Emma was pretty tired after our day out but, as I had to go in to Winchester anyway to pick up Christine’s cousin, we decided to offer her the opportunity to go and see the torch lit parade and bonfire in Winchester, safe in the knowledge that, in the half hour between the lighting of the bonfire and the start of the fireworks, we could return home and avoid a repeat of Thursday night. Having checked that bonfires don’t go bang, Emma said that she would like to go.
We arrived as the parade turned off the High Street and the rain started to fall! The parade seemed a little strange given there was no real sense of occasion – just a large number of people walking along chatting to themselves. The flaming torches seemed to keep Emma amused though.
Things were a little different on arrival at Riverside Park where the funfair, fire walking, and inaudible commentary, were already under way. Emma was on my shoulders again as the appointed time for the lighting of the absolutely massive bonfire arrived. Obviously the Mayor couldn’t hear the commentary either as he seemed to light the bonfire about 10 seconds after the ‘practice countdown’ and before the real one! Unfortunately, things went badly wrong at this point as the lighting of the bonfire was heralded by a volley of fireworks. This had Emma screaming again and we made for a rapid exit as I had no idea whether this was an early start to the fireworks themselves. This seemed not to be the case and I did get Emma to look at the towering inferno before we set off back to the car, fighting our way through the hoardes still arriving.
Emma was pleased to make it home and even more so to know that there were unlikely to be any more fireworks until at least the New Year!