Fireworks Night ...

Bonfire night again. I wonder how many folk actually know why they are setting fire to squibs and rockets. The Chinese Fireworks Shop has been open for some weeks now. Hard-earned cash has changed hands in supermarkets. Enterprising would-be chemists have mixed their saltpeter, sulphur and iron filings and tamped their concoctions into various containers. I'm sure Guy Fawkes would be delighted that his failed antics are still celebrated country-wide.

We watched from our balcony. A near-by display lasted for quite a while; evidently someone had the cash to buy some very expensive rockets that not only lit up the sky, but the resounding explosions echoed through the streets. It made me wonder how some of the inmates of the council tower bock flats felt. Why? Quite a few are immigrants from war-torn places in the Middle East.

It's all too easy to forget how fortunate we are to live in a stable, welfare state; all too easy to loose ...