Happy New Ears

New Year's Eve, as has become a Millbrookian tradition, saw the doors of Millbrooker Towers being thrown open for an "open house" evening.

In all truth we weren't expecting a thumping evening of unremitting hard-partying; these evenings seem to fluctuate between the very quiet and the marvellously raucous. This year, we kind of expected the former. And that was fine by us.


The Wizzers of Soz and MinorEarthQwake were with us from the beginning and we were joined by MinorEarthQwake's friends Reece, Ben and Sophie.

First mystery guests through the doors for a quick beer, before heading off to the even more traditional New Year's Eve fancy dress pub crawl of Kingsand and Cawsand, were John and Julie in outstanding costumes - but neither Mrs The Millbrooker nor I thought to take a photo, so their finery will have to remain a mystery to the wider world.

Lovely neighbour Margaret dropped by for a G&T and a chinwag, and then in came Slocombe and Genevieve in their glad rags - also en-route to the Kingsand/Cawsand shindig.

Chris and Andy were with them and we had, for a short time, a bit of a roomful.

The young people exited to sample the fare on offer at the D&C and the 'Ark of F'iendship and before long Mrs The Millbrooker and I had the place briefly to ourselves before Dong and Shazzerooneypoos arrived to see in the midnight chimes with us.

The bright young things returned from their pubbing ten minutes before the witching hour and the bubbly was popped open, a fine round of Auld Lang Syne doing the cross-arm-handy-shaky thing ensued and seemed to bring out the desire for more singing. Lots more singing.

MinorEarthQwake gave us several, increasingly bawdy, ditties.

His merry throng of fellow pirates (of St Piran) and life-long mates joined in with gusto.

As did Dong and Shazzerooneypoos.

As did the mildly inebriated Wizzers of Sozzled, seen here alongside notorious pirate Sophia Sogood.

The bawdiness and singalonging carried on deep into the early hours . . .

And so there we have it - New Year's Eve 2012/2013 - celebrated in style with few in number, but many in decibels, and and great deal of fun. Our thanks to all those who came along and made it a memorable evening for Mrs The Millbrooker and me and a very Happy New Year to everyone whether you were there or not.