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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To hate the UK for allowing fireworks to be sold in shops?

108 replies

MummyOfHnS · 30/10/2011 22:06

Sitting in my house right now and all I can hear are fireworks being set off all around me. Scares the living daylights out of me, and of course my kids are sleeping!!

I love going to organised events so it's not the actual fireworks that do it you see, it's the potentially very irresponsible hands they could be in!

Why are they even allowed to be sold??? AIBU!?

OP posts:
Original poster
MummyOfHnS · 02/11/2011 07:44

I don't live in a terribly bad area, it's quite lovely actually however it DOES have yobs like everywhere, and there are a group of youngsters in particular who seem obsessed with fire - very worrying at this time of year!
And the responsible adults at home who 'are more than capable of setting off a few little fireworks' could have accidents - accidents do happen unintentionally - that's why they're called 'accidents'!

Glad so many of you see my point of view Smile

OP posts:
Serenitysutton · 02/11/2011 10:24

I think you're being overly dramatic. The number of incidents from fireworks has been quoted further up- your about as likley to have witnessed someone struck by lightening as you have witnessed a back garden firework accident. Andthe professional firework lady has already said ones sold in shops are feeble. Explosives my arse. What could you explode with a catherine wheel eh? A large bug?

OrmIrian · 02/11/2011 10:37

LOL serenity! Overly dramatic? On MN? Shock Surely not?

TheScaryJessie · 02/11/2011 10:50

Actually, I agree with the OP.

What about wild animals and birds?

ItsonlymeMrsDB · 02/11/2011 10:56

I hate the bloody things.

Round here they go off from hallo'ween right through to New Year, it drives me mad.

And it's not the organised events I mind, it's the nightly random bangs that you hear, from once it gets dark till late.

Chattymummyhere · 02/11/2011 11:18

I think YABU why cant people ever have a bit of fun? I loved watching them as a child in my garden and once I was old enough I used to help set them off...

We buy some every year although its only been the past couple of years we have brought those shocking tesco/asda ones, We normally go to firework wholesalers and get the industrial sized ones..

Big bangs here Wink

mrsdamvan · 02/11/2011 12:50

YANBU.

How is it possibly 'fun' to be forced to listen to other people's fireworks in the early hours? Where I live fireworks go off weeks before and after fireworks night. We're talking all night. The dc's find it impossible to sleep and I can't say that when I'm woken up at 2 in the morning by a huge bang I think 'ah, what fun, fireworks'. Hmm Not so much fun when you have to get up and go to work/school the next morning after a night of disturbed sleep with fireworks going off in all directions.

I am not a killjoy and would happily put up with (not sure the dcs or my dogs would) the noise of fireworks a couple of nights a year but when it is for weeks and weeks my patience is worn thin.

People who have replied YABU obviously don't appreciate what it's like to have to put up with the noise over a sustained period.

OrmIrian · 02/11/2011 12:52

"People who have replied YABU obviously don't appreciate what it's like to have to put up with the noise over a sustained period"

yes we do!

People round here set them off regularly like everywhere else. But it's not that bad unless it's next door or just across the street and even then it's bearable. Maybe it's down to having double-glazing or something but I can honestly say it never bothers me (or the DC or dog)

mrsdamvan · 02/11/2011 12:53

Oh yeah, it's great fun being woken up all night by irresponsible little shits who wait all evening and decide that yep 1.30am in the morning is a really great time to do their firework display...

mrsdamvan · 02/11/2011 12:56

The YABU camp are actually in the minority in real life. I used to work at DTI and the most common complaint we received was about.... you guessed it fireworks. People were desperate for the government to legislate fireworks more forcefully, for eg banning fireworks going off after midnight. For a lot of people the several weeks of the year when fireworks are going off all night causes a lot of misery and fear.

DunRovin · 02/11/2011 12:57

Ooh, I love fireworks, the at home kind and the big displays. I'd love to be a pyrotechnician, and am pleased that the cultural weight of Guy Fawkes Night is strong enough to prevent the nanny state from saving us from ourselves and banning them.

I do think it should not be legal or acceptable to set them off after a certain time of night, though. A noisy nuisance is a noisy nuisance of any kind. Cars with huge speaker systems booming thier way through traffic jams, children shrieking, dogs barking, etc.

