The year’s final sun had long since settled beneath the horizon. And then the crowds came. They swarmed Queenstown from all crevices, gathering by the thousands to collectively celebrate the grand coming of 2018. The new year was upon us at last. The new chance, the new frontier… It was 11:40, and town was pandemonium. We were still crammed in the car and stuck at the pedestrian crossing, seriously concerned that we would still be here when the fireworks painted the skies. People wafted past, wandering the streets in droves, seeking the party and the magic. There was a brief opening in the crowd, and I pressed my foot into the accelerator, darting through. By some token of luck, there was a carpark just on the other side where I pulled up and offloaded myself and my party. The instant I stepped from the drivers seat of the car and locked it, I was swept up by the current. My friends were just ahead of me, lugging and slinging their bottles of booze, turning back to see if I