Happy Hogmanay! Well it wasn't exactly a proper Hogmanay but I was still delighted to learn about the Scottish way of celebrating New Years. If I am still in the UK next year I want to go to Scotland for the real deal. We celebrated with Moet & Chandon, I was given the cork with a pound in it. Its a good luck charm. Then we brought in the New Year, like literally brought it in. The first person through your front door after midnight should come bearing gifts for the new year. Money for luck, food & drink to kept you fed and coal to keep you warm. You greet them with a glass of champagne or wine and welcome them into the house. But they need to be outside the house before midnight. Then we went outside to watch all the fireworks. They were everywhere since anyone can buy them from the supermarket here. Then the sky filled up with Chinese lanterns. People write their hopes, dreams & wishes on them, then light them up and let them float off into the sky. There were literally hundreds of them. Lots were coming from the city, but others from the houses around us. So many New Years hopes filling the heavens with faint red glowing lights, it was quite magical to see. I want to buy one so I can do them same, belated as it may be. My New Years was made even better when Jenna & Trist called me just after Australia's New Years. I love talking to everyone back home. I'm so lucky to have such awesome friends. Cant wait to get back home & catch up with everyone. The next day we watched how to train your dragon. Now I know what I want for my birthday, a Night Fury Dragon from the island of Berk! It was so quiet the next evening as I walked home, all I could hear was my footsteps on the bitumen. Then some fireworks started nearby. It's was a little eerie watching each one explode in the sky and only having them with my footsteps as sound, like no one else was around. But I had a good feeling and smiled as i walked. A feeling like 2011 is going to be an great year. I've taken the big steps to get here, made it through a chest infection and then a cold. Like there's going to be fun times ahead. Keeping my fingers crossed I land a decent job soon so I don't have to keep spending my savings. No kids though! I'll start looking for hospitality or office jobs. So cheers 2010! And here's to love, laugh & party for 2011