Happy Gregorian calendar New Year, turq!
PS I admit I hold out til the Chinese New Year (-:
On Tuesday, December 31, 2013 5:29 AM, TurquoiseB wrote:
It's vuurwerk day in the Netherlands. Starting promptly at 10:00 a.m., the
popping of fireworks started, and will continue unabated until 02:00 a.m. New
Year's Day. Unlike some countries where there is one city-controlled fireworks
show that everyone watches, in the Netherlands *everybody* has fireworks, and
is out on the streets setting them off. See photo below of Amsterdam as the New
Year turns.
The time limits mentioned above are theoretically rigidly enforced, but I
expect the sound of "leftovers" to continue for a few days, even though the
cops could theoretically fine anyone they catch setting them off outside of
those hours and confiscate all their leftover explosives.
It's a Dutch tradition that pretty much everyone observes, and as you can
imagine, it will only get louder as the day progresses. Towards midnight
everybody will be out on the streets firing off their cache of rockets,
firecrackers, and screamers, and the cacophony will become extreme.
Walking around town is pretty much like being inside a giant popcorn popper.
There are rarely pauses of more than a few seconds before you hear the next
blast. It doesn't really bother me, but I was a little worried about Paris the
Dog, who like most dogs, doesn't much care for this odd human custom of making
loud booming noises. But for some reason this year he's pretty OK with it so
far. In Sitges he and his no-longer-with-us companion Pippin used to cower
under the bed until the fireworks displays had passed, but he's been great so
far. Benefits of old age, I guess.
Anyway, this is just a message to wish everyone on FFL happy fireworks wherever
you live, and a Happy New Year.
