I sent something like this off to Cory just a couple of minutes ago.

There were no technical failures that I could see. My cellphone had a nice little "Happy 1999" message on the screen that came at about 11:50. There's a screen on one of the buildings in North Sydney that shows the time and the temperature; it seemed to be working accurately. My watch kept accurate time.

Human-created failures, or violence, was another story. I had to spend about half an hour getting through crowds from Circular Quay to the Harbour Bridge, and another twenty minutes crossing the bridge. In that time, I saw:

One taxi cab having all its rear windows/lights smashed by three drunken people with bricks.

Bottles being thrown about everywhere, smashing. I saw and helped one poor woman who had walked into a minefield of broken glass that had cut through the thin soles of her shoes and hurt her. I also saw and was unable to help a cop who had a bottle thrown squarely at his head.

Some fun souls on top of the Harbour Bridge who thought it amusing to drop empty bottles 100-150 feet down onto the heads of the people below.

A guy waving a broken bottle around threatening all comers or passers-by, including me.

A drunken woman staggering around asking passers-by if they knew who'd stolen her purse.

A police car with all the windows smashed.

A bottle-throwing attack by maybe twenty drunks on a group of a dozen touristy Asians. Thankfully all of the bottles missed and the Asians and I -I was amongst their gaggle at the time of the attack- were able to get to safety.

This is in a society where power and telcos are still up. (This was at about 10-11 pm, btw). This is in a society with a functional and effective police force. This is also in a society where less than 1% of the population owns guns.

To quote Cory, get out of the cities. Get out of the cities, get out of the cities.

And get out BEFORE 31/12/99. Traffic in Sydney was an utter bitch; the bus ride from Gladesville to Circular Quay took close to one and a half hours. This is a five klick ride that under normal circumstances takes about fifteen minutes even during peak hour.

--Leo

-- Leo (leo_champion@hotmail.com), December 31, 1998

Answers

And they claim American cities are dangerous! I don't go out on big party days just because of idiots. That is just common sense.

-- Paul Davis (davisp1953@yahoo.com), December 31, 1998.

Leo,

You need to get out of there! We live in a small town (very small town) where the most exciting thing that may happen tonight is someone tipping a cow...despicable teen-age mischief!

Mom

-- Mom (Mom@mom.com), December 31, 1998.

Mom, What on earth is "tipping a cow?"

-- gilda jessie (jess@listbot.com), December 31, 1998.

Leo has given a blow by blow of what he saw last night (in Sydney time) and we who are 17 hours behind will be able to learn what is happening Jan 1/00 (if the power is still on and computers able to talk to each other). The power of communication will be a help to all who can, whether it be by radio, cellphone, email, phone to warn of impending problems experienced by those whose day starts earlier than ours....thanks, Leo...and don't stand under any bridges.

-- Laurane (familyties@rttinc.com), December 31, 1998.

Cows sleep standing up. Walk up to one and push it over. Cow-tipping. Those Iowans can party, can't they?

-- nucpwr (nucpwr@hotmail.com), December 31, 1998.