End of the decade, it's nothing special...

Ten years ago there was a big palaver over the end of the millennium. This end of the horribly named noughties seems all a bit low key in comparison. Remember the worry about Y2K and the millennium bug? Everything was going to stop and chaos would reign. Seems to be going okay, so far.

Ten years ago we had a real blast in a field in Kent. Friends thought (for some reason) that it would be a good idea to hold a Millennium party in the garden in a marquee, resulting in a four course sit-down meal for eighty people. All cooked on a Aga if I recall correctly, goodness knows how they managed it. Not my department, I was a waiter. It was hard work and at about 2am I recall saying how tired I was and my daughter, then three and a half and wide awake, laughing and saying "But you're the Daddy". Because, obviously, 35 year olds could never be tired. It was a great night and I think I'll always remember it.

Ten years ago I was part of the team to take down the marquee because (for some reason) the party hosts were going skiing the following day. I say, to my shame, that a hangover rendered me pretty useless for the task.

This New Year's Eve will be much more low key... some episodes of Outumbered, a game of Risk perhaps, food for just four and watching midnight fireworks over the bay from a cottage in Devon. Very different from 1999 but it'll still be good.

Have a good one yourself; here's to 2010...