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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Some people are fucking stupid and irresponsible

60 replies

KatnissMellark · 03/11/2018 20:49

Recently moved to a town having been in a more rural location for a number of years. Our back garden is maybe 40-50metres long...others in the area generally much smaller, it's densely populated, residential, less than half a mile to train station, town centre etc.

The amount of fireworks going off is ludicrous!! We've had several land in the back garden with some force (partly burying themselves in the ground), one has landed on the roof outside my toddlers' window and the inside of our house smells of bonfire/explosives. Wtf? Is that even safe somewhere so built up? Why do that? Just go to a display, which will be cheaper, better and most likely contribute to a charitable cause HmmConfused

OP posts:
NarcolepticOuchMouse · 03/11/2018 23:02

I had this experience last year. I'm also from a rural part of the country and moved to a large town. I couldn't believe the stupidity. Here they hit cars, sheds, other people's houses. They litter the roads. This year I just expect the morons to cause damage. I personally think the public shouldn't be able to buy them.

Notcontent · 03/11/2018 23:06

There are rules but people ignore them.

Crazybunnylady123 · 03/11/2018 23:19

I hate them with a passion. All they do is scare the animals and hurt people.
Local school ones sound horrendous df and I had to sit with the rabbits. They get very scared and stressed. Just awful.

nancy75 · 03/11/2018 23:20

I love fireworks, went to a display last night & going to another on Monday BUT I would never buy them and don’t understand why they are for sale to the public.
I also live in a nice area - on Halloween we had groups of kids throwing fireworks in the local high street, fireworks thrown at front doors & cars. Even sensible people buying them for use in the garden can cause accidents & fires.
My DH is Australian & was shocked to find that just anyone can buy them here

Topseyt · 03/11/2018 23:20

They should be banned from public sale and be available to licensed displays only.

I have an elderly labrador who has always been terrified of them. It is actually a blessing that he has become quite deaf in his old age (he's 14 now) as he can't hear them so sharply and is less distressed.

mrbob · 03/11/2018 23:28

Apparently you can buy them one day a year in the Northern Territory or something in Australia. I don’t live in the NT and have managed entirely fine for nearly a decade without having fireworks set off all over the place. If I want to see fireworks I can go to a display or I can go up a nearby hill and watch them over the city if I am being anti social.
It is great. It means if I want to go to sleep at 10pm on New Year’s Eve I can and I won’t get woken up! The only time I have seen fireworks set off illegally was from a nearby balcony when I lived in the city. They set a fence on fire. So I think it is best that drunk stupid people can’t get access to them personally (and unfortunately that means that some sensible people can’t either)

OneStepMoreFun · 03/11/2018 23:37

Did I imagine it, or was there legislation a few years ago that said they could only be let off outside a public display, on Nov 5th and NYE? I'm sure that restrictions were put in place, but they've been blasting away all week.

lunchboxloony · 03/11/2018 23:43

We've just had a lovely evening here (rural) with a few friends and some sensibly managed fireworks - it was great! But we avoided the louder bang type rockets etc as we had children coming, and I really think those should be banned full stop (i.e. the ones that make the ground shake when they explode!). I can't see why anyone wants that level of noise and as PPs have said it's awful for babies, toddlers and so many animals. Most are graded now 1-5 for noise, which is a good start. But actually I do sort of agree they should be banned - the risk of things going wrong probably outweighs the benefits........

AutumnEvenings · 03/11/2018 23:43

We lived in Northern Ireland during the Troubles when I was a child. Fireworks were banned end of story.

I love a good public display and went to one earlier this evening, the Fire Brigade and other Emergency Services were on hand, so as safe as it possibly can be.

Outside of this fireworks should be banned. Too many use these irresponsibly.

Drogosnextwife · 03/11/2018 23:44

YANBU I am babysitting tonight and one of the kids was woken up 3 times by some idiot across the street who was letting them off for about 3 hours, a nice big boom every 30 mins or so!

EBearhug · 03/11/2018 23:51

If you think they're bad here, you should try Germany on NYE. I was terrified, people letting them off all over the place, including across the street at other groups of people.

