Fireworks (again).

Can anyone justify why fireworks should be available in this country? Once again we have yobbos throwing them at the police, fire brigade, and even at people in the street. There were big problems here in Edinburgh, in Liverpool, and in other towns and cities around the country.
We have had fireworks being set off around here for a week or more (and I don't mean kids with "bangers" but large aerial fireworks). Tonight there were fireworks going on until almost 11 pm.
Fireworks should only be available to licensed operators for public displays. They should not be sold to the general public, especially to those who, if their brains were gunpowder, couldn't blow their hat off.

 

I agree with you, although around here (where there aren't many houses) they are never much of a problem, especially this year - I don't suppose many people could afford them. We had a few distant cracks at about 6.30 and that was all until 10.45 when some idiot let a few more off ... but that was in the distance too.

In towns and cities they are more of a nuisance. My cousin lives in a city and he always tells me the noise makes him and his wife ill every year. Years ago when I was little fireworks were small and the loudest noise you had was a pop, but today they are like explosions.

I don't think they should be sold to the public. When something is widely available you're always going to get mindless people buying them and using them dangerously, and anyway I never know what people see in them, even public displays, I think they're stupid.

 

Not heard or seen one for the last few years

 

I am not against fireworks per se. I am against them being sold to uneducated members of the public. As a child we had fireworks. It was great fun dropping bangers down drains! But now they are used as weapons by mindless morons who think the emergency services are fair game.
Public displays are great fun to watch but are controlled and for the most part safe. So keep fireworks out of the hands of the public and only available to trained professionals. Even drones need licenses these days and in my opinion, they are far safer than fireworks.

 

It was like the usual war zone around here Saturday night, but I'm not sure if it is the money situation or because November 5th fell on a Saturday this year, but it's been quieter than usual.

 

I don't understand why people would want to sit for ages in the cold watching flashes of light and listening to loud bangs
When I went to a display many years ago I froze, and I was bored. I was glad when it ended and I could go home. It really doesn't make sense to me.

 

I like a well organised display. But I agree they shouldn't be sold to the general public.

Imagine walking into a shop and asking the assistant if they have any rocket propelled explosives for sale. Excuse me dear shop keeper, I'd like to purchase something that will launch at high speed, travel a couple of hundred feet, and then explode please. Even better if, as it explodes, it scatters a whole load of smaller explosives in all directions, and I'd like these explosives to be sold to me without any background checks or questions around intended use or anything please.

 

I really like fireworks however I think they should be limited to those holidays where they have traditionally been used. And only on those days!

For us, it is Victoria Day, Canada Day, Labour Day and New Years. I don't do my own displays as they are too expensive plus I don't know enough about them to do it responsibly but I always peep out the windows to see if I can watch someone else's from the comfort of my warm home

 

Whats worse than having vilolent morons running amock in your city ?

Violent morons armed with fireworks.

 

I've found there are less fireworks now than when I was a boy. On my way home from school I'd be looking for the first rockets! I used to be raring for 5.30pm to come around as that is when dad used to light the bonfire that my brothers & I had spent weeks foraging for firewood & making up the "Guy" for. It's so much quieter nowadays, though when we used to have 5 little dogies we didn't like the bangs & flashes of the fireworks that scared our poor little dogs.

I certainly like to see firework displays though I don't usually go to them. I especially like the New Year firework display - on TV!

 

There were fireworks being set off again this evening, just after 10 pm. It must be the same mob as they are always in the same bit of sky from my computer room window and there are not a lot of houses over there.

 

I agree about the new year fireworks, but I would say there are far more now than when I was young.
They are much bigger as well.

People didn't have the spare cash when I was a kid to spend loads of money on fireworks, which is why I wonder how much of a cost of living crisis there really is.

 

The cost of living crisis, while I have no doubt is very, very real for some, is largely, I believe, an education crisis.

You say people couldn't afford loads of fireworks when you were young. I believe that. I remember my parents being flat broke in the late 1970s. And my flat broke parents were positively wealthy compared to many households in our neighbors.

For bonfire night, my dad use to splash out and buy one box of assorted fireworks. Just the cheapo box. He'd also get a pack of sparklers for us kids, including our friends. We'd have a mini display in the back alley as a warm up for the main communal display that presumably the council put on. Everyone from miles around used to walk to it. After the official display, that was bonfire night done for the year.

The thing I remember though is even though everyone in our area was flat broke, nobody went hungry. Nobody had heard of obesity as everyone was skinny, but nobody was malnourished. How so? I remember the adults were all culinary geniuses. They seemed to know exactly how to get everything we needed nutritionally for the cheapest price, and how to stretch that out so absolutely nothing went to waste. A favourite of mine and my sister's was when we went round nanna's. She'd boil cheapo bacon bones with barley to make a wholesome soup. When it was done, she'd give the bones to my sister and I to nibble off any scraps of meat, and we'd get a pin each to poke in to pick the marrow out (we also got the soup as well ).