New Years Eve Edinburgh Style

New Year has always been the ultimate anti-climatic holiday. In theory it’s infallible, none of the commitments of Christmas and all of the excitement that Easter lacks yet it is this prospective perfectness which inevitable leads to the actual let down.

However, Hogmanay in Edinburgh a is quite a different pan of marine animals. Rather than a night crammed with alcohol and clock watching the event is spread into four days, including the spectacular torchlight procession on the 30th of December, a triumph over health and safety freaks as two year olds dangle flaming torches from their parents shoulders. Twenty thousand participants crammed into the streets and Calton Hill created even more spots of light than the firework show over the castle.

Such an opening predicted even better things for the last day of 2010 itself and we were not disappointed. Even standing on North Bridge, deeming the Street Party was rather expensive for an early closing time of 1 am, high spirits were soaring.

Fireworks surrounded the inebriated onlookers, lighting both sides of the bridge; one brave (or stupid) celebrator even set them off from his hand in the midst. Not knowing quite where to look and brimming full of awe, with the responsibility of the countdown more remote than ones controller, it was an exceptional way to herald the New Year.

Floating on the waves of fellow-feeling we headed to City Nightclub, whose effort in securing a winning line-up, Kissy Sell Out and Pendulum, made up for their usual Friday night mayhem. Their exertions were matched by all the major venues, and folks across Edinburgh danced their way into 2011 to make full use of the one-night only 5am licence.

One would hope those who threw themselves into the Forth the next morning in the quarter of a century tradition of Loony Dook were safely in bed at these hours, but we can be sure that a few ticked both boxes and live to tell the tale. Their New Year’s Resolution would surely be to give the Resolution Concert a miss and have a well-earned day of rest although (if any KT Tunstall fans were among that number they may still be recovering to this day).

All in all, not a perfection to convince the anti-idealist but pretty close.

Rosie Harrison