Actually, I'm wishing you all a Happy (Chinese) New Year, in advance... ha! :) For January 26th, I think. New year celebrations, like many big events, are a strange time where people from all walks of life suddenly feel the opportunity to drop their guard and become community with everyone. Strangers laugh, talk, sing together - and perfectly sober, for the most part!
Perhaps it's the closure of the roads that liberate grumpy folk, freeing them from the cramp curbs and like dogs unleashed we're running and barking with whoever we can find. But it was freeezing that night! Fireworks were a distant wonder, billowing brightly from behind Westminster station building as we clustered outside the Houses of Parliament for as best a view as we could muster.
People deep down do get along it seems, perchance we get bogged down in routine a little too often?