Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Happy New Year!

To celebrate the end of this year a large party was held in the central square of Christchurch. At the end there would be a large firework display from the top of one of the surrounding bank buildings. Since we had loved CITP so much, we were determined to be present at this event from the beginning. However, the weather wasn’t really motivating… bleak and chilly.

Summer really has been a slow slow starter this year. When Kiwis find out we have just recently migrated, they even apologise to us about the weather, ensuring us that this is the “worst summer EVER” and that “this has never happened before.” Let’s just blame it on the icebergs… :-)

Anyway, because of the cold weather we weren’t really in the mood to spend a whole evening outside on a square, so we decided to wait until 11:30 PM to go and enjoy only the fireworks. Unlike in Holland, it is forbidden here to light your own fireworks on New Year’s Eve. That is only allowed on November 5, Guy Fawke’s Day, the day when they celebrate that Guy Fawke tried to blow up the English houses of parliament in 1605. Nowadays that would be considered an act of terrorism, but back then it apparently was decided a deed of heroism. Two whole weeks before November 5 it has been noisy in the streets of Christchurch because of people lighting their own fireworks, but on New Year’s Eve of all eves it is not allowed. Oh well, off to the square then… :-)

When we arrived at the square it wasn’t really crowded there. It was busy enough, but far from packed. Looking at the stage we were very glad we didn’t show up earlier: some pretty heavy rock music was blasting off it. Great for the people who like that kind of music, but in my opinion not really suited for a celebration for all ages. A small crowd had gathered in front of the stage, but the vast majority of the people clearly were only interested in the upcoming fireworks. All this created a bit of a strange atmosphere on the square. But oh well, we had gotten hold of a nice spot with good visibility, and the fire works were again very nice, although I must say that I found the fireworks at CITP just a tad nicer. After the fireworks display we immediately went home again. More people apparently had that in mind: the crowd was really draining out of the square ;-)

After we arrived home we sent a few text messages to wish our family a happy new year (half a day early for Holland heheh) and we slipped into bed to have a belated good night’s sleep.

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