I loath and detest them,
My cats are all indoors but, as Gillian says, it's not just one or two nights it's virtually two months of it. The boys are pretty good but it really terrorfies Suzie and she's been know to hide under the bed. I put the TV on in the bedroom to mask the noise a bit but it's not just a few pops and bangs it's a war out there with people letting off what sounds like heavy artillery. Last year, on the way to see my mum in her nursing home, I was on the bus and young kids were standing outside a nearby council estate throwing fireworks into the busy main road which runs past it. Fireworks aren't like they used to be when I was a kid, the most exciting thing then was the odd rocket, banger or suchlike but now things (and people) have gone mad and it seems like the average firework is packed with more gunpowder than Guy Fawkes could have ever dreamed about. It now seems a case of "We'll show all around us that we can afford to buy hand-made super fireworks, we've got the biggest bangs and the loudest flashes, let them beat that if they can !!" but they're all trying to out play each other at this game and thus it's sheer hell out there. It's not a simple innocent bit of childhood fun standing around in the garden with a few sparklers and a box of "regular" off-the-shelf fireworks it's a status symbol a case of "Look at us we've got so much money we can afford to watch it go up in smoke and so that nobody can miss it we'll make it VERY loud as well". IMO Fireworks night has gone the way of Christmas, it starts early, goes on for an eternity and for many people is just another excuse to show off and spend obscene amounts of money".
Anyone seen my soapbox, I know I left if somewhere
Regards
Leigh
PS. I'm sick of this Fireworks "Bling" attitude, I can hear people thinking "Now let's see how can we make absolutely sure that the neighbours don't miss our display of pretentious affluence ?, I know we'll not let them off on Fireworks night, we'll wait until 3AM the following Sunday morning and, just in case they miss THAT, we'll still have more munitions stored in our garden shed that the armed forces of a medium-sized Third World Nation so we can do it all again another night!.
