Fireworks - why are they still a thing?

[landobroken]

Sorry to be a party pooper - but!

Surely they are horrendous for the environment?

Surely there are more environmentally-friendly options to replace them?

They're awful for pets, cost a flipping fortune etc etc. god knows how much the London NY show costs for example....

Not a party pooper by any stretch but I see people calling out things bad for the environment/COL all the time and yet this....

Anyway I'll go back to my scrooge self now 😅

Back garden fireworks make me nervous since when I was a kid one rocket didn’t take off and exploded at ground level.
Luckily we were in a friend’s field (with loads of adults, we weren’t kids setting fireworks off…!), the diameter of the rocket explosion filled the entire field. Bits of firework flew past us all standing a field away from the ignition spot.

Dread to think if that happened in a suburban garden (even just raging neighbours, let alone fires!).

They have a chance of avoiding dogs, but there's no choice with fireworks.

I’d take the bus myself but you do you 😂

Well exactly. Your bloody dog barking isn’t any better than fireworks going off. And cats? You mean those evil meanies who kill birds? 🤣

Fireworks threads always remind me of the falsely aggressive threads of lore- middle lane hogging, how often you wash your towels and similar nonsense, where you can’t believe people actually care about it to the hysterical extent they appear to on the internet.

they always contain the same comments about dogs and veterans as if it’s in anyway reasonable for people to plan their celebrations around their neighbours dog or an imaginary ex service person.

So?

You can’t just keep banning things that affect a few people, or dogs.

It’s for the families of sensitive individuals or pet owners to distract, make themselves scarce, or sound proof for the evening.

You don’t just ban something people have enjoyed for years, in order to suit a few…or one day something you enjoy might be banned because someone else doesn’t like it….eg dogs in public spaces.

Although with this government who knows? Because they seem the sort to just ban nice things.

Side note, I don’t personally buy and set off garden fireworks, as I don’t find them that impressive compared to the ones made for display, and I get my firework fix at Disney each year, but if neighbours want to set them off, I’m unbothered.

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

Too many dogs in the UK anyway.

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.

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.

Low IQ and low social status

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 😁

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

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

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.

🥱

@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!

Talk to Frank 😏

Dogs are a constant, so not really.

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.

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 🤣

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.

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

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)

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

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.