'s village.
It was the first time in many years that I did not spend New Year's Eve with my family, but only with O.K. (which was nice, of course, just different).
Ginny, it's been a strange year for all of us. I still consider myself lucky compared to many others, as my situation has in no way been impossible or unbearable.
Sandra, misuse of fireworks makes me rant too. And as for our rules here, in my opinion they should be stricter than they are. (Not that I'm sure it would help much.) - I thought that maybe with your fascination for fire, that might include fireworks as well, though! ;)
Graham, I think "official" fireworks displays were cancelled here - but that seems only to have triggered all the more private ones. Which our present laws here can't totally forbid. (There are of course rules about safety etc. But since the police can't be everywhere at once, not much use in the cases where people aren't interested in safety...)
Diana, yes, looking at the fireworks from a distance through my window was quite enough for me. I'd still have preferred to have a "mute" button as well... ;)
Meike, I wished they would stop all sale of fireworks here as well - but as you say, there would no doubt be people knowing how to get hold of them illegally anyway. And as I said in the post, it's really the unpredictable random ones that bother me more than the organized displays on New Year's Eve.
Happy new year to you goo. ugh Fireworks don't get me started on that subject, there are too many idiots around, public displays are much safer I think. We have a fire ban here over Summer yet people still set them off anyway.
Amy, fireworks in the summer do seem even more out of place than in winter, I agree.
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