The fireworks started as soon as the sun went down and by the time it got to midnight I was already fed up of the constant din and had the volume right up watching a DVD trying to drown out the sound.
When midnight came the whole place erupted and it felt more akin to being in a war zone. I had been thinking about taking a sleeping pill and going to bed but no sleeping pill would have got me through that 20 minutes.
The whole skyline lit up and the buildings shook with the force of the blasts. The air was full of smoke and I could smell the sulphur. Looking down to Shanghai Lu you coud see a few brave cars driving on the roads and around them firecrackers and explosions – just like an action film.