Fireworks - why are they still a thing?

X*is
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Always good to chat to a poster who leads a 100 ethical life. You sound like you have a book in you.

I didn't claim anything about my intelligence but people who have a garden the size of a postage stamp and let off huge fucking fireworks when there's incredibly high winds are not clever. And it's not just domestic pets that get distressed either.

We'll need to agree to disagree about the ethics of having a puppy, you make it sound like surrogacy. I'm pretty confident that fireworks aside I'm going to put 100% into being a great dog owner with a happy pooch. Thanks for your concern though x

I don't think anyone should be allowed to buy fireworks to let off in their private gardens. They should be reserved for larger events, bought only with a permit and with safety precautions in place.

Tbh most local and or small fireworks displays are pretty disappointing, especially,if you've seen much larger and impressive displays elsewhere.

Many places are starting to adopt drone displays instead although I assume these are more complex to set. I know, for example, some Disney theme parks are trialling them, and obviously some of the big events for new year and the king's coronation, have used them really effectively.

I live in an area where some migrating bird species stay during winter (geese, cranes, lapwings and so on). Some people go into the fields where these birds stay at night and chase them off with fireworks - not just on New Year’s Eve but all winter long at various times. During the past couple of weeks, some youths have gone into the little forest next to where I live and used firecrackers attached to cans of hairspray. Calling the police is useless because they are hopelessly understaffed.
More and more people are calling for a ban on fireworks but at the same time, people who buy fireworks spend more money on them - 1000€ is not uncommon.

It's not a myth. The police know who the dealers are. They know where they live. Catching them (assuming they want to) with incriminating evidence is an entirely different matter. Letting off fireworks isn't strictly illegal (it kind of is at certain times, but they actually do have better things to do than chase firework displays). But you carry on believing its a myth.

Hmm. Drugs. Seriously. In many areas drug dealers (the bigger fish - not your street corner dealer) have firework displays to indicate a "shipment" has arrived, and they often compete with each other as to the biggest / best displays. I used to live in an area where this happened, and it was the police that told me what it meant.

Or that the police are blind and deaf and have never heard of the myth before 😁

Unless they're special fireworks that only druggies can see and hear?

YANBU. I can’t understand it either.

It causes distress, harm, and even death, to animals.

It pollutes the environment and impacts wildlife.

It’s dangerous.

A neighbour of ours was in bits a few years back because her PTSD suffering war veteran dad had a breakdown following a night of fireworks in the area. Instead of seeing it as an opportunity to learn and teach about thinking of others, the response on the village page was “but my kids like fireworks” 🙄.

We have a silent display that has become more popular than the “regular” one. People able to bring kids of all ages, and those with sensory issues, pets, etc. So I do think there’s hope for change but some ppl will always be stuck in the past.

So you know an ex service person who might be scared of bangs. Sure that’ll make people pack away their pack of fireworks

As a child my parents organised a fireworks night at our house for Bonfire Night one year, practically the whole church was there (my dad, being the local vicar, so hardly the certain type alluded to earlier in the thread) and it was one of my fondest memories of that time.

We set off fireworks in our garden, as do many of our neighbours, being a neighbourhood of home owners (the entire neighbourhood is detached houses, none of them for rent) with either young families or retired couples. Again, not the certain type alluded to earlier.

But I set them all off in a short period of time, and mostly go for low noise ones. I love the fountain type best, they are pretty but not noisy. But also got a box of assorted 'bangs' like firecrackers, "grenades". "butterflies" (one of them actually did fly, off over the garage roof!) and spinning ones that sounded like a rally car, which the children especially loved. DS will be going out soon to pick up all the rubbish, included the one that flew over the garage. And in my country they are at least strictly limited to New Year's Eve and only by special permission from the fire service for other events (like the end of the boating season, and then its just officially organised events, not backgarden ones as you can't buy them)

Where I live during the summer they are every week! Petard during the day make you jump they are so loud lol

Or Asian. Bloody Indians. The Chiness seem to like them round here too. Taking our jobs, letting off explosives in our streets. We need to bring back British values.

What really makes me laugh is the idea that the arrival of drugs in a crack house is a rare event that involves communication to the desperate users, as if in reality there isn’t a constant flow of drugs into a dealers, much like Asda getting just in time deliveries throughout the day 🤣

imaginany ex-service people.....

Not imaginary - his name's Mick, but I'll preserve his privacy beyond that. I suppose he might be the only veteran troubled. I know there's a neighbour round here with PTSD, and he might have been upset or not by last night's three brief occurences, but I don't know. Not, I think, the author of any of the local objections, all about wildlife, pets and horses.
But I do think the bangs are not necessary.

Dogs are a constant, so not really.

Talk to Frank 😏

@Moglet4 I live near a very expensive wedding venue, and I can assure you it's not just twice a year. With the £5k+ additional cost to the already expensive wedding, I wonder how often the marriage goes up in smoke just like the fireworks!

🥱

I agree- the ones you can buy are literally so pathetic anyway I dont know why people bother- they're lame AF.

Public displays I totally get as they're impressive and enjoyable but the public bought ones - people must be very easily pleased by a teeny tiny flash of light and a loud bang. Pathetic.

Knowing this now, has certainly made me feel a little suspicious of Frank, Mary and their grandkids next door!

The trouble is they aren't once or twice a year they are becoming a frequent way to celebrate any event around here , weddings , birthdays not to mention NYE then NYD for the little kids who don't stay up late the night behind . Then we have Nov 5th that stretches a week either side not to mention Divali etc

If it literally was twice a year I don't think people would complain so much

Do people still believe this urban myth?

They might as well just ring the local police and tell them they've just picked up this week's stash 😁

Low IQ and low social status

And cats are the most antisocial thing going! I love cats, but I do not love the shit they leave all over my garden. I’m a gardener (hobby of course) but I love my plants and butterflies. Cats are a nightmare.

We can ban fireworks when we ban those bloody things…and I don’t get a single day off from cat mess either.

Ban cats.

Cos they're fun?

Seriously, its only twice a year. And if you really want, they could be more tightly regulated (works in Ireland). But at some point you just have to have a little joy and noise and frivolity in life.

Don’t get the puppy and you’ll have nothing to worry about.

Too many dogs in the UK anyway.