WASTING MONEY ON FIREWORKS

I used to. It was a big deal when I was a kid, before people used to hoard them and let them off at any time of the year. We used to raise money by collecting empty beer and soft-drink bottles and pinecones and fire-wood and selling them. Back in the 60's we also used to raise money by making a 'guy' which was a stuffed replica of poor old Guy Fawkes.

In the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, Fawkes and other conspirators were horribly executed after trying to blow up King James 1. Its a pity they got caught really as the bastard deserved to get his arse blown off .... but that's another story.

We used to wheel our 'guy' around in an old pram yelling out 'Penny for the Guy'. Of course we were looking for sixpences and shillings but 'penny for the guy' was a traditional thing.

Kids don't do that now which in a way is a shame with a tradition disappearing. I suppose it has been replaced by Halloween now. More bloody American culture replacing the British that we grew up with.

With the money we made the standard items we bought were bangers.

Anything that could make a lot of noise and that we could throw at one another was the thing.
The standard purchase was the Double Happy.

This made a decent bang and could (just) be held in the tips of the fingers without actually losing a digit. It hurt and there was the occasional loosening of a nail but it was OK, certainly stronger than the Tom Thumb which was a bit lame. The 'mother' of all bangers was the Mighty Cannon. This was about 5 times bigger than the Double Happy and had a fuse protruding from the side instead of the end. Binding a half dozen of these together could result in a very decent bang and, with enough 'baffling' could do some damage to our preferred target - the letterbox.

For the actual night of the 5th November we would buy the colourful stuff. Mum would like the Roman Candles and the little pot fireworks like Egmont, Vesuvius,  Emerald Fire, Floral Bouquet etc but these were a bit tame. Jumping Jacks, Catherine Wheels and sky rockets were our thing.
Obviously firing them at each other was not allowed (or at least when our parents were watching). I remember setting fire to my sister when I fired a small skyrocket at her. It burnt her wooly jumper and I got hell for that.

Later, when I was older, skyrockets were what I spent my money on. Bangers were later to be banned but manufacturers and importers concentrated on skyrockets and their kind that made bangs. When I lived on a farm in Papatoetoe we made a big bonfire each year and I would spend a couple of hundred dollars on skyrockets. This was in the 1980's so I hate to think how much this is in 2011 figures. What a waste.

Nowadays I think the whole thing is dumb. The risk of fire is even higher than it used to be with the higher use of flying flaming things than before. The power of these is greater and can lead to more accidents and the use of them is becoming less discriminate.

I think most of all though that the connection with past history has been lost, kind of the way Easter,  Christmas and New Years has. With luck this may be rejuvenated so these events don't just become commercial sales sprees but I doubt it. Its more likely we will end up celebrating more American events like 4th July, Thanksgiving and bloody 9/11.