New Yorkers shred bad memories of 2010

New York’s Times Square has been getting ready for its huge New Year celebration, installing a giant number 1 figure for 2011 to replace the zero at the end of 2010.

Also being lifted into place was the familiar large crystal ball that features in the countdown to midnight.

“Out with the old, in with the new”: a lorry-sized paper shredder enables people to write down their worst memories of 2010 which are then ceremoniously ditched.

Times Square’s fourth consecutive Good Riddance Day was launched by shredding the recently overturned ban on openly gay military personnel.

“This is about taking good riddance of those things that are dragging us down. Taking good riddance to the things that we don’t want from 2010. Everything from ex-boyfriends and girlfriends to the end of financial worries to the end of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’,” said Tim Tompkins, President of the Times Square Alliance.

“I am getting rid of all the negativity,” said new New York resident Robert Johnson. “People who told me that I could never make it out of St Louis, Missouri. And I’m here. And they said I could never make it to New York City, but I’m here.”

“I am saying good riddance to my ex-boyfriend’s taste in Axe body spray. I am ready to get rid of that,” Shira Schindel, another resident, said mischievously.

Recent heavy snow meant fewer people than usual turned out for the launch. But come the night itself a million are expected to pack Times Square as they do each year – before an audience of billions worldwide.

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