Fireworks - cost of living crisis ?

[KangarooKenny]

I don’t know where the cost of living crisis is, but it mustn’t be where I live. I’ve never known so many fireworks on NYE, they went on and on and on.
My poor dog was a wreck.

Why did you watch it out of interest?

I hate them. I wish they’d do laser displays instead.

They spend around £2m on this event, from the greater London authority funds. (Which amount to £17bn a year) all part 〽️ f the arts and culture funding. We could just stop all expressive arts and all culture funding. Stop funding theatres and art projects, yes and spend £17bn on schools...but there's more to life than Schools and NHS.

The £2m Spent in the event wouldn't make a hunt of a dent to solve any problems in the NHS or Schools.

They're less expensive than Sydney, Dubai etc.

The money spent is a cost if advertising the city basically. It brings in tourism, business etc.

Dogs cost a lot more than fireworks.

People decide for themselves what they want to have in life.

Yes, let's make life as miserable as possible. Nothing to look forward to, nothing to celebrate, nothing to bring people together, nothing to make us go 'oooh!' with wonder.
Because why should we try to be happy at difficult points in history? Who should we look for a bit of cheer when life is a bit shit? Why have a little bit of joy in our lives for a few minute? A little bit of light in our lives?

Clearly we should all sit in our homes in the dark and feel miserable, because anything that might lighten our mood has to be wrong, whether we pay for it ourselves or whether it's laid on for us to see.

Personally I kicked 2022 out of the door with a £10 Clubcard deal bottle of champagne, but I wished I lived somewhere with a big fireworks display.

Londoners and tourists pay for them, according to this I just Googled:

The London fireworks cost is taken from the Greater London Authority Arts and Culture Fund, which makes the extravagant display on December 31st possible. The GLA Arts and Culture fund is used to make public events, programmes, and community projects possible so that all Londoners and those visiting London can enjoy them. The GLA is paid into through taxes, transport fares, business rates, and council tax. It is from this pot that the London fireworks are paid for.
^^

It's £15 a ticket & I think there are more than 100k tickets plus others go & spend money on restaurants etc.

Its also seen as a morale booster.

you are a killjoy imo

Don't worry, it didn't cost you a penny. It's Londoners who foot the bill through the GLA and as someone who lives here I can say it's absolutely worthwhile because they are a massive tourist draw to the capital and they ensure the city stays on the same footing as places like Sydney and New York. If London doesn't earn money, the rest of the country suffers – we generate a third of all tax paid by the entire UK, meaning our money is crucial to public services. So London needs to be vibrant and throw celebrations like the NYE fireworks to stay relevant and generate cash.

Oh, and let's be realistic – the £2m they cost wouldn't make a dent in the billions needed to fund the NHS and schools.

Sydney's were better.

Made London's look like some bloke called Dave in a shell suit was setting them off with a Bic lighter.

one of my neighbours started their firework display at 2 am, Twats

It’s what I inferred from your post 🤷 feel free to be clearer about what you were implying by bringing COL into it

I imagine that it’s as simple as the people really affected by the cost of living crisis aren’t buying fireworks, but those that are not, are. It doesn’t mean the CoL crisis doesn’t exist around you, at all. Just because some people are still spending money, doesn’t mean that there aren’t people struggling to buy food and heat their homes. It not particularly cool to minimise it in that way, it is an actual crisis, and the fact we even have some many people in this position in 2022 is shameful.

Well if you don't live in London you weren't paying for them. I was, and I enjoyed them.

Could you not just not look at them?

I much prefer new years eve fireworks to bonfire night ones. It makes much more sense to me.

Surely fireworks on NYE aren't a massive surprise though
And I agree with others, owning a dog costs a hell of a lot more than some fireworks, I wonder how you can afford it with the COL crisis?

I liked watching them on the TV so thanks for paying for them

I love fireworks, as do our dogs.

I love fireworks. I'm not overly keen on people randomly letting them off in their back gardens when the fancy takes them though. Not very neighbourly and potentially dangerous. I have been to a couple of official displays this year - we have fireworks at Halloween in NI and there was also one for a maritime festival in Derry - and I love all the bangs and flashes and the ooohing and aaahing!! Sorry doggies!

Neither of my dogs are worried by firework bangs. I wonder if it's to do with them growing up in a busy, noisy house as pups. Also where we are in the country there are a lot of loud bird scarers in the fields that can sound like gun shots and they are used to these on walks.

As for the fireworks, it's once a year and I enjoy them as it's been part of NYE since I was little.

What a joyless post. FGS i reckon it generates more for the economy than is spent on it and it’s a great way to see out/in the year.

I don’t know where the cost of living crisis is, but it mustn’t be where I live. I’ve never known so many people having dogs. All that barking.
My poor cat is a wreck.

See OP, any situation can be turned into a "there's a CoL crises" rant to moan about things other people do/have that you don't agree with. FWIW I hate fireworks (always have done), but even I accept that on certain nights of the year there's no escaping them so I just put up with it....maybe you should do the same.

I like fireworks, and it’s good to have something I can enjoy right now. I was outside at midnight watching the ones near me. We didn’t buy any but I’m grateful to everyone who did.
My 12 year old dog enjoyed them too. Why should he miss out because your dog doesn’t enjoy them?
fwiw, I also have a 2 year old dog who used to be terrified of them after one was randomly set off 2m away from her (the other side of a fence, in April) when she was a few months old. She used to shake and cry. But by age 1 she didn’t, and now they don’t bother her (though she doesn’t choose to go out and watch much) because we’ve gradually exposed her (walks in the dark late October / early November when they’re in the wider vicinity) and not shown anxiety ourselves. I do wonder if owners stress plays a part in maintaining fear in some dogs?

The vet told me that wildlife can be shocked to death by the loud firework noises. It's not only pets who suffer. We can give our pets medication to calm them, but wildlife just has to take its chances.

Never mind, as long as humans have fun eh? We're the most important species after all.