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Joined: Mar 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
children carrying around various "Guys"
Well, yes--you said they call it guys-ing...
Thanks for the link--a pretty place.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
>children carrying around various "Guys" Actually, ours were generally too big to carry - here's a description close to my own experience: "For weeks before November 5, Guy Fawkes Night, my brother and I gathered old rags and discarded clothes to make our "Guy," our effigy of Guy Fawkes, symbol of the Gunpowder Plot.
A little ragged sewing fashioned false feet and hands. We'd stuff a pudgy, vaguely head-shaped bulb on which we'd draw a face. Setting our creation in a borrowed wheelbarrow, we pushed it gleefully up and down the street, accosting every adult we met with broad grins and the ever popular demand: "Penny for the Guy?"
After we raised what felt like a king's ransom, our mother would take us to the shops, and we'd choose all the fireworks we wanted. Fully armed and primed, we eagerly would await the night."http://www.crescentblues.com/11issue/fawkes.shtml
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Joined: Aug 2000
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Pooh-Bah
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OP
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
Yes, Jo - this fits with my experience, too, as does shona's. Halloween is far to near to Guy Fawkes night to make it an effective begging tool.  Although, round here, as many people give sweets, fruit or choccie biscuits as money as a response to "trick or treat", whereas "Penny for the Guy" has always been a demand for cash.
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346 |
"Penny for the Guy" has always been a demand for cash.Indeed! Though it always used to be a small amount of cash - sixpences in old money, probably no more than 20p these days. Maybe that's why you don't get many home-made guys now, what with the price of kid's toys.  Oh, and decent fireworks cost an arm and a leg, too. There's good reason I belong to two Bonfire Societies.  (my best mate - a Scot, incidentally - refers to Bonfire Night as "Big Boy's Christmas" [grin])
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146 |
I'm off to help set up the bangs at East Kirkby in Lincolnshire next weekend for the Lancaster display ... LOTS of fireworks, plus some great non-powder pyros ...
Between 7,000 and 10,000 people are usually there!
I'm soooooo nervous ... not
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
CK:
What do you do to set up the "bangs"? Are there diagrams and that kind of thing for the set-up? And are there all kinds of tarps in case it rains while you're setting up?
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146 |
It's usually flash powder in a plastic containder under some concoction made up of diesel or petrol (for the bang) and naptha (for the smoke) plus other add-ins, like titanium or magnesium (for brightness). It's all electrically fired and waterproof so, no, we don't bother with tarpaulins except for covering the firing board and the timing/music system. What we do very closely resembles (so we're told) an air attack on a WWII airfield. It's not pretty explosions with stars and crackling sparklers!
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
At last! A terrific mnemonic for remembering the cobbler's last. Many, many thanks, Ted. Wish I'd known you when I had to memorize all the steps to the photosynthesis cycle, well over twenty.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
flash powder in a plastic containder under some concoction made up of diesel or petrol
You just be careful, okay, Sweet One?
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