Bonfire Night

I walked over to the Stray tonight to watch the Bonfire Night fireworks. Brad stayed home as he's been sick all day with a nasty stomach virus. Before I left I did some research on the Internet on how best to shoot fireworks snd spent some time studying my camera settings. I headed over to the Stray with camera and tripod in hand. It was drizzling a bit as I headed over and staked out my spot at the perimeter of the fireworks viewing area. Luckily the rain stopped before the fireworks began. I had my camera truned on the entire time the fireworks were going off and only saw them in the LCD monitor of my camera. After the grand finale I raced over to try to get some shots of the huge bonfire nearby. It was a while before I could get very close to the fire. None of those shots really turned out. Eventually I turned my camera off and just stood in front of the fire, mesmerized. It gave me time to think about what we were actually celebrating.

Bonfire Night, also known as Guy Fawkes' Night, commemorates the Gunpowder Plot. Four hundred years ago today Guy Fawkes was caught in an attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Fawkes was one of a number of conspirators who had hatched the plot to protest the persecution of Catholics under the rule of James I of England. I've been reading a lot about the history of England in the 17th century and they were truly brutal times. Guy Fawkes and his co-conspirators were hung, drawn and quartered for their crimes. I cannot think of a more painful and cruel way to die. It made me a bit ill to think that the festive fireworks and bonfire were modern Britain's way of remembering the execution of Guy Fawkes.