Remember the 5th of November

I usually don’t do anything for Bonfire Night. I never have really. The last time I really hyped up about Bonfire Night was when I was in primary school and we sang songs, read history and poems about the fireworks. At my old house, we lived up a hill (one of the many hills in Sheffield) where my sister and I would watch the fireworks from across the city. Once we moved and grew up, it wasn’t really a big deal.

But this year, aligning with my goal of getting more involved with things that I usually wouldn’t do, I went out in the cold to watch some fireworks go off instead of just behind my bedroom window. As sad as it sounds, I don’t think I’ve ever watched fireworks outside/been so close to where they go off in my whole life – ha!

I’m hoping I’m not the only one. This is where my friends will commonly comment: “You’re literally a real-life Rapunzel!”

pexels-photo-167080

I have to say, it was one of the scariest and exciting evenings I’ve had. Every time a firework went off close by or in the distance, it made me jump a lot but my ears got used to it after a while. It didn’t help that it was pitch black in the park we went to, only holding onto a flashlight to make sure we didn’t fall in the pond.

Have any of you played Slender Man: The Eight Pages before? That’s all I could visualise whilst we were making our way through the woods.

It wasn’t unusual that we got lost – you always get lost with me because I always have a strong feeling I know where I’m going when I actually really do not. With that said, getting lost is sometimes such fun! I was blessed with a beautiful view of the city lights and the fireworks throughout the city which looked and felt so much clearer and more awesome without the glass blocking everything.

Not the best quality but look at all the lights!

It was cold. Really cold. I stupidly only wore my gym leggings and a very thin sweater underneath my huge coat so, by the end of the night, I was frozen. I didn’t regret it, even though I woke up the next morning feeling so unwell and had to skip my cardio day at the gym, it made great memories with great people.

I even got to play with a sparkler. Again, that’s never happened before so I was a little scared. It gave me flashbacks to my school year (when I was about 14 years old) during Design Technology, I was holding the soldering iron and didn’t have my long hair tied up (when teachers say, “girls with long hair tie your hair up” please listen!) I ended up having my hair drop down to the iron, burning it off my head.

Yep, ouch. I might’ve blogged about this before when I was younger, so some of you who have known me for a while probably already know that story.

dsc04058
“Oh my gosh – this is so cool?”

Since then, every time I hold something hot that looks like a rod or stick of some kind, the memory always comes back. Luckily, no strand of hair came off my head or caught on fire that weekend.

I am too cold to move my face
Drawing with the sparklers!

It was a fantastic evening, I’m excited for next years! Next time, I’ll be definitely going to the main light show at my city. For those who celebrated, I hope you all had a fun and safe bonfire night!

9 responses to “Remember the 5th of November”

  1. I’m glad you got over your fear! Sparklers and fireworks really feel intimidating at first but you can’t deny that they’re pretty. ๐Ÿ™‚

    annescribblesanddoodles.blogspot.com | Bloglovin’ | Instagram

  2. I usually like to watch the fireworks on Nov 5 but was unable to this year, glad you had such a good time though! Definitely something to make an annual occasion ๐Ÿ˜‰

  3. Aww, love your story and the pictures too. I like going out for Bonfire night, we do it every year. It’s sometimes cold, but it’s very nice too. x

  4. Sound like you really went out of your comfort zone for this, so kudos to you! ๐Ÿ˜€ I’m glad you had a good time with it, even if you did feel a bit ill the next day X_X I’ve learnt to just layer up like some sort of a polar bear if I’m going to be outside for a long period of time in cold weather. Even then sometimes that’s not enough and the cold seeps inside!

    Personally, I’d not have enjoyed what you did as much ^^;; The loud booming noise would have really got to me, and sparkler’s actually scares me, so, uh, I’d not have touched that. Still, though, this was a good thing to experience, and I may try it one day . . . as long as I bring some earplugs for the super loud fireworks ^^

  5. It’s great that you went out for some nice bonfire and firework action :D. I am scared of holding fireworks so my safe distance is 10 feet away XD. I do have to say… Fireworks make some great photo ops! Considering how you fulfilled part of your goals, skipping the gym for the morning is worth it! Tying your hair up is definitely important. My hair almost caught on fire a few times during lab because it was down @___@. Glad to see you enjoyed your time ;D.

  6. Sounds like a nice time. I have been lazy about firework days here. I use to go to my grandparents house and swim outside at night to watch them but then I just didn’t care. In fact, I live super close but don’t even go outside anymore. LOL So I can’t judge you for never doing this before. ๐Ÿ™‚ I might do it again if I actually had someone to go enjoy them with, but by myself… never going to happen.
    BTW, you’re so pretty ๐Ÿ™‚

  7. That sounds fun! I’ve seen fireworks up close before, and they can be sooo loud. I can relate to it being a scary sound until you get used to it!

    Oh no about the soldering iron story! Sparklers still freak me out a little because it’s so close to your hands, haha. I’ve played with them when I was younger, and sometimes people pass them out at weddings.

    I’m glad you had a good time!

  8. Aw it looks like you had a lot of fun! But I am sorry you had to face your fear. Actually, Iโ€™m not sorry โ€“ Iโ€™m glad you did. ๐Ÿ˜‰ You do look cold and a little unsettled by the sparklers, but there is a first time for everything. Although sparklers are a little scary at first, they are not so bad. I am still afraid of lighting matches because I canโ€™t bring myself to drag the match across the side of the matchbox… ? Something about it just frightens me.

    I donโ€™t think I recall you ever blogging about that incident, or itโ€™s true I may have missed that blog post. But I do remember reading your old blog back in the day. ?

    I hope you feel better now, and itโ€™s true that sometimes we have to take a break from the gym to have a break, whether we are ill or just tired ๐Ÿ™‚ โค๏ธ

  9. Hey Pauline!

    We don’t have Bonfire Night here but we do have Diwali, the great Indian festival of light.
    Recently almost everyone has reduced the firecracker bursting because of the tremendous amount of pollution it causes but I remember my transition of being super duper scared when I heard a cracker bursting near me and locking myself up in the fear of the crackers to finally starting to light them myself and enjoy playing with them!
    Now I don’t mind a cracker going off near me (i may jump at times) but at least I go off in the open
    I’m glad you enjoyed that!
    The pictures with sparkles are very cute even though u look a little scared ๐Ÿ˜€

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.