Not impressed by last night's London fireworks
 

It was good to see the tubes running late (and free, though I'd got a
1-day travelcard so it didn't save me anything) but we went in specially
to see the fireworks at midnight and were very disappointed.

We watched them from the north bank roughly opposite the National
Theatre, from which we could see nearly all of the London Eye. We
obviously could have got closer, but the crowds would have been denser
and we thought the difficulties of getting into a tube station
afterwards would have been too great.

For us the fireworks were ok for the first couple of minutes, but all a
bit low down - hardly any seemed to go much higher than the top of the
wheel itself.

But they all generated a huge amount of smoke, which gradually drifted
eastwards, also at a low level, and totally obscured the rest of the
display from where we (and thousands of others) were standing. In the
end all we could here were the bangs, which also seemed low down. I'm
sure we would have been able to see something if they had been higher -
which I think has been the case for displays along the Thames in
previous years.

I think I saw somewhere that a different company was responsible for the
display this year. Did others manage to get a better view or were you
also disappointed?

--
Clive Page

Not impressed by last night's London fireworks
 

On 1 Jan, 14:54, Clive Page wrote:
It was good to see the tubes running late (and free, though I'd got a
1-day travelcard so it didn't save me anything) but we went in specially
to see the fireworks at midnight and were very disappointed....
... I think I saw somewhere that a different company was responsible for the
display this year. *Did others manage to get a better view or were you
also disappointed?

--
Clive Page

My master plan with wife and grandson was to alight at Waterloo East,
view fireworks from Westminster Bridge (to avoid smoke in southerly
wind) then go to Charing Cross (WE being closed) to go home. However,
apart from the drizzle, we found Westminster Bridge had been closed by
the police so we had to traipse round via Lambeth Bridge and then
struggle back towards Parliament Square. This wasted so much time that
midnight came just as we reached the extreme SW corner. Yes, I thought
the fireworks were pretty disappointing too - no bangs, no real form
or crescendo - and it was hard to see anything for a good part of the
time. Later saw them on TV and it looks like we didn't miss much
anyway. Certainly, to say you could see them wherever you could see
the Wheel was an exageration with all the low level boat stuff and use
of the Wheel seemed pretty limited too.

Yes, also, run by a French company who apparently did whizzy things in
Athens and in Paris in 2000. Maybe he had run out of ideas?

I won't go into the ordeal of getting home, with an hour queue to get
into CX and my last train long gone, and the 2 altenative trains,
super expensive taxi and car to complete the journey. Anyway, if I
feel like suggesting such a trip to my family again, I shall go and
lie down in a dark room until the feeling passes.

MaxB

Not impressed by last night's London fireworks
 

"Clive Page" wrote in message
...
It was good to see the tubes running late (and free, though I'd got a
1-day travelcard so it didn't save me anything) but we went in specially
to see the fireworks at midnight and were very disappointed.

We watched them from the north bank roughly opposite the National
Theatre, from which we could see nearly all of the London Eye. We
obviously could have got closer, but the crowds would have been denser and
we thought the difficulties of getting into a tube station afterwards
would have been too great.

For us the fireworks were ok for the first couple of minutes, but all a
bit low down - hardly any seemed to go much higher than the top of the
wheel itself.

But they all generated a huge amount of smoke, which gradually drifted
eastwards, also at a low level, and totally obscured the rest of the
display from where we (and thousands of others) were standing. In the end
all we could here were the bangs, which also seemed low down. I'm sure we
would have been able to see something if they had been higher - which I
think has been the case for displays along the Thames in previous years.

I think I saw somewhere that a different company was responsible for the
display this year. Did others manage to get a better view or were you
also disappointed?

--
Clive Page
--------------------------------------------
Anything that Gauleiter Livingstone gives his approval to has the signature
of **** attached to it,Happy New Year.

Not impressed by last night's London fireworks
 

On 1 Jan, 16:39, MaxB wrote:
On 1 Jan, 14:54, Clive Page wrote:

It was good to see the tubes running late (and free, though I'd got a
1-day travelcard so it didn't save me anything) but we went in specially
to see the fireworks at midnight and were very disappointed....
... I think I saw somewhere that a different company was responsible for the
display this year. *Did others manage to get a better view or were you
also disappointed?

--
Clive Page

My master plan with wife and grandson was to alight at Waterloo East,
view fireworks from Westminster Bridge (to avoid smoke in southerly
wind) then go to Charing Cross (WE being closed) to go home. However,
apart from the drizzle, we found Westminster Bridge had been closed by
the police so we had to traipse round via Lambeth Bridge and then
struggle back towards Parliament Square. This wasted so much time that
midnight came just as we reached the extreme SW corner. Yes, I thought
the fireworks were pretty disappointing too - no bangs, no real form
or crescendo - and it was hard to see anything for a good part of the
time. Later saw them on TV and it looks like we didn't miss much
anyway. Certainly, to say you could see them wherever you could see
the Wheel was an exageration with all the low level boat stuff and use
of the Wheel seemed pretty limited too.

Yes, also, run by a French company who apparently did whizzy things in
Athens and in Paris in 2000. Maybe he had run out of ideas?

I won't go into the ordeal of getting home, with an hour queue to get
into CX and my last train long gone, and the 2 altenative trains,
super expensive taxi and car to complete the journey. Anyway, if I
feel like suggesting such a trip to my family again, I shall go and
lie down in a dark room until the feeling passes.

MaxB

Fireworks looked pretty impressive on TV to me. Much better than New
Years Eve was in London just a few years ago - see
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2618337.stm with police advising
people to stay at home as there was nothing to see.

Rob

Not impressed by last night's London fireworks
 

"Rob" wrote in message


Fireworks looked pretty impressive on TV to me. Much better than New
Years Eve was in London just a few years ago - see
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2618337.stm with police advising
people to stay at home as there was nothing to see.

Yes, I thought so too -- maybe they were designed more for TV than
spectators? For example, all the stuff on the river wouldn't have been
visible to anyone who wasn't right on the bank, but was great on TV.

Not impressed by last night's London fireworks
 

Yes, I thought so too -- maybe they were designed more for TV than
spectators? For example, all the stuff on the river wouldn't have been
visible to anyone who wasn't right on the bank, but was great on TV.

They were certainly "low level" ones, and did look impressive on the Beeb -
though perhaps not quite as impressive as last years, which I remember
thinking were spectacular. Unless my few shandy's had impaired my thinking!
;) I have only bee in in central London for new years once, pre
Millenium... never again!

Best Wishes,
LEWIS

Not impressed by last night's London fireworks
 

On Wed, 2 Jan 2008 18:41:49 -0000, "Lew 1"
wrote:

Yes, I thought so too -- maybe they were designed more for TV than
spectators? For example, all the stuff on the river wouldn't have been
visible to anyone who wasn't right on the bank, but was great on TV.

They were certainly "low level" ones, and did look impressive on the Beeb -
though perhaps not quite as impressive as last years, which I remember
thinking were spectacular. Unless my few shandy's had impaired my thinking!
;) I have only bee in in central London for new years once, pre
Millenium... never again!

Compared with the Sydney display, they were poor, in my view. TV
cameras wrongly placed, so that all you saw was smoke, and too close
so that you had frequent switches of view. The Channel Ten pictures
that Sky News showed live were far superior, with aerial views and
long shots.
--
Terry Harper
Website Coordinator, The Omnibus Society
http://www.omnibussoc.org