November

Elaine has posted about her Bonfire Night memories at Ramblings from Rosebank and took me back to mine.  Proper Yorkshire Parkin (ginger cake to you!) and Toffee Apples; the fire on the green that had to be protected over Mischief Night or neighbouring kids would make off with the wood; boys throwing bangers about and making the Guy a week before so you could ask strangers for money for fireworks.

I have some really quite scary memories of Bonfire Night.  As a little girl (under 7) I was given a firework to hold! It had a plastic handle for the purpose and I remember I was wearing blue woollen gloves.  I held it well away from me but the flames were still hot and seemed to last for ages.  It obviously frightened me because I remember it so well.  How dangerous was that!  Fancy handing a child a firework to hold! It was all part of the fun back then.  Boys threw bangers about the playground and Jumping Jacks were designed to jump about at your feet!

Another memory was building the fire in a neighbour's garden using her metal washing pole as the central support.  It seemed like a great idea until ten minutes in when the pole started to vibrate.  The rain water inside began to boil and suddenly spurted into the air like a volcano and put the fire out!  Thankfully no one was hurt and we all had a good laugh and went to a different house to continue the celebration.

As a teenager I attended school in Huddersfield.  One dark afternoon we had a brilliant spectacle as a fire destroyed the Standard Fireworks factory across the valley. Rockets shot into the air; multi coloured lights covered the grey sky; it kept us amused all afternoon. It was wonderful from our view point ... not so wonderful for the workers!

We are far more safety conscious these days thankfully!


Well, Bonfire Night here began last Saturday - 1st November - obviously there were some celebrations on the actual night but the main event is tonight.  Fire, food and fireworks at the local sports ground.  Hopefully it will have stopped raining by then!