New Year’s Eve and the first day of the New Year have become tourist attractions in their own right. Television has magnified it by capturing the moment when the New Year begins in a number of places. Around lunchtime on New Years Eve, the new year is heralded in Sydney in Australia with a huge firework display and winds down about 24 hours later with the display from Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. In between, there is the traditional gathering in London at Trafalgar Square, in Princes Street in Edinburgh, the swinging of fireballs in Stonehaven near Aberdeen (quite a sight if you’ve never seen it) and the counting in of the new year in Times Square in New York. As well as that a large number of towns and cities such as Nottingham and Carlisle will have firework displays.

In parts of Devon and Cornwall such as Dartmouth and St Ives, there will be parades of people in fancy dress. The biggest of these will be in Bideford where up to 20,000 people parade in fancy dress. And the population of Bideford is only 15,000 so people come from far and wide.

One different way to see in the New Year is in Langynwyd in Wales. Here is still practised an old tradition that has almost died out. A horse skull with fake ears and eyes is held on a pole covered in a white sheet and ribbons. This is then paraded from house to house and a poem is recited at each one. The householder then replies with a poem.

But since we don’t have 24 hour public transport in our countries, getting home can be an issue. Most places with events will have late running bus and tube services and in London and Newport in South Wales at least these services will be free.

Probably the biggest event on New Years Day will be the Mayor’s procession in London. Some 400,000 will turn out to see it, though not I expect, many of those who saw in the New Year. And 10,000 people are expected to take part in the parade starting at midday. This year the route has been reversed to accommodate the world wide media coverage. So if you aren’t there, you’ll be able to see plenty of it on television.

Whatever you do have a enjoyable New Year’s Eve and the very best for 2010 from all of us here at CD-Traveller.