'I will survive': 2020 slinks off into history as fireworks light deserted streets

[webfact]

'I will survive': 2020 slinks off into history as fireworks light deserted streets

By Gareth Jones and Peter Graff

 

Fireworks explode over the boats and Sydney Harbour Bridge during downsized New Year's Eve celebrations due to an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Sydney, Australia, January 1, 2021. REUTERS/Loren Elliott

 

(Reuters) -Fireworks soared into the sky above the Sydney Opera House, but the harbour below was a deserted ghost town, a fittingly creepy send-off for a year that will not be missed.

 

No light show illuminated Beijing from the top of the TV tower. St Peter's in Rome was nearly empty for vespers. London's Trafalgar Square, Moscow's Red Square, Madrid's Puerta del Sol and New York's Times Square were all barricaded off.

Good riddance, 2020. Hello, 2021.

 

While some cities would launch fireworks over empty streets, others, such as London and Singapore, called their displays off. Paris, Rome and Istanbul were under curfew.

 

 

A woman sells a 2021 decoration at a popular entertainment street on New Year's Eve during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bangkok, Thailand December 31, 2020. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

 

New York's countdown ball was set to drop on Broadway. But in place of hundreds of thousands of people jammed shoulder-to-shoulder in Times Square, the audience would be a few dozen pre-selected key workers - including nurses, doctors, a grocery store worker and a pizza delivery man - their families kept six feet (2 metres) apart in socially distanced pens.

 

Organisers booked Gloria Gaynor to sing her disco classic "I Will Survive". (Lyrics: "You think I'd crumble? You think I'd lay down and die? Oh no, not I!")

 

"It's going to be actually, arguably, the most special, the most poignant, the most moving New Year's Eve," Mayor Bill de Blasio, who will push the button to start the crystal's ball descent, told reporters. "In 2021, we're going to show people what it looks like to recover, to come back."

 

With more than 1.7 million people dead and 82 million infected around the globe since last New Year's Eve - yet hope emerging that new vaccines can help tame the pandemic - the year ended unlike any other in memory.

 

Angela Merkel, in her 16th New Year's Eve address as German chancellor, said as much: "I think I am not exaggerating when I say: never in the last 15 years have we found the old year so heavy. And never have we, despite all the worries and some scepticism, looked forward to the new one with so much hope."

 

China's President Xi Jinping said the year's extraordinary hardship had allowed people to demonstrate their resilience: "Only in hard times can courage and perseverance be manifested. Only after polishing can a piece of jade be finer."

 

'HELL OF A YEAR'

In the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the pandemic originated a year ago, thousands were expected to gather at landmarks across the city centre to count down to 2021. Some said they were being cautious, but not particularly worried.

"Safety is the priority," said Wuhan resident Wang Xuemei, 23, a teacher.

 

In Australia, where Sydney's fireworks annually serve as the world's first big visual display of the new year, gatherings were banned and internal borders shut. Most people were barred from Sydney’s downtown.

 

"What a hell of a year it's been,” said Gladys Berejiklian, premier of New South Wales state, which includes Sydney. "Hopefully 2021 will be easier on all of us."

 

The virus did not stop North Korea from staging its celebration in Pyongyang. State media showed revellers in face masks filling the main square for a concert and fireworks.

 

But in Madrid's Puerta del Sol, where Spaniards typically count down to midnight by stuffing grapes into their mouths at each clock strike, police put up barriers to keep people out. Jose Angel Balsa, a 61-year-old retiree, said he would spend the evening "with family, just the four of us at home, holding lots of video calls and hoping for this to end as soon as possible."

 

In Britain, under ever tighter restrictions to fight a new, more contagious variant of the virus, official billboards instruct the public to "see in the New Year safely at home".

 

Italy's bars and restaurants were closed, and a curfew imposed for 10 p.m.

 

The rules prevented the traditional assembly of thousands of Roman Catholic worshippers for New Year's Eve vespers at St Peter's Basilica. Pope Francis cancelled plans to lead the service because of a flare-up of his sciatica, the Vatican said, and a cardinal read the pope's sermon to a small congregation at a secondary altar.

 

At "A la Ville de Rodez", an upmarket delicatessen in Paris, manager Brice Tapon sent customers home with packages of foie gras, truffles and pate for groups of two or three. Rules forbid more than six adults to gather around the dinner table.

One of the customers, Anne Chaplin, said she would "stuff myself with foie gras, champagne and all this food."

 

"And I’ll stay home."

 

(Reporting by Reuters bureauxWriting by Gareth Jones and Peter GraffEditing by Frances Kerry)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-01-01

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

[Tug]

Good by 2020 you sucked let’s all hope 2021 is better stay safe all and blessings to you and yours 

[Stargeezr]

To America, 2021 will start as a year where thousands of people are still sick and dying.   2021 will be the first of 5 years where I will not travel to that toxic country either.

I do hope that 2021 will be a year where a lot of people get the vaccine and will have a better chance against this virus.    I think that tourism around the world will be down, and not exist for some countries.  Happy New Year Thailand, I hope I can travel there next December for a nice long vacation.

Geezer

[nickmondo]

2021 will suck also.

sorry, but this virus is here to stay.

maybe the vaccine will help, but by how much?  nobody knows for sure

happy chappy arent I?  ha ha

[Madgee]

I honestly consider myself lucky to be living in Thailand in these covid times, living up in the 'Boonies' where there has been no covid related deaths and only 5 infections since the beginning. (Was 4 until 2 days ago)

 

I believe it will get worse before it gets better and Thailand should remain vigilant to remain relatively covid free compared to many other countries. I'm not a Thai apologist, I'm a whinging Brit but I know where I'd rather be at this point in time. It's time to be positive and I look forward to doing some travelling in 2021-22 to the surrounding countries of S-E Asia.

 

May the year 2021 be a successful year that is remembered as the recovery year from covid around the world. Bottoms up! ???? 

[Eddy Ozark]

In percentages, how much is 1.7 million out of 7 billion?

[Bluespunk]

19 hours ago, webfact said:

Organisers booked Gloria Gaynor to sing her disco classic "I Will Survive". (Lyrics: "You think I'd crumble? You think I'd lay down and die? Oh no, not I!")

Should have got the Mountain Goats to sing This Year

 

The motor screaming out
Stuck in second gear
The scene ends badly
As you might imagine
In a cavalcade of anger and fear
There will be feasting and dancing
In Jerusalem next year
I am going to make it through this year
If it kills me
I am going to make it though this year
If it kills me