Monday, November 05, 2007

Bonfire Night

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Oliver watching the fireworks

On Saturday night we took Oliver to a Guy Fawkes Night bonfire for the first time. It was at The Red Lion at Newburgh. (My Mum kindly baby-sat Lucy, just up the road at her house.)

Oliver seemed to enjoy the idea of going to this event with its "fireworks" and "big bonfire", but we weren't sure how he would react in reality.

As the time approached for the display, a single firework would be let off about once every minute and explode with a loud bang. This allowed Hayley and I to make suitable "whoooo" noises to Oliver to prepare him for what was to come. He seemed to enjoy looking at the big bonfire from his vantage point on my shoulders.

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But at 3 minutes to blast off he told us, "no bangs!". Hmmmmm, this was not good. So knowing the way to our son's heart we bought him a hot dog.

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Happy with his hot-dog.

When the fireworks started in all their very loud glory, Oliver was just transfixed. He wasn't scared at all. But I can't say he seemed impressed either. I guess it was just "an experience" for him.

The fireworks display was in two parts with a 15 minute interval. At the end of the first part Oliver suggested we "go home now." As we had just managed to rendezvous with my sister, who is 38 weeks pregnant and had just tripped over a bramble, this seemed a wise move.

It was a nice evening, if a little short. And it was quite an emotional one for both Hayley and I. When I first met her I invited her up here and put her up in The Red Lion pub overnight. Five years later here we were taking our son to his first "bonfire night" in its grounds. It brought a lump to our throats.

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