New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve usually sucks and involves watching Angus Deayton or Jonathon Ross interviewing D-list celebrities before orchestrating a countdown and then partying to the sounds of the latest pop sensation.

Not this year. I had already resolved some time ago that I wanted to see in the New Year in a club. Clubbing in London is expensive, with tickets costing something like £40 if you want to go to a decent nightclub. So Andrew offers to go out clubbing with me on NYE in Nottingham for £10. How can I refuse? I obliged and it transpires that it's a fancy dress ball. The reality is, Andy has bought a Dracula outfit and basically wants the most use out of it as he can get. He's therefore searching the area for fancy dress parties. And he's found one. And I'm arm twisted into going.

So I drove to Nottingham this morning complete with fancy dress outfit. I go as Shania Twain in her Man! I Feel Like A Woman video - white shirt, black tie, black mini, knee boots, long black gloves and top hat. I swear Andy's jaw actually dropped when I emerged from the bedroom. We met up with some of Andy's mates and we all walked to the Works nightclub. On the way, I got nothing but comments from people on the streets and endless car horn beeps. Andrew thought it was hysterical. I was really embarrassed, not realising that wearing a mini and knee boots was going to grab so much attention.

Once inside the club it was cool because there were loads of other people all dressed up in different outfits. At least six, including Andy's mate Mark, were in musketeer outfits. Mark's girlfriend, Tara, dressed as Velma Kelly from the stage-play Chicago. At one point we got chatting to Dick Tracy, Snow White, a Stormtrooper and Al Capone in the gangway (and the reward for the weirdest sentence of 2004 goes to...). Andy simply LOVED the attention he was getting from his outfit. He spent the entire evening draping his cloak around every woman passing by, and hamming it up for all it was worth. Such an exhibitionist!! His picture even got onto the club's website (see here). But he did keep his promise of protecting me from any unwanted attention, after a guy reached out as if to shake my hand (which happens a lot when you're in fancy dress in a bar) and then proceeded to try and cop a feel.

The nightclub has two rooms with dance floors: one plays chart music and the other plays dance and drum 'n' bass. We spent most of 2004 in the second room and then the countdown and the aftermath were spent in the first room. We even managed to get a slow dance to a couple of songs so it was all good! They didn't play Shania Twain though, even though I did request it.

Mark and Tara left about 2am and Andy and I headed into the second room again for one more drink and basically to wind down from our drinking binge! We left about 3.15am and walked back. It was pretty cold outside so I got to wear Andy's cloak home! It was toasty warm but I was forbidden from taking it home with me to London! More car beeping and hand shakes were dealt out on the way back, and we just fell into bed around 4am.