Friday 1 January 2016

Cleaning Up


A white disc crossing the night sky 

A red ball in the night sky 

Somebody is cleaning up. I mean financially not environmentally.

We make fine talk of the benefits of clean and pure air and then almost before the political ink is dry on the famous paper for a cleaner future we pollute the air and consequently our lungs with dirt and smoke, the resultant debris from a worldwide extravaganza of pyrotechnic explosions. 

I went outdoors and saw the usual fireworks exploding above me, their noise and glare reminiscent of the bombs and missiles seen on the TV news whenever a new war gets underway, and I wondered what this New Year's firework racket was really all about. I decided it was all about money.

One type of firework, if I may use that bland term when referring to battery powered multi shot boxed tubes with names like Hell's Teeth, filled the sky with silvery whistling and dancing space aliens. 

Midnight bells valiantly trying to "ring out the old and ring in the new" in the nearby belfry were overwhelmed by the 21st century's newest Chinese thunderbolts.

This morning my throat rasped like that of a full strength cigarette addict and my tender ears ached for a day of silence.

May it go well with you all in 2016.




11 comments:

  1. I do agree about the fireworks Gwil. We had the television on at our little new year's eve gathering, so that we got the exact timing right for the toast ( none of our watches agreed!)and then we watched the fireworks and all five of agreed that it was such an awful waste of money - many thousands I an sure - which could have been put to such better use.

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    1. Call me nostalgic Pat. I almost yearn for the days of the chimes of Big Ben and people linking hands and singing Auld Lang Syne in Trafalgar Square on black and white TV. Maybe something like it still goes on somewhere . . . We couldn't hear the great Pumerin bell of Vienna on our radio for the racket of the rockets and bangers outside, and the bell of the local church was completely drowned out. As to what it costs, don't forget to add on the accidents, the injuries, damage to property, resultant fires etc..

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  2. Magnified magnifiers, magnify the magnified; on and on it grows.

    "Make Room, Make Room"
    _m

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  3. They and we
    We start again
    As we mean to go on

    Magyar, much appreciated, thank you.

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  4. All the best to you and yours for 2016
    John

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  5. All the best to you and yours for 2016
    John

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    1. Jon, Cheers and thanks for your double Scotch! Keep on speuging!

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  6. Where we celebrated, in Lüneburg, you thought they wanted to surpass Berlin - our party had no firework, but there was so much around us. As you say: air like thickest fog/smog.
    Of course people always have tried to frighten away bad ghosts - but here at such a cost. They try now to convince people that only in a few places trained pyrotechnics should do it - and 'normal' people stop. Good idea!

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    1. What about Beethoven's 9th with a light show to end 2016 for example. Local residents could be invited to choose a new theme each year. Explosions of culture!

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  7. We went to bed early. I heard nothing. I no longer like fireworks.

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    1. Rachel, I think many people intelligent over the age of 16 would agree with you.

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