¡Feliz Año!

For the first time in years Maggie and I decided to do something a bit different for New Year. We joined our pal Pepa in Valencia where one of the national TV stations (Channel 5) was hosting a 10 minute slot up to the midnight countdown from Valencia, Spain's third largest city. They used three of the stars from a soap opera called "I am Bea" famous for featuring an "ugly" woman in the lead role. The Spanish word for ugly is fea so fea and Bea rhyme. The TV celebs were on a little stage in front of a countdown clock projected against a wall of one of the buildings in the Arts and Science Park.

There were a lot of us there. The organisers played Dance Music before and after the event, we all ate our twelve lucky grapes, one per chime, at midnight, we splashed our fizzy cava wine around, we watched the fireworks as they banged and crashed along with a couple of pieces by Beethoven and Falla and then the three of us had a stroll around an old part of the town amongst the partying crowds.