I LOVE the beginning of November. Yes, it's cold and dark and wet, but luckily somebody came up with a festival that makes up for all this: Guy Fawkes Night.
There's nothing like standing by a warm, glowing fire on a cold, crisp night as riots of colour explode amongst the twinkling stars, and everyone "ooohs" and "aaahs" together.
Every year I say I am going to go to every fireworks event on the calen
dar, and each year I fail miserably.
I got off to a bad start this year. Hadleigh's was so early I was too busy celebrating Hallowe'en to go. The rain was so torrential for Cavendish's that I assumed it would have been cancelled, as only a madman would attempt lighting anything in that weather. Of course, I had forgotten about Cavendish's famous "eccentric" streak.
So my season did not get going until the Sudbury display at Delphi.
Long Melford might have had the fanciest firepower, but the final five minutes at Delphi were the most enjoyable I spent watching fireworks this year. It was a complete assault of the senses. A barrage of flashing rockets and smoke filled the sky, while ash and empty shells rained down on the front of the crowd. It was the perfect illusion of danger.
Nayland was next on my hitlist, and while it was an excellent display, boyfriend and I had our moods soured by the bonfire. It must have been 100 metres behind a safety cordon (or 300 feet in old money). It was probably 10-foot tall, but we could feel no heat from it whatsoever. It didn't warm the cockles of my heart. It just seemed like a tragic waste of wood.
Great Cornard took the same route for their event.
I have looked on the Health and Safety Executive's website (www.hse.gov.uk) and it definitely does not suggest keeping spectators in a separate postcode area to the fire. Even a toddler would have enough of a survival instinct to not leap into an enormous flaming pyre.
I accept that a safety cordon is wise, but 10 or 15 feet away would have been sufficient. If we are treated like a nation of imbeciles, that is what we will become.
People are already losing the ability to use their own common sense and judgement. You know things have got bad when even the body in charge of health and safety has covered its website in messages which boil down to: "For God's sake, loosen up a bit, stop worrying so much." It even has a Myth of the Month page.
Most tabloid tales of "health and safety gone mad" are people getting the wrong end of the stick and being over-cautious, rather than following rules and laws.
As for me, I am gathering materials for my own bonfire, in my own back garden. And I shall get as close as I think is sensible.
