Diary Thursday 31st December 2015 – New Year’s Eve

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The end is nigh for 2015, (already dead and buried given that I wrote this on New Year’s Day). The photo of my 2015 diary makes its final ever appearance now. My mum prepared the house for her expected guests for her annual new year’s party. These would be my estranged sister and her brood who go out of heir way not to talk to me unless they have to. Since the Millennium I have gone out to favourite city centre bars for New Year. I helped my mum prepare the house, and made lots of ice cubes for her party. Her car broke down when she went shopping and I took care of a few jobs for her until the rescue team brought her home. My sister’s sons arrived at the house to bring in lots of board games and a giant table-tennis table they intended to play at the house party, in effect ensuring everyone got to watch them and have to move round them all night. I felt glad I was going out. I checked I had money to go out with at the local ATM as my monthly welfare income is lways paid in on the last calendar day of the month. I was alright. I relaxed before setting off at 5.30 pm, even though the bar I was going to for most of the night wasn’t opening until 8pm. My early departure was due to buses and trams stopping their services in my area at around 6pm. In Manchester, I had a few relaxed drinks in another open bar, got some food and headed to the FAB Café I was attending for the night. The weather was atrocious, so the streets were quiet. In France and Belgium, terrorist threats had put an end to big outdoor public firework displays though the weather was going to deter large outdoor crowds in Manchester too and the city seemed quiet, though police were everywhere. FAB Café was quiet until about 10pm when it got much busier with a wild burst of cheering, hugging and party-popper triggering as midnight hit home. I carried on drinking with friends until 3am and caught a cab home, for which I had to queue for nearly thirty minutes. My mum’s guests had left and I got a little food from the party buffet leftovers and went to bed. Farewell 2015 – hello shiny new 2016. Arthur Chappell