ReanimatedSGB · 03/11/2018 23:55

Ho hum, out come the whiners, predictable as clockwork. There are always going to be other people doing things that you don't like - you have to get used to it.

planechocolate · 03/11/2018 23:56

Fireworks are much more powerful nowadays than they were when I was a kid. Then, you'd get a feeble catherine wheel whirring around on a post, a golden rain that would be about 2 feet high (if you were lucky) and a few little rockets that would go '"Wheeeeeeeee...... pop" and that was it. Now, it is like world war 3 has started. Huge great thudding thunderclaps and window-rattling bangs, for hours on end.

I dread to think what damage could be caused if a load of those found their way into the wrong hands, if you get my drift.

They should be banned from sale to the public, and only allowed in properly regulated displays.

Monstersunderthebed · 03/11/2018 23:56

I hate fireworks I always have done. I have reluctantly taken my children to displays and watched them with sparklers. I would go as far as saying they make me feel ill and I have seen the damage and injuries caused by sheer stupidity.

ReanimatedSGB · 03/11/2018 23:57

The thing is with 'just go to a public display' is that they don't suit everyone, can be very crowded, and getting home afterwards is often an absolute nightmare, particularly if you have DC.

We are lucky in that the local display is in the park literally at the end of the road, so 5 mins walk from the house.

BlackAmericanoNoSugar · 04/11/2018 00:02

I lived in Berlin for a year EBearhug and I was really shocked at how the atmosphere changed on NYE. People were letting them off on the platforms in the U-Bahn stations to get a louder bang. We went for a walk in Charlottenberg on New Year's day and every single phone box (this was two decades ago when people still used them) had the glass exploded out of them. People put a firework in a glass bottle then put the bottle in the phone box.

It's illegal here in Ireland but last week for Halloween there were tons of fireworks all over the place.

NameChanger22 · 04/11/2018 00:03

I live right next to a city centre. There are always fireworks, not just Bonfire night, but all the time - Christmas, New Year, Diwali and random nights throughout the year. I never really thought they would be dangerous if you are inside a house. Our cat doesn't blink an eyelid to them either.

foxbox99 · 04/11/2018 00:09

I hate fireworks with a passion because of the pets, livestock, wildlife that suffer for something so fucking pointless.

It is lunacy that they are sold to the general public.

JustBeingJobless · 04/11/2018 00:30

They drive me mad. I live in a small village, on one of the ex - council streets, and the houses backing onto me are huge, detached things with gardens which are really wide, but no longer than mine is. The people directly behind me think, I’m sure, that they live in a property with loads of land and frequently set the most enormous noisy fireworks off from the very end of their garden, pointing towards my house. Had one hit the kitchen window tonight Angry and I live in fear that one day something is going to set on fire. Fortunately, my dog couldn’t care less, but I find it incredibly antisocial to let them off near other houses. I would love to see them limited to licenced displays only. Baffles me that you can easily purchase boxes of explosives that could maim or kill if used incorrectly!

nancy75 · 04/11/2018 00:36

The thing is with 'just go to a public display' is that they don't suit everyone, can be very crowded, and getting home afterwards is often an absolute nightmare, particularly if you have DC.
People that live in countries where you can’t buy fireworks seem to manage, as do the many people here that go to public displays.

Tomatoesrock · 04/11/2018 00:41

Yanbu. I am in a very built up area, the teenagers were lighting them and throwing them under cars Halloween night. I am glad it is all over. I know the UK has Guy Fawkes tomorrow so it is probably still crazy with fireworks. They are dangerous.

ReanimatedSGB · 04/11/2018 01:52

Nancy: while it is legal in the UK to purchase fireworks for personal use, some people are going to prefer that to public displays. And that's fair enough.

GettingBackToMe · 04/11/2018 02:34

OneStepMoreFun there are rules about what times you can set them off, but no blanket ban on dates.

There are quite specific rules about when they can be sold though, presumably to make it less likely that they'll be going off all year?

www.gov.uk/fireworks-the-law

ohello · 04/11/2018 02:41

I'm totally okay with banning neighborhood fireworks, they're a nuisance.

Sundayblues13 · 04/11/2018 02:52

Get a grip , I have a dog who is scared is fireworks it’s one week a year

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