"Remember, remember the 5th (or 6th and 7th) of November. Gunpowder, treason and plot." Guy Fawkes or Bonfire Night is celebrated in England to remember when Guy Fawkes attempted to blow up the British Parliament with gunpowder in 1605.
This could be considered as one of the earliest examples of western state terrorism. Discuss.
Anyway, this was another fond childhood memory. In fact, one bonfire night when I was perhaps seven years old was one of the only times that my Mum's and my Dad's families got together. It was a big party with traditional food of cheese and pineapple on sticks, hot dogs, hamburgers and 'potatoes in their jackets'. Apart from the potatoes it doesn't seem that traditional to me now as an adult with a 70's classic of cubed things on sticks and some American imports but what-the-hey, it is a tradition in
my family. There were also thousands of fireworks (sometimes called firecrackers in Aus). My goal with Bonfire Night 2010 was to recreate something of that remembered bonfire night and make it something special as it was possibly the only bonfire night we would have as a family.
A lot of the fun of bonfire night is the fireworks and preparations for them started about 3 weeks out when they first came on sale at Morrisons. Annie and I walked up to the special counter they had set up and after quickly glancing at the packages and fireworks available we bought the biggest, most expensive firework selection they had. They all had encouraging names like TNT, Apocalypse, Storm Chaser and Euphoria. There were roman candles, Catherine wheels and rockets but was it enough?
The evening of Friday 5th came round and the predicted rain was falling so we waited until Saturday to begin proceedings. I had cheese and pineapple sticks, crisps, drinks, hot dogs, jacket potatoes and marshmallows at the ready. Mike from next door had built a bonfire. We went up to 'the field' to have the party. Mike had lit the bonfire and I had set up a few posts and things to hang Catherine wheels from and make the fireworks safe for lighting. When I started rummaging through the firerworks I realised that we didn't have any sparklers. What? This was an outrage and wouldn't do, so I drove into town to see if I could find some. I did at the hardware store and they had a bit of a sale on another selection of fireworks 'buy a packet of rockets and get the Ultimate Detonator for free'. Sounded good to me and clearly too many fireworks were barely enough so I returned to the bonfire with more fireworks and sparklers.
With safety in mind, the firework display started slowly with a couple of roman candles. The plan was to build up through the night to the crescendo of the biggest, baddest, loudest firework. Unfortunately rain called off play about halfway into the evening so we all retreated to the house to eat food and see if the rain would leave off. It didn't. Thus ended part 1 of Bonfire Night.
Part 2 happened the next night in similar conditions without rain. This was a 'get them lit' straight up firework display. All the best fireworks were left to last so the display was going to be good. There were only two mishaps which didn't result in any injuries, thankfully. One rocket arched a perfect parabola and exploded in a hedge. One firework didn't light so I thought safe disposal in the fire would be a good idea. We waited minutes from a safe distance to see if anything would explode in the fire. Nothing happened so we assumed it was all burnt up. It was 10 minutes later when Annie said "Dad, you should check that firework in the fire" when, as I approached the fire, it exploded and a shower of sparks flew out of the fire straight at me. Oh, how we laughed as we pretended we hadn't soiled ourselves. Potentially the most dangerous one was the one called Big Bertha or something that went off with such force that it fell over and started firing multiple missiles at us a bit like a Patriot missile battery in Afghanistan. One exploded amongst the little girls. "Is everyone alright?" I feebly called to the dark once it was over. "Eleanor and Sophie, are you alright?"
"Yes, but we're going inside now," was Eleanors reply. I felt awful as my safety procedures had clearly failed. Luckily, the girls are tough and they weren't too traumatised and the bright lights and whistles of the remaining fireworks quickly brought them back outside. We all agreed that the second last firework should have been the climax of the evening. It was a wonderful Sydney-New-Years-Fireworks-Display-In-A-Box (well...sort of). Either way, Bonfire Night part 2 ended happily with no injuries, only a little shell-shock and the satisfied grins of children who have had a good time.
We were looking for somewhere to go this Saturday 20th November. I remembered that only I (Wayne) had been to Mt. Edgcumbe country estate on the saltash side of Plymouth's River Tamar so off we went for a look. It was really just a nice walk and explore. We concentrated on the formal gardens this time as I hadn't looked at them last time. Here are some photos but there is also a good website which shows some parts we didn't see as the house and the private gardens were closed for the winter. http://www.mountedgcumbe.gov.uk/
