Dad, can I stay up till midnight?

"All my friends are, can I stay up until the New Year?"

"No."

"But why not? I'm nearly nine. All my friends are doing it."

"No."

And so on. In the end, worn into submission, we agreed to get him up at ten-to-12 so he could watch the fireworks on television and say "Happy New Year".

We had to take the blip so he'd believe we got him up.

Happy New Year to you all.