How many days until New Year's Eve?

New Year's Eve on 31 December is the loudest night in the British calendar and, in Scotland, an event with a name and a tradition all of its own. Hogmanay runs across several days in Edinburgh, with a torchlight procession, a street party along Princes Street, and first-footing afterwards — the custom that the first person through the door after midnight should bring coal, shortbread or whisky.

South of the border the focus is Big Ben. The bongs are broadcast live, fireworks go up along the Thames from the London Eye, and everyone crosses arms for Auld Lang Syne without being entirely sure of the words past the first verse. Ticketed viewing areas along the embankment sell out months ahead, and public transport runs through the night in most large cities.

It is not itself a bank holiday, which catches people out — the day off is the 1st, not the 31st, and plenty of shops and offices trade normally until late afternoon. Restaurants and pubs book up early, and taxis at half past midnight are famously difficult.

Because the whole point of the night is one precise moment, the countdown here is a little different in feel from the rest: it ends at the midnight that begins 31 December, which is a full day before the midnight everyone actually counts down to in the street.