A memory from the end of last century at the end of another year…
31 Dec 2021
Dear LPG,
When we think of New Year’s Eve some of us think of parties and having a glass of something bubbly in hand at that pivotal instant as we count down from the end of one year to the next. Some spend time working on what they are going to do with the new year while they look back at the old one as the end of yet another era creeps by. As we get older we often focus in on an early night and just wake up in a year with a new number the next morning, while the focus is usually on where we are going rather than where we have been.
But the last day of any year is so often forgotten as we all look forward to drawing a line under the events of the past and aiming for a better brighter future. Most of the retired people amongst us will remember the turn of the century when all those new year feelings felt even more special, but did you know that the last day of the last year of the last century was a day that had some significance for the start of a few new things too. For one thing, the London Eye was officially opened on the last day of the 20th century?
It was the biggest Ferris wheel on the planet on that day but now, 22 years later, it has been demoted to the 5th biggest. All that said, it is still a pretty impressive ride.
It is said that the people who live so near to such an attraction often only visit when showing it off to foreign visitors from abroad and I am no exception to that rule. I rode on it for the first time this year and, in my humble and very belated opinion, although the views of London can be seen from a few taller buildings now, there is still something unique about moving while you look.
Tomorrow we will be twenty-two years into this century and I am sure that everyone will agree when I say that so much has happened since it started. Many of us will spend today focussing on the fact that things can only get better as we forge ahead into another new year, while they look back and think about all the aspects of 2021 that they really want to leave behind, but for all those who don’t want to focus exclusively on the future on a day like today I suggest we look back just for a short while.
So for all those readers who still have that big kid mentality, I thought it would be a good idea to focus on something good from our past.
YD, Crofton Park…
YD, shares some facts, information and memories of the London Eye.
