Outdoor New Year in Manchester

I saw in the new year in Manchester, watching the fireworks at the big wheel with a couple of friends. Blogger won't let me embed this video.

There was a slight delay due to a technical hitch involving a tram in the debris zone, meaning the display came in 4 minutes late, but the pyrotechnics were pretty good. The Manchester Evening News managed to get on stage with Cllr Pat Karney, who somewhat clumsily suggested there could be a number of sackings in the pipeline due to the delays, and that the public may have to push the tram out of the centre themselves.

It made a change from house parties and clubs. And it cost a hell of a lot less.

Did you see Esio Trot on New Year's Day? It was a BBC adaptation of Roald Dahl's story of aging bloke Mr Hoppy (Dustin Hoffman) who buys a tortoise to get in with his tortoise-loving, also-ageing female neighbour Mrs Silver (Dame Judi Dench) who he intermittently and clumsily chats up over her adjacent balcony. Well, the balcony used by Hoffman is actually my sister's husband's sister's balcony. Tenuous claim to fame, there. As for the drama, it looked well-made but it just wasn't my thing. I left my mum's after Hoppy shells out a six-figure sum after sponsoring Silver's dance-a-thon for a pound. A pound a minute. The Guardian liked it.