Sunday 6 November 2011

Remember Remember the 5th of November


Guy Fawkes, it's either loved or loathed.  Personally I love it.  It's not just about the bonfires and fireworks, it's about getting together with friends.

My childhood is full of memories of burnt sausages and chops (pre gas bbq) flavored with charcoal smoke and playing war with "double happy's" and "Tom Thumbs" until it got dark.  Double Happy's were also known as bangers.  They looked like little sticks of dynamite, they came in small red packets wrapped in shiny paper.  Tom Thumbs were smaller and no less fun, colored turquoise in turquoise packets.  Both were all strung together by their fuses.

After school, we'd rush home to received our share of bangers, we'd spend the early afternoon buttering bread for the bbq and unwinding the fuses of our fireworks, putting them in lidded containers and anticipating the fun to come.

After dark it was time for sparklers and then the adults took over with the pretties.  Sky Rockets stood in beer bottles, Catherine Wheels nailed to the fence and a plethora of sparkly pretty ground based fireworks were the home party favorites.

Sadly my children will never know the joy of bangers or rockets in bottles, both are banned from sale due to the inability of people to not do silly things with them.  Not for them the fun of war across the yard lobbing double happys into the centre of the lawn to act as grenades, or blowing up tins.


This is a photo I took of my son proving that sparklers are not too young for teenagers.  This year he was old enough to set off the pretties.


My daughter still enjoys sparklers but she loves ooh'ing and aaah'ing to the pretties as well.

Guy Fawkes night will never again be the much anticipated and fun filled night of my childhood.  Reality just cannot compete with rose colored memories and even if my favorite bangers and rockets hadn't been banned from sale, I'm far too old to run around hiding in bushes to throw bangers into the yard.

For my children Guy Fawkes is still great fun and so it should be.

I hope you all had a safe and fun Guy Fawkes, if you had one.  Here is the Guy Fawkes poem.  I learned it in school and although it's quoted in the movie V for Vendetta, Hollywood didn't write it :)

Remember, Remember
The 5th of November.
Gunpowder, Treason and plot.
I see no reason
for gunpowder treason
to ever be forgot.

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