Traditionally fireworks come on 5 November. This year that falls on a Tuesday though so the bangs came early for Heather and I, as we visited a fairly local park to ooh and ahh at the pretty flashes in the sky.

Despite the queue we found waiting us to get in it was fast moving and we were soon trying to navigate our way across the dark field aided only by the flickering lights of a funfair ahead and the occasional fellow pedestrian carrying a ubiquitous multi-coloured LED light tube (no sparklers allowed these days, sadly). It turned out we were far too early though as the fair was smaller than anticipated (the lack of dodgems being particularly upsetting) and the food a bit disappointing (candifloss in a bag is just wrong; it should swirl out a tub on a stick). It did however give Heather a chance to show off her hidden talents of hooking a duck (or other assorted items) on a stick. I claimed the later named Dave the Daft Duck for myself 🙂

Stores for hooking random objects (or in one case, netting air blown balls) exhausted and bored of watching the shooting range we wandered back over the field towards the lake to find a good spot to watch the fireworks. Unfortunately that took us closer to the stage playing a selection of the worst poppy dance stuff. It also then occurred to me that what the night really lacked was a bonfire—something I’m blaming on the soft southern lot; we still have them oop north.

After about half an hour of the host repeatedly telling us things would begin in about ten minutes we finally got to a pointless speech by the mayor (of Bexley that is), who thanked a lot of people no-one particularly knew before finally letting things get properly under way.

The music improved at that point, Pink Floyd leading the beginning of the flashes and bangs. The fireworks themselves were impressive, if not particularly well timed to the ongoing music (The Stone Roses’ This Is The One being the best of the night, its blasting over a field of people taking me back). The spectacular pyrotechnics built themselves through several peaks, stars bursting within stars and rockets launching high until a shimmering sheet formed in the air above us at the end.

We left smiling, and laughing at the host’s increasingly desperate protestations at what was in reality a calm and controlled crowd of people exiting through the main gate (the standing room only bus back home seemed more dangerous).

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