I don’t know about you, but I seem to be getting a bit confused with the days at the moment. I think it’s because me and Mum aren’t going out very much and so every day seems the same.
Certainly last week, when I was writing my Hallowe’en post for you, I thought Bonfire Night was still a long way off. I thought I had plenty of time to build a bonfire…
and buy toffee apples and parkin, treacle toffee and chestnuts to share with Mum and all my bear friends. (We all live in the same house and so it’s okay for us all to meet up at our own bonfire, even in these strange times.)
I also thought I’d plenty of time to buy some fireworks. Mum told me that you can now buy some that are known as “quiet fireworks”. Although they’re not completely silent, they make a lot less noise than the other ones do and are just as pretty.
That seemed like a good idea to me, as, although I’m not scared by the noise, I know a lot of people – and especially pets – are terrified by the loud bangs.
Then last Thursday afternoon, when me and Mum popped across the street to post a letter, somebody let a big firework off further up the village. It made an enormous bang and Mum nearly jumped out of her skin. She started to say that fireworks should only be let off on Bonfire Night – and then we both realised. It was Bonfire Night and, instead of having lots of time, we’d nearly missed it!
It was too late to do anything about it then, but Mum promised we’d be a bit different this year and have our bonfire on another day. She also made me this jumper to keep me warm when I built my bonfire…
…and Ali’s mum made me this fabulous hat so that my ears didn’t get cold.
I also got Mum to tell me a bit more about Guy Fawkes, the man who was discovered hiding barrels of gunpowder in the cellars of the Houses of Parliament on November 5th 1605, which she’d started to tell me last year. (57-mischief-night-and-bonfire-night)
This time she told me that he’d been born in York in April 1570…
and was educated at St Peter’s School which was founded in 627 AD and is still there today.
Then she reminded me that I’d actually been to his house a few times with her, as it’s where we usually go for lunch when we meet up with one of our good friends in York. She added that it’s now a very nice hotel, called the Guy Fawkes Inn..
And then I remembered that once when we’d been there we’d heard the rumble of barrels being rolled into the cellar from the street. At the time I thought that maybe it was the ghost of Guy Fawkes coming back with some more gunpowder. But when I told Mum that I was a bit scared in case it blew up, she laughed and said it was the man from the brewery delivering a fresh supply of beer, which made me breathe a lot easier.
I also asked her if she knew who first made gunpowder and she said that, when she was doing some research for one if her books, she found that it was someone in ancient China, who was trying to find a formula for the Elixir of Life, a magic potion which would enable him to live for ever.
Instead of that, however, the ingredients he put together suddenly exploded and set his beard on fire and, though that wasn’t what he’d intended to do, he’d made the first gunpowder…
And after all that it was time for me to get my bonfire together and set off a few fireworks and, although it was a little bit late, we all had a lovely time…
As always, please take care, stay safe – and I’ll talk to you again soon!
Follow my next blog: 114. MY MUM THE STORY-TELLER – PART THIRTEEN
11/11/2020
Wilf the bear-faced blogger 