199. Ready for another one?

1st January 2013. Happy New Year folks..!!

I've had this clip sitting in my camera since we were in Nantes - it's of the huge - and I mean huge - mechanical elephant at Les Machines de l'île that we took a ride on:

As usual, the Christmas and New Year festivities have flashed by as if on Fast Forward.. Despite not being at our best due to the flu-like lurgy that gripped us we nevertheless had some memorable moments. 

One evening we went out in the car to take a look at Biarritz and its annual light show. Town was full of rubber-neckers all doing the same thing.. wandering around entranced by the laser lights. Some of the lighting was really magical - for me, the first prize went to the thousands of small LEDs that festooned the palm trees in front of the Galeries Lafayette department store in the Place Clémenceau. This is the best image I could find and it doesn't do it justice I'm afraid. Many of the landmark buildings in Biarritz had these changing scenes (above) projected on to them.  

Changing the subject a little: One of my New Year resolutions is to finally make the breakthrough with my 5 string banjo. I didn't manage to play it much last year - what with all the translation work I was doing - so this year I'm determined to move up a level with it.

Just when you thought you knew it all: this rare image shows a little-known footnote to history - der Führer's first attempt at creating a mass movement. Despite playing his heart out in the quarter finals of "The Third Reich's Got Talent", the country wasn't quite ready for Adolf's brand of torch-lit Bluegrass Line Dancing mit lederhosen and so, after this crushing disappointment, he put his banjo away for good on top of his wardrobe and he joined his local Parish Council. The rest is history..

Now if you're feeling some post-Christmas blues, and you need a lift, take a look at this!

And finally, on the subject of the New Year, here's how it looked down on the river Thames - as always, best in full screen, HD and sound cranked up!