Letting fireworks off in our garden.

[raltheraffe]

Yesterday I was letting some, admittedly large, fireworks off in our garden at about 7pm. Fireworks were going vertically upwards and not into neighbours gardens.

Anyway all hell breaks loose. Guy comes out of his house screaming at my DH that he is a "fucking nobhead" and starts banging on our gate which was padlocked.

I went back into the house and locked the front door. Went upstairs to son's bedroom. Window was open as I had been painting sons walls earlier. and curtains had been removed due to the DIY.

Next thing he is shouting at me "oi you, fucking nobhead at the window". By this time the neighbours 2 doors down, who cannot stand me, had come out and were joining in on the trouble.

I replied "go away or I will phone the police" as there was now a small crowd at the front gate. I then shut the window and turned the light off in the room.

Next thing the guy jumped the fence and came in garden banging on front door. I did not answer the door.

They hung around at the front gate for about 15 minutes then got bored and dispersed.

I can appreciate that they may not like fireworks as they may have pets that could have been scared. However another neighbour set some fireworks off (far more than I did) and no-one complained.

Not sure what to do now.

OP i agree with others that id be annoyed if my neighbours started letting off fireworks on a wednesday night without mentioning anything just because its inconsiderate and makes you come across as though you dont give a shit about anyone else. When i was growing up its exactly the sort of thing my parents would do and there was no tension from neighbours but as an adult i can clearly see it would be rude to do this myself.

But your neighbours sound horrible. Id be tempted to slash his tyre to be honest. Regardless of what you did who behaves like that over a frigging temporary bit of banging? I would have found it very intimidating and i hope you arent worrying about it all. I find that strange threatening behaviour like this makes me imagine the person will go on to do really horrific things against me personally but im a bit paranoid and probably shouldnt enrage people by slashing tyres in all likelihood he will just be an arse who kicks off at anyone and anything who sleights him.

I WISH they would be banned for domestic sale and allowed on organised displays only.
^
Totally agree. We've had them going off in our area since Diwali (where they go off until after 11pm) it'll continue until well after the weekend.

My 2 year old is terrified and it's triggered a sleep regression.

Fireworks are anti social especially if you don't warn the neighbours in advance.

Bad for people with PTSD as well.

There is no history between us and the guy. Only spoke to him once before when we took in an item he had shipped and the delivery guy gave it to us as he was out, then when he came back home I took item across to him.

Only spoke to the dog incident people once.

Neighbours 2 doors down were setting off fireworks 2 nights ago, it was loud and it stank. Bearing in mind, I live on a cramped housing estate and the houses have tiny gardens.

He was rude, but you were BU for setting of the fireworks.

Fireworks when it's not bonfire night is pretty anti-social, to be honest. I have a cat who is absolutely terrified of fireworks and it's bad enough when our public displays are on, let alone when random people set them off in the weeks before and after.

Your neighbours had a really unreasonable reaction, but I think in future you should warn them beforehand, so they can do as much as possible to calm their pets/small children.

I hate personal fireworks, but love displays.

We have bonfire societies in Sussex and you can go to at least one EVERY Saturday from the beginning of September to the middle of December if you want to (some weekends there are 4 or 5)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sussex_Bonfire_Societies

they're fantastic

"The first Sussex Bonfire Societies' event starts with the Uckfield Carnival on the first Saturday of September and concludes with Hawkhurst and Barcombe festivals on the third Saturday of November."

"We can afford to move to a better neighbourhood, but it would have to be a rented house. We are saving for a deposit to buy a house at the moment and so it makes financial sense to stay in the cheapest house possible."

Stop wasting money on fireworks and you'll be able to move sooner and everyone will be happy

His reaction was ridiculous but YWBU IMO. "Large" fireworks need lots of space. Do you have a 60ft garden? How close to the other houses were you? They can't go up "vertically" forever, they have to come down again somewhere.

I wouldn't go so far as to say they should all be banned but I do think letting them off anywhere outside of the weekends before and after 5 Nov is very inconsiderate. As you've established you haven't done anything illegal but just because something's inside the law doesn't mean it's OK/right/polite/considerate.

Just how big was this firework, and just how close was the firework to your neighbours house.

His behaviour is OTT, but it might be attributed in part to your levels of consideration.

You behaved within the laws it may have been nice to warn them, but not obligatory. They behaved like cunts.
Where my parents live (abroad) you need a licence from the fire brigade to let off fireworks. It is wonderful. Stops arsing kids launching them in the street and deters people from doing so many back yard "displays".

YANBU, fireworks are perfectly legal in this country before 11pm any day of the year.

I often keep mine to the end of Nov. for my birthday.

When I first moved here, I did check that they didn't bother my neighbours horses. She says they don't as long as they are inside.

As for any dogs, I don't care and the local cats belong to my drunk F and blinding neighbours and they are total used to making themselves scarce when humans are being unreasonable.

He was being an arse and you were antisocial. Large fireworks in a built up area are a nuisance, they are noisy and dangerous. Lots of things are legal, it doesn't make them right.

Fireworks in your back garden means you are an antisocial knob head
I'm glad you are not my neighbour
Fireworks should be banned

YABU!!

Yabu and very anti social.

And I'm really glad you miserable kill joys aren't my neighbours or I'd be buying 365 fireworks. One for 10.59pm every night of the year!

Dear OP it appears your neighbour is a not alone in being a nobhead, but there are in this petty mean minded, miserable, HS mad country of ours a lot of nob heads.

I can't believe how many people have said they only expect fireworks on bonfire night.

What about Diwali? There are tons of displays around here for that.

I was sitting in my garden the other night when someone across the street began setting off large fireworks. There was shrapnel coming down and onto the roof of my shelter! YABU but he was more unreasonable.

Our neighbours were setting off fireworks last night. Must admit I was a bit but, surprisingly, it never once occurred to me to go round and jump over their fence and stand around being obit infesting for 25 minutes because I was do cross. That's just me.

Tbh Id want some warning from someone on my boundary fence as I've got rabbits I need to bring in.

But his behaviour was ridiculous

Fireworks are one of those very inflammatory subjects on MN

(see what I did there)

• intimidating - not obit infesting That sounds like fun though.

because you like fireworks?

FFS. glad youre not my neighbour, no wonder they got pissed off.

theyre bloody nuisance .dangerous and a menace to pets, elderly, and children, and those with sensitivity to noise.

elephants you were on another fireworks thread and you sound perfectly charming!