Hello to everyone who passes through this web site. Whether you stumbled across it, subliminally heard of it or was guided by paranormal influences. We hope you enjoy it and we hope it inspires you all to brighten up your otherwise mundane NYD (New Year Day).

At 48 years old I decided that I couldn't put up with another boring same old typically English NYD. I have had my fair share of severe hangovers after honking down some strangers urinal in the middle of an anonymous housing estate.

I needed something different as a precursor to the New Year ahead, something that would have a lasting effect. Something to look back on that didn't look or sound like a ceramic bowl in an 8 by 4 bathroom.

I no longer wanted to sit through another New Year dinner filled with left over turkey, beef and pork brightened up with fresh veg and stuffing. I wanted to have a meal that didn't resemble the 48 NYD meals I have sat through all my life.

I suggested to my wife and kids that we never eat in Wolverhampton again on NYD. We invited family and friends to join us and they shared my enthusiasm. We became the Midlanders who left the Midlands on NYD. We would launch ourselves upon an unsuspecting venue miles from home and eat food that is cooked for us.

I decided that we would divide the day into adventure, food and reflection. With that in mind I decided that we would include a sightseeing episode on our journey from A to B. A, being home and B, being where ever we eat. We would find a place of interest and have as much fun as we could in the freezing winter.

After our first attempt (2009) we were all surprised how much fun this day was. It was crazy, unpredictable, exiting, educational, dangerously adventurous and fun. We had as much fun, as a family, in winter as we have had on a hot mid summers day. We experienced the beauty and the wonder of nature that is an inherent, yet sometines hidden, aspect of every winter; usualy missed because we choose to sit in our houses and hide from the cold.

For a NYD to remember I would recommend rallying your friends, planning your route, loading your flasks and donning your woollies, hats and gloves. There is a beautiful world out there if only you are daring enough to venture out.

After a good day’s exploration to places you have never visited before. You will not only be rewarded with a welcoming hot cooked meal, complimented with a glass of wine or beer ; you will have a library of images and a video to look back on for years to come.

Go on, get wrapped up and give it a go. You never know, we may just meet up with you one day.

Brian Shone
FMONYDE.