Happy belated new year!
I was one of an estimated 5,000 people who turned out to see the postponed New Year's Eve fireworks last night.
It was a shame when they had to be cancelled from Sunday evening, but remembering the squally conditions that kept me inside with a bottle of champage and the DVD twitcher, I think it was probably a good call.
Last night was the kind of balmy, dry evening you are more likely to get in March or the end of September than on January 5.
It was great to see so many families coming out to watch the fireworks and celebrate the start of Liverpool's birthday year.
Let's hope everyone keeps coming out for birthday events and makes it the party year Liverpool deserves.
I for one have been looking forward to 2007 for a long time.
Cllr Berni Turner, the city's executive member for heritage, said to me last night that she wanted people, particuarly the city's children, to understand the importance and significance of Liverpool's history on the world stage.
The full extent of Liverpool's impact on that stage has, for too long, been hidden beneath the post-war decline and lazy jokes about scallies.
2007 is a chance to unashamedly celebrate Liverpool and all it has stood for over eight centuries.
Oh, and there will be more, bigger and better pyrotechnics in August when what is being boasted as the world's largest firework display takes place off the roofs of not one but more like a dozen historic buildings.
