All is quiet...

...on New Years' Day! (I'm not even a U2 fan!)

Last night we went out on the town to bring in the New Year. First we visited the Jolly Brewer. I would have happily stayed there as the music was very much to my liking despite a sound technician who didn't really know what he was doing. That, or he thought the drums should drown out every other part of a song! The band playing was called Electric Jesters, and I will be looking out for other appearances by them at other venues!

The drinks there were not so good - Brian didn't like the beer choice, and there were no decent mixers to put with the gin! 

So after seeing the band's first set, we headed back to The Birdcage - our "local" Most of the clientele know me from the chippy, which can be a blessing or a curse. 

The music in there was more of a problem. You would think, on New Years' Eve in a mainstream, local pub with a very mixed clientele, you would stick to singalong party anthems. But the DJ (Indie Billy, which may have been a bit of a giveaway!) played only '90's Indie music or full-on rave, which to me sounds like a mix of dodgy plumbing and someone building a shed! It is quite a "niche" selection for a mixed audience. And I can fully appreciate that those who enjoyed the rave scene in its day did so via chemical enhancement a little stronger than pink gin and aromatic tonic! I had to go outside in the cold as the music was driving me nuts! Had thrash metal been their niche music of choice, I would have been inside enjoying it whilst others were outside cringing!

Anyway, naff music aside it was a good night for bringing in the New Year! 

Today has been spent in traditional relaxed recovery mode, and we have had our usual walk to Burger King for lunch which was the perfect hangover-buster! We then went to visit Brian's Mum, and the shot in my extra was taken an hour and half before the main shot, which was taken on our way home. What a difference in the light!

I don't have any resolutions for the New Year. There are things I would like to do: smarten up my house, be a little bit more sociable and maybe find a new job. 

However I'm aware that the calendar clicking over from 2018 to 2019 is not going to miraculously mean I have any more free time, disposable cash or physical and mental energy to work on things other than the ones that currently demand my time and attention, so having seriously grand aims would be setting myself up to fail!