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I can’t believe it’s 2002 already. It seems like no time at all since we were running checks on the computers that come in for review at PCW to make sure they were millennium compliant. Now that’s three years ago.

Was out of bed, showered and sipping tea before eight. At the station by 25 past and on a train before half past with Paul, Steve who drives the desk for The Lab, and Chris the Midnight Weatherman. It was a great journey. We zoomed through to Liverpool Street without stopping once, in spite of the frosty rails, which makes you wonder why icy conditions so often delay the trains on a weekday. It’ll be interesting to see if they use that as an excuse tomorrow morning.

We took a tube to Embankment and walked from there to the hotel where we were gathering for breakfast. We sat with Sandy Warr and Steve Allen, so it was a fun chat, but the food was very disappointing. The surroundings were nice, though, and the sun was streaming in through the windows, so all things considered it was actually very pleasant.

Coaches had been laid on to ferry us to the grandstands from which we were to watch the New Year’s Parade, but Steve, Paul, Chris and I hung around while Chris did a weather report on the ISDN line that had been set up in the next room, then walked most of the route to the stand.

It was unbelievably cold. I had my big Epson coat, which is the warmest one I own, but it didn’t stop my legs freezing. I was glad I didn’t need to wear my jumper, as it means I could lay it across my knees. By the time the last marching band had passed us, almost three hours later, my legs had given up and I waas stumbling down the stairs.

I never thought I’d say it, but it was really REALLY lovely to get on the train. It was warm, and the seats weren’t hard plastic. I sipped hot tea and munched on a sandwich for late lunch and watched the frosty verges speed by as we talked about the day we’d just had. The one image that will stick in my mind - far better than any of the bands or floats or balloons - was Chris doing a live report during Therese Birch’s show with his head inside Steve’s jacket (Steve still wearing it) to block out some of the noise.

I had no hot water when I got home, but switched on the boiler and sunk into a long relaxing bath as soon as it was done.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 1st, 2002 at 6:26 pm and is filed under Journal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.