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It’s that time of year again, the June long weekend. Growing up in Canberra that was something that would always mean getting together with friends and thanking Her Majesty for the extra day off, as we tried to light fireworks with numb fingers and short matches.
The refreshing sting of smoke in our eyes as we laughed and told stories by the bonfire and the stickiness of melted sugar running down our hands as we cooked marshmallows on sticks, watching the show and trying to keep warm.
It was bliss.
Alas NSW doesn’t permit such hooligan-esk activities, and now even the ACT government , after slowly shortening the season over years has gone and banned fireworks altogether thus letting the long held tradition of jumping-across-the-border-and-lying-about-your-address fizzle away slowly and finally die out, like many cheap fireworks themselves.
Whilst their motives regarding dogs being affected by the noise and running away are good, and despite my being an animal rights advocate to the end, I tend to feel people could take more care to lock up their dogs just that one night a year and let us have our pyromaniac style fun. I have to admit unlike the ER nurses across the capital, I am REALLY going to miss firework night.
I caught wind that a town nearby which is even smaller than ours (town hall but no pub) are having their annual firework display/ auction type affair on Saturday and I plan on taking the children and dragging the hubby to create ourselves a new version of an old tradition, one where we can still eat marshmallows and complain about the cold but with new friends, we can still marvel in the glory of as Gucci calls them “the loud sparkles in the sky” and as a bonus we are almost guaranteed to leave with all our fingers intact!
What is your take on fireworks, love or loathe? Do you agree with the bans, or feel it has killed an age old tradition?
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6 comments:
Poo to no fireworks! That is all.
Daisy xx
No fireworks? That's barbaric! I hope you and your family enjoy building a new tradition.
What always peeved me about the June Long weekend was the morons who decided to let off the fireworks around midnight and later. We have a park near us so that's where they woulg get let off.
Boy and Girl both had issues with the noise so we rarely had them ourselves. I think Serious Dog is glad they are over but now Smiley Dog is deaf and mostly blind he doesn't care. :)
Have fun with your new tradition.
It is about time you Canberra-ites got banned like the rest of us. lol. We always had such fun as kids on 'cracker night' but I reckon it was lucky I didn't lose an eye or an ear with all the shenanigans. A great phase of life but, with three little boys and a girl, I have to say one that I am glad is in the past! x
I can't decide! I do have fond memories of fireworks night as a kid, particularly of my Dad deciding that the space in between the fence posts was a great spot to lodge and light one of those fizzing spinning ones that spits out stuff as it twirls around. I wonder if the fence at our old house still has the burn marks on it?
However I have always felt bad for the poor dogs who have no idea what's going on and get so distressed.
I guess like any of the old pastimes containing the slightest hint of danger, they all get banned in the end.
The dog argument is just strange to me, even as the owner of a dog who can get spooked by them!
I'm not a major fan of fireworks, probably because the shell of one came back down rather intact and hit me on the head once. Didn't hurt at all (they're made of cardboardy stuff) but scared the life outta me!
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