Bonfires

Fireworks!

Our flat is one building before the end of a block, and across the street from us is an open field on one side, and then a few feet away, a football pitch (soccer field) which belongs to a primary school. Down an alley up the next b block is the large parking lot of the Sikh temple, Gurdwara — and all three of these places are apparently great place to set off fireworks.

Since last week when the Gurdwara kicked off the fireworks with Diwali, we’ve heard explosions nightly — shrieks and whistles and booms that begin as soon as the sun goes down, and go on and on. We’ve often wondered what people do with all of the mattresses, couches, bookshelves and rolls of carpet they chuck out into the streets here in Glasgow. Well, now we know. They burn really well on Bonfire Night.

Have we said before the people on are block are fearless pyromaniacs AND insane? The bonfire in the picture had just barely been lit, and already it was at least fourteen feet tall. It grew. The field now reeks of half charred rubber and smoky upholstery, but it was a blast for the families out there while it lasted.

We wish you could have seen the sparklers. These are nothing like the ones we have in the United States, wimpy little safety sparklers; oh, no. These burn brightly and will burn you with their happy fountains of phosphorus if you’re not careful. Amazingly, the little kids streaking around screaming and waving sparklers managed to neither fall into the bonfire nor otherwise singe themselves.

It was a perfect night and continued the giddy, festive feeling of the past week. People in our neighborhood like to be out and about at night, and since it’s obligingly a.) not raining, and b.) foggy enough not to be too cold, it’s been lovely.

There’s finally been a tiny bit of progress in the heat situation. The property management firm has sent — possibly by a slow mule train — paperwork to the property owner which merely requires her signature as an “intent to pay,” and then the necessary materials can be ordered — and possibly shipped via another slow mule train — and work can begin. Our poor beleaguered gas man has kept calling, asking if we’ve heard anything. Finally, T. suggested that if someone used a fax machine, this could all go so much more quickly. Her suggestion was taken with alacrity, and the property owner agreed that as soon as she sees the paperwork, she’ll sign and push send immediately.

Our suspicions that the paperwork has been lost in the mail has not been helped by finding that a package we sent to Canada ended up briefly in Singapore… but today T. got three chocolate bars from Portland, so her faith in the Royal Mail has been preserved.

PSSST! P.S., Mom: Did you get something in the mail this week???

We have taken more seriously to heart this year the words of a friend who told us last winter to get outside in daylight every single day that we could in Glasgow, or we’d go insane. (Too late, India.)

We have been walking through the park at six-thirty, when the sun is barely a suggestion of sullen pink in the sky above the trees. It’s a misty, mysterious time when the roar of the city is muffled in yards of batting, and only the twitter and irritable croaking of sleepy magpies accompanies us on our way. What’s gorgeous is that when the hour turns, the bells ring, and without the layers of voices and road noise, and with the clarity of the freezing air, the sound really reverberates through the almost empty lines of trees and lanes. We are wrapped tightly in layers of clothes and are by turns both sweating and freezing, but it’s worth it, and we’re going to keep doing it as long as we can — neither rain nor snow nor dark of night will deter us, but after being smacked in the teeth with it all too often last winter, we’re going to have to draw the line at sleet!

There are just a couple of weeks until Thanksgiving, and already we are seeing Christmas lights. T. briefly was grouchy about it until she remembered that *duh,* there’s no Thanksgiving here!!!

Hope you are enjoying the autumn wherever you are, and reveling in all the things for which you can be thankful.

– D & T

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