Be safe this Bonfire Night...

There's one born every minute

I like how the cameraman is laughing his head off as his mate is nearly engulfed.

You could make something about the irony of a German being engulfed by flames - if you tried hard enough.

Dello at work.

Topical reference, the wages of bad acting ...

I think the original was scarier Peter!

I like your Avatar.

I've noticed that Halloween has surpassed Bonfire Night in popularity these days. When I were a kid we used to be going round collecting firewood for a couple of weeks before the big night and there used to be a bommy on every patch of spare ground. You used to have to guard against raiders thieving your wood to try and make their bommy bigger, and the odd kid even died having been on guard duty inside the bonfire when it was lit prematurely. On the big night itself there'd be baked potatoes, toffee apples and treacle toffee, and beers for the grown-ups, whilst the dads organized and lit the fireworks that everyone had brought. Quality.
When I asked my son this morning if he fancied going to a bonfire tonight he looked at me like I was asking him if he wanted a dog turd for tea.

Yeah, it really has. How old is your son Jonty? You probably need to communicate with him on his level. You know, grunting.

14, JK. In fairness I think it's our generation's fault. We've been brought up on a diet of Seppo horror films about Holloween and gradually turned it into a sort of winter Mardi Gras. There were fancy dress parties all over the shop in pubs and houses - I suppose all of which are less subject to the vagaries of the weather and less dangerous! - whereas I don't know of a single bomfire do.
If anything my son is disenfranchised by it at his age as he's too old for trick-or-treating and too young for the pub, and hasn't experience anything other than the health and safety sanitized version of Bomfire Night.

The main reason why "cracker night" has been superseded by Halloween down in Australia is because everyone has been wrapped in cotton wool.

Firecrackers have been more or less banned just about everywhere in Australia.

Some restrictions are needed in a bushfire-prone country such as this, which is why the big night for amateur fireworks was moved from Guy Fawkes day in hot November to Empire Day in cool May.

But a cultural tradition has been rubbed out by the government completely.

In Sydney, we've ended up replacing do-it-yourself explosions with a giant professional fireworks display on New Year's Eve. It's always an amazing sight, but it's not the same as blowing stuff up yourself!

They still allow people to let off their own fireworks in the Northern Territory for one day a year in July. It adds to my theory that the Territory is a reminder of what Australian culture was like 30 years ago.

I've just come across more sad news. This story popped up in August but I actually missed it at the time.

Canberra Bans Cracker Night

Canberra (or the Australian Capital Territory to be more precise) has only ever been good for three things:

1. Keeping the politicians away from the rest of us
2. Allowing people to buy all sorts of porn
3. Allowing people to buy fireworks

Now we'll just have to make do with the first two.

PeterCS wrote:Topical reference, the wages of bad acting ...

I'd sooner bathe my delicates in broken glass than watch the Wickerman remake in full. Good to see they still burn him though- I was afraid they'd go for the happy ending and the Britt Ekland character-alike would wiz by in a helicopter and save Nicholas Cage.

I'm afraid to ask about the references to bees and the drones.

** Jonty in talking complete bollocks shocker**
I went out to pick up Calz earlier on and the usual 10 minute journey took 3/4 of an hour owing to the throngs of people heading to Heaton Park for the bomfire, fireworks and funfair celebrations. There were police directing the traffic and everything. And it's like Kabul outside.
In my defence, nobody seems to be having a neighbourhood bomfire as they've been pretty much outlawed, though I suppose it's a good thing if we don't have kids heading to hospital with an eye hanging out.
Forthwith, feel free to assume that the opposite of anything I post will probably be closer to the truth.

Hass wrote:
"cracker night"

Zim's birthday?