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November 5th, 2004
 | 08:32 pm - Bonfire night ...
So, apparently tonight is "Bonfire night" in the UK. Oddly enough, despite being Australian, even I know that this is another name for Guy Fawkes night, and he tried to blow up Parliament once upon a time. (Someone on my flist was lamenting that most people wouldn't know the meaning of it these days).
Anyway, this apparently means that we get to hear (and occasionally see) fireworks getting launched from all sorts of funny places, including a medium-sized grassed area between two nearby roads. It seems that new laws and higher insurance premiums have stopped a lot of people from joining in, but it's still a novelty to see so many different firework displays going off around the place. I can't imagine it happening in Australia, where firework displays tend to be used as part of a large event of some sort, or for New Year's Eve or maybe Australia Day (say, Adelaide people - are they still running Sky Show there ?). Meanwhile, there's much more traffic around than usual, and lots of people (very warmly dressed people) walking past too.
Here's hoping that things quieten down in the next hour or so, since  rwrylsin and I have to get up at Aaargh'o'clock tomorrow to catch a flight to Cardiff.
Current Mood:  entertained
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We *used* to be allowed to purchase and light our own fireworks and woudl do so every year for Guy Fawkes when I was a child. And I've always know what Guy Fawkes was about, but I guess I was brought up relatively well-educated. I'm bummed that we can't do that anymore and instead have to track down officially sanctioned celebrations. Anyway, I was amused yesterday to read about the fireworks factory in Denmark which, urm, exploded yesterday :-) Apparently the firemen gave up very quyckly. ![[User Picture]](https://l-userpic.livejournal.com/50244294/2841553) | | From: | alexwinolj |
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| Date: | November 5th, 2004 07:19 pm (UTC) |
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| | Ah, those were the days... | (Link) |
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Yes, I remember being able to buy fireworks from the local newsagent...well, actually, they wouldn't sell to under-18s, so I had to get an adult to buy them for me.
It took a surprisingly long time, and an unsurprisingly high number of injuries, for this practice to stop. But when everything went right, it was nice to stand around a backyard bonfire and watch things colourfully explode in the comfort of your own home.
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