LongRoadBob
Cleared for Takeoff
So here we are again, another New Year's Eve in Norway.
Some years ago they banned rockets. Single rockets, which I used to love to shoot up on NYE.
I was kind of sad about it, in my youth in the USA I never had access to these fantastic, practically pro rockets so my first year on New Years here I spent tons on them.
But, given the weather here (no flying this whole month) on the eve it is almost always heavy fog by midnight. Specially the last ten years. Now the only allowed big fireworks are called battery's and they are those boxes with ten, twenty, or more where it is one fuse and it just shoot them off one by one. They too are pretty huge and professional.
Growing up in the US, can only compare it to 4th of July, but without the coordination, planning. At its best, it was just amazing. Back when rockets were allowed from like 11:30 on up to a crescendo at midnight, everywhere you look, bright colored explosions. Chaotic, and just beautiful.
Back then they would still be firing all night, one, two, three am, on out to morning.
Now, it pretty much ends at 12:20 or so.
In the old days, I had a buddy that was living in the city center. He saved up and decided to just buy one fntastic, and expensive rocket. NYE, he goes out onto the street, light it, but wasn't casual about the angle, or as often could happen, maybe the stick was warped, and it went up, back over building, and he could only hear it explode, and then a crowd going "ohhhhh!" He didn't see a thing of it.
When I lived in centrum Oslo, one of the first years I bought a huge packet of big fireworks. Couple actually. Near midnight everyone was out on the street walking towards the local park. My (now wife) GF was not feeling great but we went. Bunch of young guys in tuxedos, very drunk on the other side of the street, keeping pace. We get to the park, I realize one of the packages wasn't so much rocket but other stuff. I put this long stick firework into the snow, and light it, not knowing what to expect...first thought it was a dud. Then, "pshew..." Out of the end comes a tiny green firework, and lands about four feet in front of us. The drunk tuxedo gang lets out a roar of "approval" (who knew drunk tuxedoed youths could roar so sarcastically?) and then...a tiny blue flame shoots out, lands four feet in from the tube...another roar from the gang, even more enthusiastic.
This went on forever. All around us, beautiful, fantastic, amazing fireworks shooting high in the air, and covering the sky, and I can't get this stupid, extremely LAME firework to stop, and the tuxedo guys are only intent on waiting for the next tiny little nothing of a "firework" to shoot out.
And.it.never.stops. Every time I think "finally...thank god, now on to the rest!" "Pshew"
And they never tired of their roaring approval of the firework.
So, now it's very foggy again, will be worse by midnight, and millions many hundre millions of kroners worth of fireworks will shoot up into the night sky and become part of a colorful blur, and the smoke from them will make it even less discernible.
This is the first year I haven't bought fireworks.
And in honor of my father, who was a very good pilot and passed away in 2009, who as far back as I remember used to recite this poem, after which he would playfully and comically try and kick me...
(I don't know if he made it up or read it somewhere once)
Be merry, this gray January
Don't head for the isthmus,
KICK a KID for Christmas
(At which point After the first few years, I learned start sidling to be out of range of the kick to the butt by the last verse)
Happy new year all!
Some years ago they banned rockets. Single rockets, which I used to love to shoot up on NYE.
I was kind of sad about it, in my youth in the USA I never had access to these fantastic, practically pro rockets so my first year on New Years here I spent tons on them.
But, given the weather here (no flying this whole month) on the eve it is almost always heavy fog by midnight. Specially the last ten years. Now the only allowed big fireworks are called battery's and they are those boxes with ten, twenty, or more where it is one fuse and it just shoot them off one by one. They too are pretty huge and professional.
Growing up in the US, can only compare it to 4th of July, but without the coordination, planning. At its best, it was just amazing. Back when rockets were allowed from like 11:30 on up to a crescendo at midnight, everywhere you look, bright colored explosions. Chaotic, and just beautiful.
Back then they would still be firing all night, one, two, three am, on out to morning.
Now, it pretty much ends at 12:20 or so.
In the old days, I had a buddy that was living in the city center. He saved up and decided to just buy one fntastic, and expensive rocket. NYE, he goes out onto the street, light it, but wasn't casual about the angle, or as often could happen, maybe the stick was warped, and it went up, back over building, and he could only hear it explode, and then a crowd going "ohhhhh!" He didn't see a thing of it.
When I lived in centrum Oslo, one of the first years I bought a huge packet of big fireworks. Couple actually. Near midnight everyone was out on the street walking towards the local park. My (now wife) GF was not feeling great but we went. Bunch of young guys in tuxedos, very drunk on the other side of the street, keeping pace. We get to the park, I realize one of the packages wasn't so much rocket but other stuff. I put this long stick firework into the snow, and light it, not knowing what to expect...first thought it was a dud. Then, "pshew..." Out of the end comes a tiny green firework, and lands about four feet in front of us. The drunk tuxedo gang lets out a roar of "approval" (who knew drunk tuxedoed youths could roar so sarcastically?) and then...a tiny blue flame shoots out, lands four feet in from the tube...another roar from the gang, even more enthusiastic.
This went on forever. All around us, beautiful, fantastic, amazing fireworks shooting high in the air, and covering the sky, and I can't get this stupid, extremely LAME firework to stop, and the tuxedo guys are only intent on waiting for the next tiny little nothing of a "firework" to shoot out.
And.it.never.stops. Every time I think "finally...thank god, now on to the rest!" "Pshew"
And they never tired of their roaring approval of the firework.
So, now it's very foggy again, will be worse by midnight, and millions many hundre millions of kroners worth of fireworks will shoot up into the night sky and become part of a colorful blur, and the smoke from them will make it even less discernible.
This is the first year I haven't bought fireworks.
And in honor of my father, who was a very good pilot and passed away in 2009, who as far back as I remember used to recite this poem, after which he would playfully and comically try and kick me...
(I don't know if he made it up or read it somewhere once)
Be merry, this gray January
Don't head for the isthmus,
KICK a KID for Christmas
(At which point After the first few years, I learned start sidling to be out of range of the kick to the butt by the last verse)
Happy new year all!
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