Bonfire Night (transferred from 'Sultana Fling')

It's traditional to celebrate (or remember) Bonfire Night, or Guy Fawkes Night, on the 5th November - so why the heck are we out there watching the whizzes and bangs tonight? It's not like Tomorrow's a weekday night (so people would have difficulty getting home from work on time) and it's not like it was held very late (so kiddies would be tired and grumpy next day)

When I looked around for Firework displays this weekend, they were just about all today, the day before Bonfire Night! This I find strange. Growing up, I remember celebrating this night on the 5th November, no matter what day of the week it was.

It was a night of excitement, watching fireworks (not half as amazing as the ones today), and of fire-baked potatoes, and spelling out your name with sparklers held in the hand, and roasting yourself as close as you dared (or could stand) in the blazing heat of the giant fire. There was the 'Guy', which was ceremoniously placed on top of the fire before it was lit, and everyone would cheer when the flames licked the feet and legs. There was the running round afterwards, whilst the adults had a chat, and stood distractedly watching the fire. It was a night!

So, today, whilst the display was all you could hope for, the bonfire was on the other side of the soccer field, cordened off so that the flame of the fire was a distant and objective thing [so distant, in fact, that even zooming in with my camera, it was just a splodge in the middle of the screen! :-( ]. No potatoes (haven't been for years, unfortunately); sparklers are gloves-only affairs, so if you've forgotten the gloves, you would feel like you were a bad mum for allowing the kids to touch them without (so you don't get any :-( ); It was f-f-f-freezing! No warmth from any fire, which is deemed 'unsafe' so kept well away from you. Oh yes- and no Guy! And then, because everyone had frozen their butts off whilst watching the display, there was no long catch-up chats with friends, neighbours and other locals - everyone simply wanted to (understandably) disappear into the warmth.

So, it might have been a lovely display, but a firework display was all it was. There was no nostalgia, no socialising, no hot food, nor warm conversations, no toasting your face in the fire's aura until you could bear it no longer. It was simply fireworks- with a bonfire in the distance.

Tomorrow, November the 5th, I will be nostalgically remembering all those childhood Guy Fawkes days, and feeling like another little bit of social history died.