Guy Fawkes Night

Remember when on Guy Fawkes night in Australia we'd faithfully follow the tradition of celebrating the anniversary of this colourful English character. We'd build a huge bonfire and let off a myriad of different fireworks in our back yards and they'd light up the sky to ooos and ahhhs of the adults and squeals of delight from the children !!!! In the UK this tradition still goes on but it was stopped in Australia because of the occasional setting alight to the thick, dry undergrowth and also because of the injuries sustained every year by unsupervised children playing with the fire and the fireworks.

Well, here in the UAE they don't have this tradition but a group of us decided to celebrate the occasion with a bonfire in the desert. So last night after work a group of us expats set off to the local quarry and built two huge bonfires, one for our food and one for the 'Guy'. The other nationalities in the group came along for the fun of it and to see what weird rituals us Brits and Aussies were going to perform. As dusk fell we gathered around the fire, recited a poem about Guy Fawkes then set fire to his effigy.

We couldn't get any fireworks so we had to be content with watching the flames of the fire as we cooked and ate our BBQs, drank some wine and caught up on the local gossip. A very relaxing evening was had by all........

PS. That is our 'Guy' sitting watching the fire before his fate was sealed forever.