London giveth, and London taketh away.
Just as it was announced that London's official New Year's Eve celebrations are cancelled this year due to the Covid-19 situation (boo!) we got the welcome news that Big Ben's bongs will be reinstated to see in the new year (hurrah!).
The main bell inside Westminster's Elizabeth Tower will chime 12 times at midnight to mark the start of 2022, and all four of the tower's clock faces will be visible for the occasion for the first time in four years.
The Elizabeth Tower has been undergoing a restoration project, including the bell and the clock faces, which has seen various parts of the tower under scaffolding since 2017.
The bell hasn't been completely silent throughout that time though — a temporary mechanism has been used to sound it for special occasions, such as New Year's Eves, and Remembrance Sunday 2021.
The dawn of 2022 is the final time the temporary mechanism will be employed, though. From spring 2022, the four quarter bells should be fully restored and back in working order. Oh, and if you hear the bongs before 31 December, don't panic. It'll just be the engineers doing a test run. After all, midnight on New Year's Eve is a time slot that can't be pushed back if the bells aren't quite ready.
