78 / How was your New Year's Eve?
… very nice, thank you very much. A quiet picnic dinner at Balmoral Beach (there were probably 1/2 doz parties on the island - we practically had it for ourselves), then a pleasant evening at home in good company.
But in the afternoon I joined the throng and made my way to Circular Quay, just after midday. What a sight! Hundreds, nei thousands of people had taken up positions in the 'prime viewing spots' and staked their real estate claims for viewing the fire works. What a joke!
And you should behold the efforts that go into crowd control - what a joke again. Fences everywhere. Visually Circular Quay had become either a building site or something akin a cattle holding yard. Methinks it is incomprehensible that people put themselves through it: Being herded into gated areas, having to queue and wait for twelve hours in utter discomfort (unless you bring your own furniture.)
The newspaper said a good time was had by all; especially by the 800 million around the world who watched the fireworks on television. Oh, we watched too (it is not recommended; televison is not the way fireworks are meant to be watched.) But it was clear to us that the show was either magnificent or ludicrous, depending on your point of view; mine is the latter.
I put it to the authorities: De-centralize the fireworks. Admittedly a feeble attempt to do so is made by spreading them out over the inner harbour. But I mean, really de-centralize them, i.e why were there no fireworks at Balmoral Beach? Or in other suburbs? So that people don't have to make that degrading trip with the accompanying wait (not to mention the dreadful journey home) to have a good time? Last year we watched the fireworks in Manly - very nice too; not too huge a crowd; easy to get to and back again. So it can be done. I think the current fire works spectacle is badly conceived.
