A poll among my friends this morning, leads me to think that I am the only one not to watch New Year’s Eve celebrations on TV last night.  It’s not that I’m anti-TV, and I’m certainly not anti-New Year’s Eve celebrations, but I’ve been disenchanted with the programmes brought to us at this rather special time for the last few years, by those who schedule the night’s viewing.

After last year’s parade of people famous for merely being famous, fatuous comments from said celebs, frantic commenting from comperes striving too hard to convey a frenzy of excitement, and “stars” swanning around swanky venues, I decided that enough was enough.  Even Jools Holland couldn’t do much to lift the gloom with his parade of guests, although at any other time I would have watched most of them with pleasure.

But I wanted something more for New Year’s Eve.  Was that too much to ask?  The fireworks last year were quite spectacular spoiled only by the voice-over, so this year I decided I’d give them a miss too.  I opted instead to join some friends and watch the local firework display from a balcony and when that got too cold, from behind glass.  And yes, they were good.  And, no, I didn’t miss the TV version.  And I did manage to catch up with a film I’d recorded some time ago which gave me two hours of very satisfactory drama.

Would it be too much for the cameras to roam outside London a bit more and spend a bit more time in Scotland. where the Hogmanay celebrations are usually worth watching?  What did they do in Wales – and not just in Cardiff?  What did they do in Dublin?  In Belfast?  In Liverpool?  Even on the Isle of Man.  And with so much accent on the EU nowadays, wouldn’t it have been nice to have a link-up with some European capitals?

Now all I’m left with is to make a few more resolutions.  Last year I said “I’m not watching that again, ever” and I did just that.  I can chalk up at least one resolution I’ve kept!

 A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL