Yet Another Cycling Forum
Off Topic => The Pub => Topic started by: Chris S on 05 November, 2013, 12:18:14 am
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Aren't they great? Lots of people whine about the noise - but hey, there's more noise year-round from thunderstorms and loud motorbikes, so nyahh...
This year, I have been able to compare and contrast the aerial displays in Diss and Thetford. Diss preferred the rocket, whereas Thetford definitely favoured the mortar and shell approach. I have to say, I prefer the shells - you get a double whammy - the "thump" from the tube launch, and then the air-burst.
Obviously, those on the Pacific Rim win in the mortar-launched shell pissing contests - these 600mm shells are the Dogs; the time delay between the sounds of the launch and air burst tell you just how far away they are, and how high they are being launched:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu_GO0hUd0s
If you want to get all geeky about it, there's a great chemistry lecture here (mostly for kids):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmtK2BgmGCw
Modern displays are a far cry from my Dad lighting up a Standard Selection box in the back garden, back in the 60s.
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*settles in comfortably to await Helly's response*
;D ;D
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Fireworks? Pah! They go up in a puff of smoke never to be seen again.
Also, I get really quite fed up having to pick up the detritis in the back garden every day for a fortnight.
Just as well I'm not a pet lover too...
BAH HUMBUG !!!
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I love fireworks.
Going out for another show tonight :thumbsup:
(That'll be #3 of probably 4)
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A controlled display of fireworks, like in that vid or the traditional Bonfire Night display, is fantastic. When people spend all weekend letting them off in the street - every street - it's horrible. The constant noise is bad enough but the smoke is far worse. I'd imagine it's really bad for people with asthma. Still, I suppose it scares the rats away for a while.
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I love fireworks.
And so do the cats. They're certainly not bothered by them.
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When done properly they are fantastic.
The trouble is that it is rare to see them done properly.
The last display I saw that I really enjoyed was Sydney Habour NYE 2009/2010.
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I once spent a grand on 7 minutes worth.
A grand well spent
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Just you wait until Feline sees this.
I have a cat who is truly not bothered. I had a dog who used to go berserk and took weeks to recover.
the current loud bangs are effing ridiculous and if I get hit by one of the fireworks that gets shot down a street I shall stuff the remains of said firework up their fundament.
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I have one lad who fell asleep during the Cliffords Tower display, so ambivalent was he. But I also have a lad who found the noise deeply upsetting.
I also had a greyhound who got so upset by the noise that she would have fits.
So, no, I don't tend to enjoy fireworks.
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Fireworks are for kids*. #humbugger
* Except Clarion's.
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Fireworks are brilliant. :smug:
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My boy loved the display we went to at the weekend, just as he did last year. We haven't heard many around us as our house is currently reverberating to the noise made by our knackered fridge!
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Fireworks? Pah! They go up in a puff of smoke never to be seen again.
Also, I get really quite fed up having to pick up the detritis in the back garden every day for a fortnight.
Just as well I'm not a pet lover too...
BAH HUMBUG !!!
If you are just having to pick up the detritus from your garden, count yourself lucky!
We had to replace roof tiles after a rocket attack one year...
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If you like firework go to Denmark for new years eve - UK is very tame compared.
We are staying in tonight, checking out how Tilley the dog takes to the firework, else I would have been out hunting firework shows. Tilley only lift her head when they are close and when they are really loud right outside we do get a bark from her. Else she is fast asleep next to the fire.
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Akcherly, I do enjoy proper displays very much. What I don't like is the disorganized stuff that will be going on around my house from now until mid night.
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OMG! It's like a 1990s screen saver out there at the moment.
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Here is a quick warning.
DO NOT TAKE A BOAT OUT ALONG PORTOBELLO BEACH TONIGHT...
as time passes, the rockets tend towards the skimming stones variety of firework,zooming out towards the tankers anchored off...
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OMG! It's like a 1990s screen saver out there at the moment.
* like *
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It always amuses me how people get cross about fireworks. I know they can upset animals and people use them irresponsibley but the UK must have the toughest firework laws in Europe. You can only sell them at specific times of the year and letting them off dangerously is against the law. In the rest of Europe you can buy them all the time and they seem to set them off willy nilly at every religious and cultural festival they have. In Spain they target each others churches with salvos or rockets and its called culture.
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It always amuses me how people get cross about fireworks. I know they can upset animals and people use them irresponsibley but the UK must have the toughest firework laws in Europe. You can only sell them at specific times of the year and letting them off dangerously is against the law. In the rest of Europe you can buy them all the time and they seem to set them off willy nilly at every religious and cultural festival they have. In Spain they target each others churches with salvos or rockets and its called culture.
Not even close. In Ireland you're not allowed to buy them unless you're running a professional display, or sell them to the general public.
Doesn't necessarily stop people, mind ...
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When the world was young and a terrorist was something in a comic or something far far away, we made our own. I distinctly remember someone having smoking hair when phosphorous was badly applied. (he was a chemistry major)
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When the world was young and a terrorist was something in a comic or something far far away, we made our own. I distinctly remember someone having smoking hair when phosphorous was badly applied. (he was a chemistry major)
We used to cobble our own whizzbangs together too - didn't need any special occasions, either. I once managed to fill the forward half of the top deck of a corporation bus with sulphur-dioxide-laden smoke. We had to get off in rather a hurry.
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When the world was young and a terrorist was something in a comic or something far far away, we made our own.
Ho yes. Playing (Yes, it was playing) with sugar and weed killer was just a normal thing that kids did.
Obviously no such thing as the internet in those days - the fun was in the experimentation that that gradually taught us the correct mix.
Parents? They'd say things like "ooh, do be careful when you're doing that"
The only time that I went beyond the pale was when our parents were having central heating put into the house. There were lots of off cuts of copper tube lying around.
My brother and I made some pipe bombs and attempted to blow up the bank in the local railway cutting. Unfortunately, we were way more successful than we ever dreamed we could be.
Result? My parents were visited by the local plod and told to "have a word" with us.
Imagine how that would have panned out today.
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*imagines Basil in Gitmo orange*
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You can only get fireworks in Denmark the month up to new year. We used to make our own big bangs, pipe bombs etc., since the ones you could get in DK were weak. Ok now you can get more powerful ones, I have heard of roofs and windows blow off/out because the "rocket" didn't go up.
We used to go to Germany and smuggle in more powerful fireworks. I know of people who bought the fireworks (more powerful stuff than in DK) at xmas time in Sweden, hide it in their Swedish summer house until the next summer, to then bring it home since the border control didn't check for fireworks in the summer months.
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Just got round to doing pictures from last night. Not just fireworks, but torches, racing burning barrels over cobbles, dressing up, bands, effigies...
(http://blog.a-dan.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/P1040930.jpg) (https://www.flickr.com/photos/perpetualdan/sets/72157637393590525/)
(picture is a link if you want more)
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:thumbsup: Anyone would think you were celebrating something to do with fire and gunpowder. Isn't it supposed to be pumpkins? :D
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The Pre-Newtonian Moggy having lost a long and closely-fought dispute over our block's garden with one Claudius1, her territory now ranges around the back of some clearly very wealthy people's homes, wealthy enough to let off a truly enormous and window-rattling series of whizzbangs. I'm sure garden fireworks used to be much less threatening: a few sparklers all round and then a rocket or at most two, one of which wouldn't go off at all so you'd all retreat inside disappointed leaving it to be recovered damply the next day. Our poor cat must have found herself right in the middle of it all, and vanished entirely, eventually asking to be let in at five in the morning. She even missed her supper.
[1] fele anteneuutoniana contra Claudium quidem in bello longo commino victa. Never let a good ablative absolute go to waste.
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Oooh - Excellent!
Clearly the local community was divided on the whole "blow your wad on the 2nd, or keep your powder dry 'til the 9th?" question :thumbsup:.
* opens curtains *
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We let a load off last night (had a party with next door). Very successful.
Have you ever noticed that the names of them usually sound like unspeakable sexual perversions? I'll just leave this here (NSFW)
http://www.b3ta.com/board/10869199
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Really not sure if this is meant to be taken seriously or not:
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/fireworks-bonfire-night-guy-fawkes-terrorism-a8038601.html
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Have you ever noticed that the names of them usually sound like unspeakable sexual perversions? I'll just leave this here (NSFW)
http://www.b3ta.com/board/10869199
b3ta on top form there!
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Gawd Bless Modern Toss. They've perfectly summed up our local display last night:
(https://i.pinimg.com/736x/2e/a4/38/2ea438c38f900518d18bb964bd5c7c05--bonfire-night-fireworks-displays.jpg)
There is a 20m high grassy knoll right outside the venue. We probably had a better view than the paying customers ;D
[I'm not proud of this ... but then I'd vote for no private fireworks, and spending our local taxes on 1 big town display.]
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Some tossers started their display at 11:30 last night. Huge bangs as well, not rockets. Bet locals who had small kids loved them.
Didn't stop until after midnight.
I used to like fireworks, but I'm firmly off the "lets have a big organised display" on one night rather than piss-poor noisy things going off every night for a couple of weeks.
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Gawd Bless Modern Toss. They've perfectly summed up our local display last night:
(https://i.pinimg.com/736x/2e/a4/38/2ea438c38f900518d18bb964bd5c7c05--bonfire-night-fireworks-displays.jpg)
There is a 20m high grassy knoll right outside the venue. We probably had a better view than the paying customers ;D
[I'm not proud of this ... but then I'd vote for no private fireworks, and spending our local taxes on 1 big town display.]
I've just nicked that
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The other night we were sandwiched between two fireworks displays: Out the front somewhere in the middle distance were the traditional loud bangs. When I went to the loo, I realised that there was another, quieter display going on in one of the nearby gardens, as flashes of shimmering light were visible through the frosted window, punctuated by a number of people going "Oooh!" :thumbsup:
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Starts at Diwali and ends at New Year round our way, with a few small breaks. I don't mind so much as I love fireworks but the mess gets annoying.
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In Spain they target each others churches with salvos or rockets and its called culture.
We happened by chance to be in Barcelona one year for the Festes de la Mercè, which culminated in the 'Correfoc' (fire run). During the early evening, there was a parade of giant papier maché monsters through the city centre, towards the square in front of the cathedral where they lined up behind the gates of hell. Towards midnight, we bagged a spot down by the railings to ensure we got a good view when the gates were opened. Just before midnight, some people came down and removed the barriers, and most of the crowd started moving back towards the safety of the cathedral steps. Not being any the wiser, we stayed where we were.
Then as the clocks struck midnight, the gates opened and the monsters poured through, all laden with fireworks going off left right and centre, along with people dressed as demons chucking yet more fireworks about all over the place. There was so much noise, fire and smoke that I got completely disoriented and didn't know which way I was running. It was abso-fucking-lutely terrifying. And totally and utterly brilliant.
https://youtu.be/DD4zmd0x2ro
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Citoyen: that looks like NY in Denmark, when I was younger, if you removed the drums and safety glasses :)
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I managed to beat the total road closure and removal of all train services in Lewes by riding in; seemed a bit less busy than usual, (ie prolly only 70,000 rather than 80,000 peeps in a town pop. 16,000)
they don't just commemorate 5th Nov but also the burning of the Lewes Martyrs in 160 something, plus a large Remembrance theme. The 5 societies all have their own bonfire, procession and display and make a big thing of out-fireworking each other.
Usual political tableaux this year May finally got her comeuppance as a pistol as well as trident wielding Britannia; Trump (there were 4 of him all with that other bloke with the dodgy hairdo ) was superb sitting aboard a missile complete with Hannibal strait jacket / face mask
This year's political controversy was the cessation of some of the procession blacking up as Zulu's; in favour of some real ones who were very welcome
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The correfoc looks brilliant. For those who want fire and fiesta and fear, it's all there. But for those who don't it can (presumably) be escaped by staying away. Total contrast to diwali, which is everywhere and chokes you with its smoke.
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Starts at Diwali and ends at New Year round our way, with a few small breaks. I don't mind so much as I love fireworks but the mess gets annoying.
Same dates round here BUT
1) The cats don't like them
2) A rocket attack displaced a roof tile a few years ago
3) We get a lot of firework detritus
4) The detonations continue late in the night, disturbing many.
Turning me into a Grumpy Old Woman...
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There's a big fire right now in central Bristol (one of the university buildings) and the video looks just like Diwali!
http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/park-street-fire-live-updates-1021777
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I've noticed that quite a few of the spent fireworks I've seen lying around since New Year used plastic tubes instead of the rolled paper and card we used to have. That's something that needs to be banned PDQ.
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Post Bastille Day fireworks we came home to find a ginormous hunting dog cowering under a table in our barn. Sitting looking at it with mild curiosity were our two cats. Next day we were able to find its owner, a farmer 4 km away.
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I luv 'em. Used to work in a pyrotechnics research place. We used to spend every lunch break in October and the last week before the site's Nov 5 bonfire night preparing the display. Given the nature of the work we had access to some explosive compositions that were not commercially available. The lead on all this was a chap who used to be part of one of the Lewes bonfire societies and had also won the best display at the annual Pyrotechnician's conference (that year on Guernsey I think).
Pyromaniacs, the lot of them. Great days.
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I don't understand why grown adults enjoy fireworks. I know what a firework display looks like, I don't need to see another one. I even saw what was at the time, the biggest firework display in history (Sydney around 200x) and I was still underwhelmed...