It's Bonfire Night tonight, which is the main UK firework event; so November 5th is always pretty noisy for someone who lives within a mile of the city centre.
And not just the 5th -- every year there are always sounds from fireworks, somewhere, every night from before Halloween until several days after The Guy (Fawkes) has been burned (although not many bother with this aspect nowadays).
But today is by some margin the noisiest ever. The sound of banging and whooshing has been constant and loud - continuous for five hours (so far)...
(Almost drowning-out the uniquely-powerful vocal roaring and singing from Newcastle United's stadium - where they have been winning a European cup game.)
Also continuous have been the sirens of the emergency services (fire/ police/ ambulances) - which might, but need not, mean anything very terrible happening, since these vehicles do love making a noise, and need no excuse for doing so.
This kind of racket is quite exciting and doesn't trouble me as an occasional thing - at least, not now that the kids have grown-up (it certainly did annoy me when they wee babies and had just dropped-off then were woken and disturbed by bangs).
But I am surprised by just what a Big Thing Bonfire Night obviously is for many people in 2025.
It is not many years since the Gunpowder Plot festival was waning inexorably, and looked-like disappearing -- having been (it seemed) displaced by the rise of Halloween, less than a week earlier.
Yet another thing I don't understand about life here and now...
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