Remember Remeber

Foreign friends often find it strange that every year we British burn an effigy on top of a huge fire, then setting off a load of fireworks. They are even more amazed to find the celebration is based around the fact that a man named Guy Fawkes failed to blow up the houses of Parliament. There is something very British about the celebration of failure.

As usual I headed to the Woodford Community bonfire, its the only event of worth since the Woodford air show stopped. Joining me were Phil, Bruce and Nina. They parked at my house and we all walked down to the show together.

We found a nice place round the back. Not too close the the speakers which were blaring out music far far too loudly. Becky and some of her friends joined us. It was the first time I have seen her properly since she and Nick went there separate ways.

The display was pretty damn good, lots of big explosions lighting up the nights sky. There was a slight moment of Panic, when after a large volley of fireworks and despite the best efforts of the organisers the wind blew the fireworks over the crowd. This meant the hot ash fallout started to rain into the crowd, people went from "ooo" that's night to "OOO, run!" within moments. Fortunately the ash had cooled enough not to cause a mass panic and no one was trampled to death.

After the show we all headed to the rather less crowded British Legion round the corner. They had been rather enterprising and shown let people watch from there (their view probably just as good as the actual community centre). We had a couple of drinks and chewed the fat for a while.

I walked back with Becky and her friends then finished the final level on resident evil. I was still awake so I watched a film called "This is England", about 1980s Britain and the rise of the Skin head. After the loss of his father one little lad seeks solace with an increasingly violent group of skin heads. It highlighted how such radical groups could use people fears and basically offer a friendly environment, just so long as your face fits. Its a challenging film but definitely worth a watch.