Explosive weekend!

On Saturday, I spent most of the day in a field near Reading with clawz_skunk and another guy (James) from firework display company, Firemagic, helping setting up fireworks for a big public 5th November fireworks show.  Wasn't allowed to set them off or anything as I'm not trained to do so but was still interesting learning how the shows are put together and how much work is involved.  As James was concerned that it might rain for the show, we had to make sure all the fireworks were water proofed (basically covering them in clingfilm) and also adding waterproofed fuses.  While that sounds pretty dull, I was happy to do it.  Fortunately it didn't rain anyway but I guess it's better to be safe than sorry.  Come 7.30ish, I made my way down from where the show was being set up, past the massive bonfire (which seemed to be burning sideways rather than upwards due to the wind) and climbed into the growing crowd who were all just staring into the field waiting for the show to start.  As I was with Clawz and James, I not only got into the show for free, but I was able to grab free drinks and food for myself (as I had been lent a Firemagic jumper for the day) :).

One thing when you're setting off fireworks, you don't get the best view for watching them go off so at least I had that benefit of watching it from the audience.  Despite the fact that the layout and order of the fireworks was pretty much made up as they went along, in watching the show you wouldn't have noticed.  The guy who owned the land and paid for the show had paid for 20minutes of intense explosions and so the show was pretty entertaining with something going on at all times.  Only downside was that the catherine wheel didn't go off properly :P.  I tried to get some photos of the show but despite having a very quick camera and various advanced settings, it was still very difficult to capture a good shot of the fireworks.  I also got some video of the fireworks using the camera which came out much better.  Was amusing once the show was done, Clawz and James walked from the field to the audience and they were pretty much treated like celebrities!

Anyway, on reflection, it was quite a fun day, as in it was something I wouldn't normally do.  I've never really had a great interest in fireworks before considering they tend to be more of an annoyance than anything.  However that's due to joe public letting off fireworks at random.  When it's all done professionally, with fireworks you can't buy in the shops cos they're so powerful, it makes the difference :).  Certainly my best bonfire night in ages.