I hate people setting off fireworks near my house. Twelve years in suburban Virginia and I’m not used to it yet.
I grew up in western New York, where fireworks are illegal. I’m not going to say people didn’t have them, but they had the good sense to go out to the more sparsely populated suburbs and country. It always amuses me that he moment you passed into Pennsylvania there were giant fireworks stands.
I love to see the professional fireworks, and feel confident that they have extinguishers and hoses and some sense of the seriousness for the chemicals that’s they’re dealing with.
In Virginia, the moment Memorial Day is over a million firework stands pop up in every parking lot. They’re transport crates with a flap cut out so they open like lemonade stands full of fireworks, and they all have permanent 2 for 1 sales.
A friend of mine who used to live in the area was always sad that they “don’t have anything good.” He used to say that the fun ones were still illegal here. But hearing the consistent pops around my apartment through June (and focused on July Fourth) still makes me nervous.
I’m lucky that my cat doesn’t seem to get scared by the bangs. Especially lucky since my last apartment was close enough to the local minor league baseball team that we’d hear their weekly firework show. We could walk up half a staircase and watch the show, which was done often. When we’d here the booms, my boyfriend used to joke that the civil war had started again. And kitty never seemed to care.
Now it’s July Fourth and my neighbors are enjoying their fireworks on the front lawn. We live in a townhouse, so if they set their house on fire, they’ve set my house on fire. According to my boyfriend, the ones they have are legal, so hopefully they’re not powerful enough to do damage, but I’m still nervous that it’s so close.
Thankfully, while I’ve been writing this they seem to have finished all their fireworks. The booms continue, but they’re further away. Hopefully kitty will come cuddle with me soon; I need her protection and moral support.
…several hours later, still hearing occasional booms. Two anti-anxiety pills and a tums later, still trying to sleep.
FuzBubbles 