2006 - The Year That Was

Okay so Christmas is over. The mince pies are all gone, the Quality Street is almost empty (apart from the boring toffee penny ones), the comb, moustache, fake plastic nail-through-finger and spinning top from the crackers are over the dining table along with the salt and pepper and other stuff we couldn't be bothered to put away after christmas dinner. We've had a sleep and played a quiz and now it's time to turn our attention to the fact that in four days time 2006 will be over and consigned to the history books as the year that was.

And how better to reflect upon 2006 than with a cheesy quiz that someone emailed to me...

1) Where did you begin 2006? In Cathy's flat drinking pints of vodka and diet coke, eating chinese and playing music DVD quizes!

2) What was your status by Valentine's Day? Single. Someone later told me they wanted to send me a card but had no idea how to get it to me!

3) Were you in school (anytime this year)? Nope. I've worked all year. In the same job!

5) Did you have to go to the hospital? Not for treatment

6) Did you have any encounters with the police? Only through work. Not cos I'd done anything naughty! I'm a good girl!

7) Where did you go on holiday? Rhodes, with my sister. Also went to Albi (France) for a rugby game and on a rugby torunament in Reading.

8) What did you purchase that was over £500? Other than my holiday, nothing. My season ticket was just over £300

9) Did you know anybody who got married? Yep, Camilla and Chris got married. And Dave and Vicky (but I didn't go to that one)

10) Did you know anybody who passed away? Yes. Sadly.

11) Have you run into anybody you left high school with? Yes. Not that I really remembered him!

12) Did you move anywhere? Nope

13) What sporting events did you go to?Well I went to the odd Warriors match. Also went to the Guinness Premiership Final (which was good) and the Middlesex Sevens (Not so good!)

14) What was the best concert/show did you go to? I don't think I went to one. That seems quite sad. I wanted to go see Paulo Nutini but couldn't because of work.

15) Are you registered to vote? Yes

16) Who did you want to win Big Brother? Pete - He was cool.

17) Where do you live now? Worcester

18) Describe your birthday. I didn't really do anything on my actual birthday. Went out for a nice meal with parents. Couple of days later was the first pre-season at the rugby so I celebrated with my friends at that.

19) What's the one thing you thought you would never do but did in 2006? Help get rid of my boss!

20.) What has been your favourite moment? Probably the Albi trip a couple of weekends ago. There was probably about an hour in the entire weekend when I wasn't having a brilliant time. Holiday with my sister was cool too. Oh and the London Marathon and the 18 hours in the white van to and from the Great North Run.

21.) What's something you learned about yourself? People think a lot more of me than I tend to believe.

23.) What was your best month/months? April and May

24.) What music will you remember 2006 by? Paulo Nutini

25) Who has been your best drinking buddy? Marie. Considering about 18 months ago I thought she hated my guts, she's become quite a good friend!!

26) Made new friends? Yes - Sophie's someone I feel like I've known forever.

27) New best friend? No. But some good friends have become very good friends.

28) Favourite Night out? End of Season dinner. Bloody brilliant night.

29) Any regrets? One or two but lets not dwell on them!

So, Sunday evening is New Year's Eve. The one night of the year I utterly despise! New Year's Eve comes with far too much pressure.

Firstly, you have to decide who you want to spend New Years Eve with. If you have several different groups of friends this can be particularly difficult. This can be made even worse if you have a boyfriend/girlfriend who also has several different groups of friends and often in different cities.

Once you've decided on who you're spending it with, you've then got to decide where. Invariably there are two basic options. Both come with pros and cons. Option 1: House party. Option 2: Pub/Bar/Club

Option 1: House party

Pros:
* Free to get in
* Take your own alcohol so relatively cheap
* No closing time
* Don't have to dress up or deal with annoying bouncers

Cons:
* You're stuck with the same people all night with absolutely no chance of 'running into' another group of friends. It's also highly unlikely you'll meet anyone new.
* They're usually in the middle of nowhere which means you either have to sleep uncomfortably on someone's floor which means you start the new year, not only with a hangover but with the backpain from hell or you catch one of the most expensive taxis ever back to your own bed.
* People tend to drink far too much at house parties and someone ends up throwing up in the toilet which means if you actually need to use the toilet for reasons it was intended you have a long wait.
* Even worse someone throws up not in the toilet
* When the 'volatile' couple amongst your friends has their fight, everyone knows about it and it puts everyone in a bad mood.
* After you've tuned the telly into BBC to watch Big Ben's bongs then it's all a bit of a let down.
* You spend the entire night wondering if you'd have had more fun if you'd gone into town with your other group of friends.

Option 2: Pub/Bar/Club

Pros:
* Constant supply of music, usually quite fun and cheesy. Usually quite varied rather than the music nazi's choice from the house party.
* If you get bored with the people you're with, you can make some new friends!
* Everyone is in the party atmosphere, if there is anyone in a bad mood, they'll go home rather than hanging round like a rainy day!
* You can go to another bar if the one you're in is a bit crap

Cons:
* You have to pay to get in almost everywhere
* Drinks tend to magically go up in price
* Everywhere is packed so you queue for hours to get a drink
* At midnight some sleezy drunken vile excuse for a man seems to think its alright to invade your personal space and try to stick his tongue down your throat claiming it's a 'New Year Kiss'.
* You HAVE to have fun and can't get bored, tired and go home early!
* You spend the entire night wondering if you'd have had more fun if you'd gone to the house party with your other group of friends.

So, yes. I hate New Year's Eve. Last year was an exception. Last year I went round to Cathy's flat. We bought some snacks from Tescos and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on DVD. We then went to 'Wok'n'Roll' for a chinese, we were in our PJs by 8:30 and spent the evening watching films, playing DVD games, watching the crap New Year's Eve telly and eating ourselves silly. At midnight, we leaned out of her window and watched the fireworks over the city.

Hopefully something similar will be happening this year but with Marie and Jon. Then on New Year's Day we'll all pile into my car and drive up to Northampton to watch some shite excuse for a rugby match...but that's another blog for another day.


Happy New Year !!!