Remember remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot...
It's that time of the year again. This Saturday it is the 5th November with all that involves: guys, bonfires, fireworks, parties.... I have happy memories of all the celebrations and trappings of Guy Fawkes Day during my childhood. It is a traditional time that I hope will continue for centuries to come. But people have, over the last few years, failed to remember that one of the key things is the date: the 5th November. The parties now seem to go on for as long as the fireworks are available to buy - I think retailers are licensed to sell them from the second week of October to a few weeks after Guy Fawkes Day. Fine. I hope that I am not a killjoy wanting to spoil peoples' fun. It is a pity though that they don't think of the effect their parties can have.
Nimrod's sister, Pickle, is usually a very strong-minded cat. She knows what she wants to do and the rest of us have to bow to her wishes. If she wants to sit on the settee we'd better move over and give her room to lay down (like her brother she is not a lap cat). Nothing usually frightens her, she is usually in control of her own life, and ours as well. However, the word is "usually", the one exception being this time of the year. From the first bang of a firework she hides under a cupboard under the stairs, the furthest distance from a window of anywhere in the house. She has been there for at least two weeks, just emerging for meals and then returning to the same slot. On past performance I suspect that she will be there until the last firework is set off. Then she will go back to ruling the house, us and her brother until this time next year.
People tend to forget, when arranging an outdoor party with fireworks, that the bangs and wizzes can frighten pets in the neighbourhood. We get lots of warnings to keep pets in on the actual day. But we can't keep them in for weeks on end.
So, in some ways this is a good time, enjoying all the traditional items but at the same time it is a difficult time of the year for those owning or owned by cats and dogs.
6 comments:
Our dog, Defer, was terribly afraid of loud sounds. We had a set schedule of outdoor visits, with his longest walk about 4:00 in the afternoon, and then a shorter trip just before bedtime. If kids were setting off fireworks, you can bet that the trip was off! He'd lower his ears and head, and tuck his tail in and run for home!
I think we're lucky that he missed the installation of the new roof. The noise would have made him ill.
It's too bad that your community can't limit that part of the celebration.
Buffy
Buffy,
Unfortunately I don't think I can say much at this time of the year without appearing to be a killjoy to the rest of the neighborhood. This time of the year is dedicated to fireworks, bonfires and guys (the "penny for the guy" lads seem to have stopped the last few years). Fortunately for Pickle fireworks are only licensed for sale for a few weeks a year and the period will soon be over.
I can imaging how frightened Defer used to be over bangs of fireworks. And I can also understand what you mean about being relieved he is not around for your reroofing. I can remember how discomforted both cats were when we had some work done to the central heating system last year - and that was just people they didn't know going all over the house and not many bangs.
"penny for the guy" lads? I do not understand the term!
Cop Car
Cop Car,
Guy Fawkes night has become known over the years for both fireworks, bonfires. It is the custom on the 5th November to burn a "guy" on the top of the bonfire, the guy being old clothes stuffed with somthing flammable so that they form a human shape with something (sack or something) looking headlike. Small boys or young lads would make a guy a few days before Bonfire night and then go around asking "Penny for the Guy" and people would give them a small amount towards to lads buying fireworks on Guy Fawkes night. Having said that it is the custom over here I cannot remember seeing any boys asking "Penny for the Guy" for the last few years. I don't know whether the custom is dying out (understandable given that they are begging money from strangers) or whether I just haven't seen any.
Incidentally this year is exactly 400 years since Guy Fawkes and his cohorts were captured after about 56 barrels of gunpowder were found underneath Parliamant House, all ready to blow up the then King, his family and the entire British Parliament. The point is none of us British people has absolutely any idea why we still celebrate a failed attempt at terrorism 4 centuries ago. But still we celebrate Guy Fawkes night plus the cellars of the current Houses of Parliament are ceremoniously searched as well to ensure that there isn't any more attempts to do the same thing again.
Sometimes people don't need much excuse for holding a celebration.
Cop Car
Cop Car,
I forgot to mention that Guy Fawkes and his conspirators were Catholics and they were trying to destroy a Protestant King and Parliament. I suspect that the reason it is still remembered is to remind the country's populace of this. Certainly we have not been a Catholic country since then.
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