Fireworks

Me too, and you used to get lots , but they are an awful price now and for what seems to be a minimum of thirty quid you get very little. It cost us eleven pounds for three of us last night (proceeds to a local charity) and the fireworks were excellent. In the past we have gone to the display at Chatsworth House and eleven pounds wouldn't get one of you through the gate this year I shouldn't think, without including the petrol and the parking fee!

well run displays are great fun and is shame if we ban everything that could potentially be dangerous, would life be worth living??
sparklers banned now apparently, mmm seems bit over the t op.

There will always be awful accidents, not just with fireworks but we used with care and they are not sold to little ones are they? I can remember going to choose what I could afford with pocket money, by gone age!!

funny we did not hear a thing last night, not even a solitary rocket!!

Shame really used to have fantastic display at school near us but health and safety ended it couple years ago.

Luckily our little Rosie is not bothered by fireworks at all.

is sad when pets are of course.

I was relieved to learn this morning that out local fire brigade, although it had more call-outs than usual last night, didn't have to deal with any very serious incidents.

Took our GS to a brilliant local display this evening. We all loved it. The rockets are certainly getting bigger though - we found a spent one at the bottom of our drive on Sunday morning. The stick was four feet long with a sharp point on the end. It must just have missed landing on our car. I will use the stick to stake my dahlias next year! Waste not, want not!

alieOxon sounds painful!!
Ian - ae you taking the proverbial?
Tonight has been worse thatn Saturday but fortunately (because I am a total killjoy) last night's torrential rain put paid to the barrage we were due to suffer.

My cat has finally got worried about an hour ago and retreated from the couch by the window. She's behind the armchair - and by the radiator. Good move.

I have a particular concern about large rockets. I had one come right through my passage roof a couple of years ago, left a 3" hole in the corrugated plastic.

you would think there was a war on hear with the noise of these bangers x

Ian, please don't generalise.

I've just been to an organised display which was attended by all ages from toddlers to grannies. We had a brilliant time.

Ians* got a point. Some of these fireworks are far too big to be let off in gardens and the like.

Strange thing is we have a lot of clay pigeon shooting round here, and that doesn't bother her at all .

The valerian tablets seem to have helped my whippet. I should have started them a month ago but only started a week ago. She's not settling but her nose isn't dripping and she doesn't appear to be as distressed as last year. I topped up the tablets with a bit of the tincture in her food just now so it may take a while to kick in. Trying to ignore her as well, cause they say if you comfort them it reinforces their fear that they're in danger [must point out I'm only doing that because she seems reasonably calm; if she was a quivering wreck I'd have her on my lap now!].

We have put one of those special calming collars on our dog this year and while he is still a quivering wreck I feel he is not quite as bad a usual. Even if it has made a slight difference it was £30 well spent.

You are a real ray of sunshine , ian

Let's ban fireworks, all they do is scare the elderly. And have you seen the size of rocket sticks you could build a boat with them. Around here I'm sure they are launched from canons. BAN THEM NOW BEFORE THEY KILL SOMEONE!!!

I love the colours and the smells, but hate the bangs. I'm old enough to remember the war. They just mean aggression and hatred to me. Often think of animals in war zones. It doesn't bear thinking about.

We used to have a greyhound cross, she was terrified when fireworks were going off, she`d spend 2 weeks cowering in a corner, shaking like a leaf, nothing at all would comfort her. Mia on the other hand, hasn`t even pricked her ears up, completely unfazed by it all.

I remember being scared stiff the first time I saw a guy burn. I guess that was in 1945 or 6, no bonfires in the war. I was really upset.

I do not like bonfire night. Even though it was 20 years ago every year I can still here the screams of a four year old boy brought into A&E with horrific burns to his hip from having a firework lit in his pocket. I always drove the children mad every year with my safety precautions and am glad that I don't have to make the effort now.

On Friday I spent about an hour trying to call one of my cats to come in during a nearby firework party. He has an electronic Loc8tor tag on his collar which told me he was close, but there was no sign. Eventually I gave up, only to find him indoors minus his collar, which I found the next day in a garden 2 doors away amongst a pile of fur - he had obviously been scrapping! I have 3 cats, and they seem completely oblivious to the bangs despite sharp hearing which picks up food being opened at 100 yards!

We've just had bang, bang, bang since Friday. My cat has heard it all before and doesn't want to go out in the cold anyway. She hardly even pricks her ears up now.

I don't really like fireworks but can live with properly organised displays, although I don't go to them. However, it is almost inevitable that there will be injuries, many of them severe, from fireworks handled by idiots.

Ellie our lab is fine but clingy or more so with fireworks,but Bailey my sons dog pants,dribbles and shakes so much he is a more nervous highly strung animal his distress was pitiful poor boy he would have climbed inside our skin if he could...think fireworks should be public display only at least if you lived nearby you could have advance warning and plan to be somewhere else with your pets..

Bliss here! In the UK, we had fireworks for several months, starting with Diwali, Eid, then Guy Fawkes (for days before and days after) then New years, etc. Our life was a total nightmare, as our dog was terrified, and could never ever be left alone in the evenings, or she would tear up carpets and doors.

Since we moved here, on 2 dates with fireworks- 14th of July on French side, and 1st of August on Swiss side (Swiss national day) - so we go to FRance on 1st of August, and deeper into Switzerland on the 14th July - sorted. Happy dog - happy us.

Its been very quiet here tonight everyone must be waiting for the 5th.