Happy New Year?

It is supposed to be the best night of the year, but I would quite happily skip the 31st of December altogether. I am a passionate supporter of Christmas; if it were a sports team I would have the kit, the scarf, the bed sheets and the wallpaper. But I have to admit, I am a New Year's Eve Scrooge.

There is just something about being forced to have an 'amazing time' that somehow makes the whole experience far from amazing. Every other evening of the year (excluding your birthday) you are entitled to choose whether to have an 'amazing time' or whether to instead spend the evening in your pyjamas eating Dairy Milk and watching re-runs of Friends. On New Year's Eve, the decision is taken away from you. If you are not drunkenly singing 'Aud Lang Syne' by 1am you are probably not the sort of person who should be allowed to socialise with other people for the rest of the year.

At least that is how New Year's Eve hype always makes me feel.

The pressure to have 'the best night of the year' means the 31st requires some serious forward planning. Living in London makes matters even worse; there are literally hundreds of 'NYE' parties to go to. How is it possible to know which one will be the best? Because on New Year's Eve you are haunted by the feeling that no matter how much fun you are having, someone, somewhere, is probably having more fun than you and that you, therefore, have failed New Year's Eve.

Being in London also comes with another problem: the price tag. Why would I pay £80 to get into a club that usually costs £10, only to then dish out £10 per drink whilst I'm inside?

I also find New Year's Eve a tad depressing. Big Ben chimes in the New Year and I find myself wondering what I have achieved in the dying year and what I will achieve during the lifetime of its offspring. I want to be with all the people I love, and then I realise that it is not physically possible to get them all together in one room. I always feel like New Year is a time for reflection, not getting drunk.

And then, of course, there is 'the kiss'. You somehow seem to find yourself as the only single person in a whole universe of contented, kissing couples and suddenly feel as much of a social reject as if you had actually stayed in with your Dairy Milk and the Friends DVD.

I don't mean to put a downer on your New Year's Eve. If you are a fan of the annual festivity, I salute you. And, of course, I won't really be sitting in my bedroom in my pyjamas on the 31st; I have made plans and am looking forward to having a great time. But I will have a great time because I want to, not because I am following the orders of the dictator that is New Year's Eve.

Anyway, have a wonderful New Year's Eve. And here are my resolutions for 2012.

Libby