New Years Eve!

This will be a hard NYEve to top. It was wonderful.

I had to work all day and didn't get off work at PJ's until 10:00. We were well busy too, so I didn't actually leave until 10:15. We closed at 10:00, but it took that long to clean up everything. I'm usually right out at the time I'm scheduled to leave. I had to run back home and change before heading toward the church where there was a YSA dance going on. I finally got there about 11:30, and the place was PACKED! I could barely get through the door. As I was barely past the front door I saw one of my friends who was leaving with some others to go to Big Ben, and she dragged me along too.

The tube was packed was it was full of very happy people (most were probably drunk). One guy was actually passed out on the escalator of all places. They had to stop the escalator and his friends could barely lift him - he was a big guy.

We finally made it to Westminster Abbey and Parliament where there were LOADS of people. But we squeezed our way into a spot with a great view of Big Ben. And when the clock struck midnight we were all there to witness it. Everyone was cheering and I got champagne sprayed on me. We hung around the area for about 15 minutes cheering and dancing around with all the drunk people our own age. As with a lot of things this trip, it felt quite surreal realizing I was enjoying New Years Eve in London, in front of Big Ben. Never would've expected that a year ago!

Heading back to the dance was a difficult issue. Most of the tube stations close to the area were closed. So we had to walk a long way amongst massive crowds of people to get to a working tube station. At times it became quite difficult. One area was like a giant whirlpool of people going different directions. You couldn't move on your own. You could basically left your legs and everyone around you would be holding you up dragging you with the current. The hard part was finding the current that was going your direction. That was only about 10 min though. Most of the time there was enough free space.

We got back to the dance right after it had ended. And the crowds leaving the church were about the same as the masses of people in the streets. It was hard going the opposite direction of everyone else. Stayed and helped clean up a little bit before heading back home. Hung out at home eating and chatting for a while. I think we ended up finally going to bed around 6:30-ish.

Fun New Years! :)