Be In Times Square On New Years Eve At Midnight

I've been toying with what to write on this blog entry ever since New Years Eve has come and gone. I guess I'd start with the fact that we didn't get to spend New Years Eve in Times Square at midnight, due to the over zealous police that blocked all the roads at 7pm and refused to allow us entry into the celebrations. I'm stuck somewhere between being bitterly disappointed and annoyed with the fact that we went all the way and didn't get to do the one thing that the whole trip was planned around, but I will start from the very beginning....

Hubbie had been feeling poorly since before we set off to fly to New York and on New Years Eve, we both awoke feeling pretty grotty. However, there is something about being in a magical place like New York and I'm a great believer in mind over matter and refused to give in to any such illness nonsense. So we dragged our sorry asses around NYC and stopped off in Times Square on the way back and then I saw this guy.

The poor guy looked visibly shaken when he saw me running towards him and I'm sure if there was room, he would have turned and fled, as quick as his Elmo legs would carry him! Anyway, he allowed me to high five him and then we had a photo taken, because well, when will you get the chance to meet Elmo again?

At this point, I have to inform you that it was snowing and bitterly cold. New York cold is very different to British cold. The wind seems to get into every nook and cranny, no matter how well you are wrapped up and it feels like someone is stabbing you with ice blocks (all I can say is thank god for the thermals - they were the best investment I've ever made!).

So we made our way back to the hotel and had a lovely romantic meal in a wonderful restaurant across the road - low lighting, very old New York etc and then made our way up to Times Square, which is where I started the story - we were stopped at approx 40th street and tried every which way to get in, but to no avail. So we had a mosey around Bryant Park and watched the outdoor ice skating for a little bit, but it was way too cold to hang around, so we ended up back at the hotel room, tucked up in bed, watching the ball drop at midnight on the TV and after which we promptly both fell asleep, both feeling poorly.

In retrospect, I think if we'd actually got into Times Square, we both would have been admitted to hospital for hypothermia. Most of the people that were interviewed on the TV had been there since 12 noon onwards - god knows how they survived - they must have been mad!

So what to do with this task? The chances are that even if I booked another trip to New York, it will be like winning the lottery if I managed to get into Times Square, so I've been pondering about this one for a couple of days. I've finally come to the conclusion that I'm not going to beat myself up if I don't complete a task properly - I did, after all, go to Times Square on New Years Eve - just not at midnight. My main aim in writing this list, was to give myself a set of challenges, that I would try to complete before I'm 40. I'm not copping out when I say this, the challenge would always be trying to tick the task off my list and if it doesn't happen then so be it - at least I've tried. So, it's getting crossed off my list as complete - it won't have a tick next to it, quite yet, because you never know, I may just well be in Times Square at midnight on New Years Eve before I'm 40 - I've got a couple of years left yet, don't forget!