Roberto
Matta.
It is 5th of
November today, in England it is Guy Fawkes Day which will be remembered with
fireworks and burning bonfires.
Fireworks
are in my opinion too dangerous for people to use as they do; I think it would
be a much better idea if towns were to organize firework displays.
Which the
entire town can enjoy together instead of everyone buying their own fireworks
they can all have a bigger display if it’s a community affair.
Every New
Years Eve I wish that they adopted that approach also here in the Netherlands; it
would make the whole event much safer if it were done.
Instead of
individuals it should be the towns and cities that organise the firework
displays for everyone to enjoy.
In the
Netherlands people get very competitive with the fireworks, many people go to
Belgium get fireworks that would not be legal here.
Some of
these fireworks sound too much like ammunition going off which is worrying,
especially when one does not know it is going to happen.
In 1982 I
thought I was in the middle of a war zone when what I thought sounded like
Beirut being shelled seemed to be occurring on my street.
Finally I
plucked up courage and peeked out from behind the curtains, and then I could
see that it was only fireworks that were being let off and not explosives.
1982 was
the first year that people had decided to let off fireworks, this was because
there were no longer allowed to burn their Christmas trees to bring in the New
Year.
Burning
Christmas trees on the last day of the year was an old tradition here in the
Netherlands which has been stopped by the authorities.
The new
tradition of letting off fireworks is far more dangerous than bonfires ever were,
and they are expensive too.
Perhaps it
is because the former was more communal than fireworks that burning Christmas
trees was banned in the Netherlands.
