New Year’s Eve…always a big hype, always a big let down. We decided this year that staying in was our going out…being with your friends, drinking rum and watching the New Year countdown on TV. I headed to Vicky’s– a poky, dim council estate flat just off Columbia road. The last time I had been round, I got into an awkward argument with a scally mum who lived in the flat below for playing Cher “too loudly” on a Sunday night. Fortunately this was not a Sunday night, and the inconvenience downstairs had now been kicked out. After much dancing, drinking and lots of laughing, we decided it would be good to go out, share our merry-ness with our fellow Londoners…and buy some more drink, of course.

We stopped by 8 Hackney Road to pop in to see a few friends who were heading off to Nuke @ Images for a 8 hour lock in. Mental. We ended up walking past Victoria Park. Through it would have been faster, but alas it was locked for safety reasons, and my friend’s attempt of getting in was not as successful as she had hoped.

The night ended up at the Joiners Arms, famous for its gay crowd, cheesy music and unisex toilets. I must have consumed a further 6 Rum and diet Cokes by this point, which lead me to question how I was even capable of taking these photos. Well. I was quite clearly more capable than Maria…

This photo (above) was taken at around 8 am. Maria was reapplying her make up after she had passed out in the bathroom and Lloyd couldn’t master his famous pout so refused to have his photograph taken. To be honest, who would want their photo taken after being up for over 12 hours with the morning sun blaring in on their face? Not me. We spent the last few hours sitting round singing along to TLC and eating leftover risotto. Not such a bad new year after all!