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Original poster

Bonfire night - is it just me who hates it?

78 replies

sweetkitty · 02/11/2004 23:16

Well I don't hate it on principle it's the fact that for 2 weeks either side every night you have to listen to fireworks going off all night!

It's like living in a war zone round here most nights. Even during the day kids are letting fireworks off, I saw one lad let a firework off in a phonebox at lunchtime. Where do kids get the money to buy them they cost a fortune?

I would vote for only organised firework displays on the 5th of November!

OP posts:
Chandra · 05/11/2004 01:09

Talking about being legal to sell them over the counter, last year a group of teenager loosers decided to use them to vandalise wheelie bins and telephone boots. Several people were injured (passers by) and the explosions were strong enough to break windows. Obviously they are not meant to be sold to under 16s, but if you have dear ASDA promoting them badly around the corner, I don't see how they can't prevent people from misbehaving with them. The worse thing of all is that because they were under age the police had to let them go.

marthamoo · 05/11/2004 07:37

Hate it. It wouldn't be so bad if it was just one night but we have fireworks going over for two weeks before and two weeks after. I think organised displays are fine but I really don't think the general public should be allowed to buy explosives!

I never had fireworks as a child (my Mum was hurt by one thrown at an organised display when she was a teenager - and , as a teacher, had seen several children injured by them) and my kids don't have them either. I do let ds1 watch them out of his bedroom window...

Go on, call me a miserable old git!

Slinky · 05/11/2004 09:00

I think there should only be "organised" displays on 5th Nov.

Selling of fireworks to general public should be banned completely - bdy pain in the a going off every night starting in October!

And as for the new law to prosecute - I rang the police about a group of kids playing with them over the field behind my house - police very good, but as they said, by the time they get there, the kids have cleared off! And what do I read in the local paper today - a 12yo has serious facial burns after messing about with fireworks!!

I can't believe something so dangerous can be bought so easily.

jude2105 · 05/11/2004 09:55

Totally agree Slinky. I used to really enjoy going to organised display when i was younger...the fire, the pig on a spit, the fireworks. But now, it seems that every religious festival, every "party in the park", every kids birthday has to have fireworks. They've become the norm and the magic has been lost.
Organised displays only!

valleygirl · 05/11/2004 10:05

totally terrified of fireworks - always have been since a child - so this time of year is a nightmare for me - and it doesnt stop at this weekend cos there's another 2 weeks of them being sold to undergae shits until Diwali (grumble, grumble!) - i am equally against balloons incidentally, for exactly the same reasons - those bs can go off at any time! BAN THEM ALL I SAY!!
Oh and I asked my stepson last night if he knew the whole reason behind Fireworks night - he'd never even heard of the Gunpowder Plot for Fawkes sakes!

GeorginaA · 05/11/2004 13:37

I too would support licensed only displays all year around. Not because of the noise factor (although I agree it is annoying).

Around one bonfire night, an internet friend of mine was in a crowded pub when some yob decided to lob a lit firework into the building and scarper. It hit her and she received pretty awful burns. Now, there's no way any law of use or storage of fireworks would have prevented scum like that deliberately causing injury - only making it bloody hard to get hold of them in the first place.

I inwardly seethe every time I walk into Tesco at the moment as they're selling the things at the door. We wouldn't let supermarkets sell firearms to anyone who wanted them, ffs, why do we think selling explosives for a few weeks a year should be any different?!

Catbert · 05/11/2004 14:05

Nad not just get a licence to use them either - but proper licenced and trained pyrotecnic experts. Remember that poor teacher who had his head blown off a few years back (High Wycombe or somewhere like that) setting off a mortar-style firework at a schools "organised" fireworks display. I was SO horrified. Have been at other so called organised displays where they crowd was too near, and people were rained on with hot sparks, and someone's jacket started smouldering.

As for sparklers being a "childs" thing to play with FFS.

However, on the flip side, this is an ancient tradition (400 years) now, and it is not to celebrate the houses of parliement not being blown up per ce - but the crown not falling back into catholic hands and therefore England back into the clutches of the Spanish!!

