Saturday 4th November 2023
I haven't been in the UK on Guy Fawkes weekend since 1988. Fireworks get released here too and I saw my hairy 'niece' Meg shiver and try hide from the noise. It reminded me of my own dogs of the past and how anxious the loud bangs would make them. I hated the people that insisted on buying Fireworks. But tonight I watched an impressive display in the neighbourhood. Is it possible to like something you hate?
I think that's the quandary of life.
"Guy Fawkes was an English conspirator in the 17th-century Gunpowder Plot, an unsuccessful plan to blow up Westminster Palace with King James I and Parliament inside. He joined in this plot in retaliation for James's increased persecution of Roman Catholics." The 35 year old was sentenced to death in 1605 and ever since then Londoners celebrated with bonfires and became a day of thanksgiving. Fortunately the macabre burning of an effigy has stopped and it has become a day to get together.
I remember being a tiny tot at a bonfire before we moved to South Africa. It feels huge in my memory but it probably wasn't that big. Nowadays people don't do the bonfires but there are the pet-scaring Fireworks around. Sales of Fireworks are controlled here and supposedly only sold at two times of the year, now and near New Year.
Things have quietened down now and I'm lying comfortably on my bed watching Vera on the TV. I haven't seen her wear her hat yet, the weather must've been too good during the filming of this episode. It's fun watching it while being on this side of the equator.
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