New Year's Eve dawned with grey skies and drizzle.
Whilst Russell and I attended to domestic duties, the kids got off to a (relatively) early start for the castle. We left a little later and strolled along the Royal Mile taking in the sights on the way to collecting Russell's glove that one of the 'spirits' had dislodged from his pocket the previous evening.
This St.Giles Cathedral, no inside shots cos that was extra 3 pounds!
There were all manner of buskers along the Royal Mile trying to get their share of the tourist pound but there were a lot of tourist pounds going around as well!
We contented ourselves with photos and hot chocolates deciding not to do the Castle which we had toured back in '04 and which by now had a long queue.
We made our way down to the bottom of the Royal Mile, taking in a great fudge shop, a picturesque cemetery and the very modern Scottish Parliament along the way before winding back around Calton Hill but not quite to its summit.
At this stage we began thinking about dinner and got directions to Marks and Spencer's food hall. What a bloody circus! Faced with a one day “bank holiday” the next day, the shelves were as empty as if a nuclear holocaust had been announced! There was not a potato to be found. Leaving Russell to scrounge what he could ( one and a half carrots!) I ran off to Sainsbury's to see if the situation was any better there. It was, slightly, and between us we lugged home enough provisions (including some decadent goose fat for the potatoes!) for what turned out to be a delicious roast chicken and veggies for the seven of us.
Preparation was quite entertaining as the particularly sensitive smoke alarm insisted on going off with alarming frequency but the end result was superb.
After a couple of warming drinks it was off to Hogmanay!
We had tickets to the Enclosure part of the Concert in the Gardens and we passed all manner of characters as well as lots of kilts (with cold legs no doubt) and the obligatory long queues for the ladies toilets.
Interestingly, the crowd whilst noisy and boisterous, were basically well behaved – we saw no fights or bad behaviour apart from the odd not so discreet wizz against a tree.
We made many new friends (!) as we waited for the big countdown. Fireworks were released each hour on the hour and the live music was entertaining in the background. Appropriately dressed as we were, it actually wasn't too cold.
At midnight, the fireworks at the castle were spectacular and prolonged and the obligatory Auld Lang Syne rang out across the crowd.
I think I wanted to kick on a bit longer but Russell took me home and ultimately the kids weren't too far behind us as pubs were closed or closing.
All in all it was a great night, enjoyed by nearly 80,000 of us!
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