\link{http://www.guy-fawkes.com/why we celebrate guy fawkes}

Catbert · 05/11/2004 14:05

Now why didn't that work? Ah well...

www.guy-fawkes.com/

KateandtheGirls · 05/11/2004 14:28

Here you go Catbert.

It didn't work because you typed "...fawkes.com/why we..." when it should have been "...fawkes.com\why we...".

i.e. \instead of /

secur · 05/11/2004 14:31

Message withdrawn

KateandtheGirls · 05/11/2004 14:37

I have to say I don't remember fireworks for weeks around Bonfire Night when I was a kid. You would hear bangers occasionally in the few night before, but all the fireworks were on Bonfore Night which made it very special.

So, how much is a box of fireworks? I'm curious. And are they much more expensive now then they used to be? Because my mum always used to get a box and she didn't have much money and wasn't prone to wasting what she had.

MrsDoolittle · 05/11/2004 14:45

I used to love it too. Like so many here though, I can't stand it ALL the time. Often I have been out and seen smoking bangers in the street. IF I CATCH ANY LITTLE F*WIT WITH ONE WHEN I AM OUT WITH THE BUGGY I SWEAR I SHALL BE DANGEROUS!!!!!!!

And my poor little beagle is terrified

turquoise · 05/11/2004 14:55

I adore fireworks, I'm a bit of a pyromaniac, but I definitely think they shouldn't be sold to the general public anymore, just lovely organised displays.
It's so the contrast between the yob culture in the UK spoiling things, just like Halloween. The 4th of July fireworks here were out of this world, about as good as the Millenium ones in London, and the whole town turned out to watch without drunks, violence, or even much litter! God knows what would happen to a teenager here if they got caught letting off a firework in the street, but it would be severe, and the whole community would give them hell.

KateandtheGirls · 05/11/2004 15:01

Turquoise, you're so right. It really makes me sad and even ashamed to be English when I hear about the yob culture, like all the terrible stories about Halloween.

secur · 05/11/2004 15:04

Message withdrawn

KateandtheGirls · 05/11/2004 15:07

Vandalising houses and stuff when trick or treating.

In the US you may say Trick or Treat, but nobody actually does a trick if they don't get a treat.

MrsDoolittle · 05/11/2004 15:08

secur I think they mean the threads about trick or treat. But then I could be wrong, I have been before!

turquoise · 05/11/2004 15:10

I agree Kate. I didn't read the thread till later, but the rise of yob culture in the UK is one reason I was keen to uproot to the US - even though I know i'm in a priveliged enclave where we are, I think that that kind of behaviour is far less tolerated anywhere in America.

secur · 05/11/2004 15:10

Message withdrawn

moomina · 05/11/2004 15:12

I love Bonfire Night - but organised displays only! Cold, cold nights, all wrapped up, hotdogs, mugs of soup, those flourescent string thingys that everyone wears - love it!

But idiots letting bangers off in their back gardens - or worse, on the street - for days and days before and after is maddening. Last year we were living in quite a (ahem) rough part of town and I was genuinely terrified of taking ds out in his buggy because of all the little darlings running around letting off bangers in the street...

Think the sale of them to the public should be banned - I cannot see the logic behind it at all (well, except the PROFIT, of course). But gimme a baked potato in foil and a few rockets and I'm quite happy ooohing and aahing with the rest of 'em!

KateandtheGirls · 05/11/2004 15:13

Here's one.

Here's another.

turquoise · 05/11/2004 15:14

I hope that didn't sound smug - I miss England desperately - and maybe we should start another thread about US/UK attitudes and behaviour. I'm just struck by certain contrasts and why.
I din't mean to sound snobby either btw.

KateandtheGirls · 05/11/2004 15:16

I know exactly what you mean. The US gets so much flack from the rest if the world (especially with W as President ), but there really are so many great things about it. That would be an interesting thread.

secur · 05/11/2004 15:18

Message withdrawn

CountessDracula · 05/11/2004 15:40

I LOVE IT

I love fireworks and bonfires and cold evenings and mulled wine and all that stuff.

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