Carrotsandcelery · 02/11/2011 12:57

My friend's pony had to be put to sleep after some young boys let fireworks off in the pony's field. It was so terrified it went mad round the field and broke its leg and had to be shot.

I don't like fireworks. They don't remain in the hands of responsible adults and they are used to terrorise animals year in year out. There is just no need for them.

midnightexpress · 02/11/2011 12:59

YABU. Bonfire Night is a million squillion times better than the fake American importes Halloween choclate trick-or-treating nonsense that's shoved down our necks for two months every year.

I have such happy memories of bonfire night as a child.

notso · 02/11/2011 13:18

YABU. Love fireworks and love setting them off myself even more even though most of the ones you are allowed to buy now are sadly a bit shit.
Organised displays can be fun but the ones here are always ridiculously over-crowded.
Bring back begging Penny for the Guy and proper trick or treating with a lit carved out swede as well.

HitTheRoadJack · 02/11/2011 13:25

We live in a beautiful rural area set in 30 acres. My parents live on the same estate and do the most incredible firework displays.

My father imports the fireworks and uses display fireworks that you can't buy in the UK. We have some chilli and lasagne and sliced parkin and rustle outside with about 50 of our friends.

My father and my husband do the display complete with safety helmets (old war helmets my dad found in an auction-complete with miners' head lamps) safety goggles and flame resistant boiler suits.

Then when we've finished ours, we sit on the edge over looking the forest and watch the ones in the castle over the next valley.

You can't ban all of something because of a few irresponsible people, if that were the case you'd be rid of alcohol or gambling first, surely?

HitTheRoadJack · 02/11/2011 13:27

Oh and we do it nearest to bonfire night, to prevent pissing off people with children (me) or pets.

If it's all pretty much done on one night people don't really have the right to get arsey.

Do you moan this much when it comes to NYE?

HitTheRoadJack · 02/11/2011 13:28

By estate I don't mean housing, I mean just covered in fields in case you think;

"selfish bitch what about all the noise for the neighbours".

Whatmeworry · 02/11/2011 13:28

We need to designate a CottonWoolShire (Motto: "Elf and Safety Uber Alles") for all the nervous nellies to live in.

iklboo · 02/11/2011 13:29

There's nothing wrong with organised displays & responsible people enjoying their own. What I object to is the little (insert expletive of choice) letting off bangers for weeks before and after Bonfire Night, putting them in wheelie bins, throwing them at each other, at cars etc.

NellyMelba · 02/11/2011 13:30

my lad was born on 5th November so we always had firework parties with lots of kids. They all loved it and we never had one problem.

Carrotsandcelery · 02/11/2011 13:31

I wouldn't see it banned - I would just see it restricted to those with a licence to do it. Then sensible people like HitTheRoadJack's family could get a licence and continue with their sensible display but selfish idiots like the ones who killed my friend's pony could not get hold of them.

midnightexpress · 02/11/2011 13:33

Ach licence schmicence. Families shouldn't have to get a licence just to have a few fireworks and a bonfire in their gardens.

TheScaryJessie · 02/11/2011 13:33

Serenitysutton evil sods do injure animals with fireworks.

DunRovin · 02/11/2011 13:34

Carrotsandcelery, that's really sad and horrible, I agree.
But it is against the law to sell fireworks to children or for children to have them - the law, and parents, should take this seriously. And the sad fact is that if little shits wish to terrorise ponies, or people and pets on estates, they have plenty of means with which to do so.

Mostly, Bonfire night remains a source of community pleasure and togetherness at a time of year when all else can seem inward looking and gloomy. I agree about the non-plasticised Americanised nature of Bonfire Night, though I'm not sure why all these people are eating chilli and lasagne, it should be jacket potatoes, tomato soup, parkin and toffee apples!

LoveInAColdGrave · 02/11/2011 13:36

That's a good idea, Carrots - it could be a bit like getting a gun licence, where you have to be interviewed by the police first (obviously the cost of which should be borne by the person requesting the licence). That way, only responsible people who intend to use them sensibly could get them, rather than the little shits who set them off at 1am and use them to terrorise animals.