Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
2018? That’s so blast year .so
Our writers reveal broken vows
REVELLERS across the world welcomed 2019 in style at dazzling and deafening fireworks shows.
Over 100,000 people headed to Central London for what was billed as the biggest New Year’s Eve display in Europe, with eight tonnes of pyrotechnics.
The mayor Sadiq Khan called it a celebration of the city’s relationship with Europe amid the Brexit turmoil.
He said: “Every year our capital puts on the greatest fireworks show in the world with the spectacular images of our skyline shared all around the globe.
“I’m proud millions watching around the world will see us send a message of support to more than one million EU citizens who call London their home.
“By paying tribute to our close relationship with Europe as we welcome in the new year, we will once again show the world London will always be open.”
In his recorded message for spectators, the phrase “London is open” was spoken in six other European languages – Spanish, Polish, French, Romanian, German and Italian.
Police formed a ring of steel around landmarks such as the
London Eye, Trafalgar
Square and Parliament. Thousands of people attended other events across the UK.
Among the gettogethers marked in diaries were a Big Top
Party in The MAC,
Belfast; a booze-free bash in Albert Square, Manchester; fireworks in Newcastle; and Hogmanay festivities in Edinburgh. The Republic of Kiribati, in the Pacific, was the first nation to welcome the new year.
While Auckland in New Zealand was the first major city to celebrate – staging a fireworks display from the Sky Tower near the harbour.
Scottish tennis star Andy Murray posted a photo online of him in Brisbane, Australia, wearing novelty 2019 specs alongside fellow pro players Rafael Nadal, Jo-wilfried Tsonga, Kei Nishikori and Nick Kyrgios.
Andy, 31, said: “I think this is called a
photo op.” Around 500 miles south, Sydney held its biggest ever fireworks extravaganza over the
Opera House with spectators braving torrential rain and thunderstorms.
The pyrotechnics lit up the skyline for 13 minutes in front of around one million people. Revellers praised the event, but there was at least one glaring error.
A message projected on to Sydney Harbour Bridge mistakenly wished everyone a “Happy New Year 2018”.
In secretive North Korea, a concert in capital Pyongyang was streamed online.
While there was a new beginning in more ways than one in Indonesia’s capital Jakarta where hundred of couples tied the knot at a mass wedding. Among the more unusual celebrations was in Nicaragua where people made effigies of US President Donald Trump to burn. And brave souls in Denmark marked the end of 2018 by swimming in the sea. More than 147,000 police, military personnel, civil security guards and firefighters were deployed in France amid the threat of terrorism and anti-government protests. Singers including Sting were booked to play at the bash in Times Square, New York. The last inhabited place to see in 2019 will be American Samoa, which must wait until 11am UK time.
MILLIONS of us will have made, and probably just as quickly broken, a New Year resolution today. But what are our brilliant writers’ least successful ones and how long did they actually manage to stick to them?