I feel I need to put up a quick, short post on a not so little event we managed to take in this weekend. Being from Canada my main knowledge of Guy Fawkes stems from the pop culture movie ‘V for Vendetta’. Fairly safe to say after doing a bit of reading that the movie deviated from reality before the beginning credits were done. None the less, once again travel has provided an outstanding opportunity to learn a bit of history and take in a local community event.

The prolific sounds of exploding fireworks on Friday night was our clue that we were in for a different weekend. Karen did some checking and secured us two tickets to one of the events at the local cricket grounds. All weekend you could see and hear fireworks going off all over the city.

As we have mentioned a number of times in the past that one of the joys of house sitting is that you are plunked down in areas that the actual people of the country you are visiting live. Guy Fawkes Day or Bonfire Night are a very big deal here. Though from what I understand it is not an official holiday it certainly is a much celebrated time which encompasses the entire weekend.

One aspect of the celebrations is the burning of effigies. The ones at our event were very nondescript which kept it more of a family affair.

The event we attended was put on by the Chertsey Cricket Club and the 1St Chertsey Scouts. It was incredibly well managed and admittance was by pre-purchased tickets only and the event was sold out. There was food, drink, music, and plenty of volunteers helping to keep things safe and moving along.

This shot in no way does justice to the display that the organizers put on. It was 11 minutes of nonstop explosions made even better by the close proximity. By the end of the show my face was actually aching from smiling so much. For those of you who know me, there is nothing like a good pyrotechnic show to bring me joy.

It was a wonderful evening and it was nice to see hundreds of children taking in the festivities. If you are ever travelling in England at the beginning of November do yourself a favour and take in one of these events.

Welcome to our travel blog. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to say, "I'm out of here?" Well we did, and in 2013 we made it a reality. We sold or gave away all of our possessions other than what fit in our luggage and we set off on an endless adventure. Part of our goal is to share our experiences with others and hopefully provide some information, motivation, or just a moments escape. The general idea was to look for a place that would be ideal to settle down in. However in the meantime it is about experiencing life in different countries amongst different cultures and learning how to understand and appreciate each other. A large part of our time is spent housesitting which provides an excellent opportunity to experience more of the "normal" neighbourhoods as opposed to the tourist locales. Though we make sure to enjoy those as well. So through plenty of photographs and a running commentary come and share with us our life on the road.

4 comments on “Guy Fawkes Night

  1. Love it!! I too did some research as well which was fascinating. Quite remarkable that someone who lives in the 1570’s is still celebrated centuries later!! So grateful for continuous new learnings 💕💕.

  2. Hi Guys,
    Will you guys be in London over the Christmas period?

    We will in London from the 21st of December till Jan 7th for a house sit love to meet up .

    The Dingles

    • It is so good to hear from you. We would love to meet up but unfortunately we head to Greece on Dec. 13 for a 3 month house sit.

      • Mike Dingle

        Hi,

        We are in Greece now on the Island of Naxos

        We have been here since Oct 19th,we were here last year for 3 months.

        Well we certainly left the bad weather behind us in Calgary

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