Fireworks!

Remember, remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot

I am a great big fan of Guy Fawkes Night. I know it's odd to commemorate terrorism (or the failure thereof) in such a way but it's a very English tradition and I'm all about tradition. I suppose you don't really think about the weirdness of it until you start trying to explain it to people. One of my colleagues is French and so we had to explain to her exactly why we all wanted to go and watch an effigy being burnt. She's Catholic so initial reaction was a very Gallic expression of horror, followed by many questions. Luckily we're all history geeks so we could explain it quite well to her. And it turned out that she rather enjoyed the bonfire and fireworks so all is good and she doesn't think we're weirdos.

I failed in many ways - didn't make any Bonfire toffee (I seem to have fallen into the habit of making this at Christmas instead), didn't eat any toffee apples or parkin. I couldn't even buy any sparklers! I went to the supermarket to get some and got ID'd for the sodding things! I didn't have my driving licence with me (typical) so rather sarkily asked the shop assistant if I looked 17 and being the drone that she was, she went "I've gotta check everyone like." I understand she doesn't want to get fined for selling to underage kids but I clearly don't look under 18!!

Luckily Char came round for the evening and she managed to pick some up on her travels so were able to sparkle in mighty fashion. The fireworks were fun too but I still haven't got to grips with my camera properly, so the pics were very hit and miss. I did discover that by swirling the camera around whilst it was taking the photos, I can create these rather funky effects though. I think I like them best.

Ps - thanks for all your lovely comments on my last post. Unfortunately the news doesn't look good but we're all hopeful it's not the worst case scenario.