Fireworks

Who knew that the New Year's Eve fireworks was a competition?

I didn't, until this morning when I flicked on the news and it was all about who had the best show. 'Course, Australia led the way, but the newsies missed the most amazing sights of all.

At 8.30pm, there's a show for the kids so they're not up wa-ay past their bedtimes. This is the show I watched since my interest in watching ten minutes of televised fireworks at midnight is... oh, about... hmmm... zero.

I was staggered to see first, the three-dimensional boxes explode white into the sky, and then gobsmacked at the 'S' sigils in red. What an astonishing accomplishment by the world-renowned Foti family. How difficult was that? The timing and chemistry of working it all out? And you can bet I've been thinking about it - no answer yet.

I also saw the towers in Hong Kong light upwards in various colours - a definite 'woo hoo' moment, and the one from China.

This morning, the London and Edinburgh displays were shown. My conclusion? Someone should invent smokeless fireworks. The Brits did well - although the display was designed and executed by a Frenchman - but a lot of the Millennium wheel was obscured by smoke.

I haven't seen the rest of the world yet - no doubt I'll see highlights.

Anyway. Welcome to 2008; may this year be more fortunate for us all.