I think we need a bit of a national re-education campaign to get going. Its ironic that everyone knows the rhyme "remember, remember, the fifth of November," and yet it seems like every year people seem to set their fireworks off at more and more random points, vaguely in the time of year of Firework Night. I am of course mentioning this because Saturday is the 400th anniversary of what must have been the UK's first ever terrorist attack, when Guy Fawkes attempted to detonate a massive amount of explosives under the Houses of Parliament. I assume the occasion is marked only in the UK, but here there are fireworks and bonfires, and various other traditions.

The problem is that whereas firework night was marked on the night with fireworks and bonfires, it is now the norm to set off the decorative explosives for weeks in advance, and even after, the event. There is still a week left, and yet the banging (some of it extremely loud) has been an almost nightly occurance for at least a month already. Personally I just don't see the point. I mean sure, fireworks are pretty and can be quite exciting, but I wouldn't go out of my way to see them, and I certainly wouldn't invest time, effort, and money to put on my own display that would disturb the whole neighbourhood, just because of some tradition. It doesn't help that there are other things going on, like Hallowe'en and Diwali (there is a large Asian population in our city) and these are probably each heralded with their own displays.

I know what you're probably thinking. "Big deal! So some people are enjoying themselves while you sit in your house moaning!" Well that's as may be, but even if were crucial to people's enjoyment to set of high explosives in the skies above, there is the issue of health and safety. Every year we have these celebrations, and every year we have the same reports on the news. Children with arms blown off after holding rockets that were lit... Adults with various appendages removed after misunderstanding instructions... Horrible facial injuries and burns all round from things like going back to fireworks after lighting them, and so on. And that isn't even mentioning all the injuries and deaths caused by malicious attacks, when people get hold of fireworks and intentionally use them to cause harm.

The upshot of all this is quite simple in the eyes of your humble correspondent. It just doesn't make any sense to have such lethal killers on the free market, available for anyone over a certain age (or anyone that looks a certain age) to buy and use for private displays. Would it really be so tough to make fireworks only legal for licenced public shows, where you can be sure that everyone has been trained and knows what they are doing? It would also cut down on all the extra noise we have these days, scaring my poor little cat... there there little cat.. its okay now...

Well now that we've set the world to rights on fireworks, and comforted my cat, what adventure shall we next embark upon? How about the bizarre world of online chat. This morning I had the strange experience of chatting with someone on the other side of the planet, in Australia. Don't get me wrong, the chat itself was far from strange, but there is something very disorientating about conversing with a person who is in the other end of the day from you. In the end, when it was still only half past one in the afternoon my time, they left because it was time for bed! This world is getting smaller and smaller, more and more connected, but it only seems to emphasise the huge differences between us...

Well after that moment of great philosophy, a brief music review. As suggested in the new "...of the day" boxes, today I bought a song by the White Stripes called "My Doorbell". To be honest I've never been too sure of the White Stripes, especially when they name their album "Get Behind Me Satan", which is a direct quote from the words of Jesus in the Bible and just seems slightly odd. The music itself doesnt always hit the spot for me, but in this case everything just seems to fit into place. I'm not saying that all their offerings aren't any good, its just that when I heard this it is so catchy that you cant help but dig those ridims! These aren't exactly the world's most complex lyrics ("I'm thinking about my doorbell, when you gonna ring it, when you gonna ring it?") but it is all so exciting with the strong piano element and heavy drum beat that you just want to get up and dance. Ok now that I've proven how little I know about music, I'll call it a night.

Seeya

SIMARK