Let me start off with stating that I like a good bang just as much as the next guy. Nothing captures my attention like a rapid succession of flash-bangs during a fireworks show - just love it! However in my little burg, the adolescents and adolescents at heart must have too much disposable income. The cacophony of staccato reports and the smell of explosives drifting through the neighborhood in the late evenings began a couple days prior to July 4th. On the 4th, the local amateur pyrotechs began about 9:30 PM and continued to near 1:00 AM. There was so much smoke in the air it looked as though a late-winter fog had rolled in.
I certainly don't mind celebrating the Fourth with a bit of fireworks - bottle rockets, Whistling Petes, Screaming Mimi's, sparklers, pinwheels, Roman candles and the like are good fun. The occasional M-80 has its charm. Last evening however it sounded as though we lived in a war zone
- ah, to be in Fallujah in the Springtime - and went on for three and a half hours. Some of us had to get up early this morning for a regular work day. And it's still not over yet - this will continue sporadically for the next week.
Maybe I'm just getting old - after all, in the past year it seems, the music of my high school days was relegated to the Oldies station.