Midweek rant: People and fireworks don’t mix – enforce the ban at Loy Krathong

[webfact]

Midweek rant: People and fireworks don’t mix – enforce the ban at Loy Krathong

 

File photo

 

I was going to rant that Thais and fireworks don’t mix. But let’s face it, it’s not just Thailand – fireworks are horrible things in the hands of the public anywhere.

 

When I was a kid growing up in England in the 1960s and 70s it was like the dark ages.

 

So long as you were 14 you could buy fireworks before the festival of Guy Fawkes or Bonfire night every November 5th. I bought them when I was ten.

 

Many people got hurt in accidents every year.

 

For a big display on the playing fields, my primary school asked every parent to give their child a rocket, or a Roman Candle or a Catherine Wheel.

 

And bring it to school in their satchel!

 

People would be horrified by that idea these days. Most displays are now big and organized as the British public have been thankfully weaned off having fireworks individually.

 

But in Thailand many adults still behave badly and recklessly and some don’t set any kind of example to children when it comes to safety.

 

Messing around with fireworks and powerful crackers is no exception.

 

When I first came to Thailand in the 1980s I heard about the Loy Krathong festival.

 

Some of my first Thai friends invited me out for what promised to be a lovely, calm evening of Thai culture at the lake of a university.

 

As we walked along some grass people were firing rockets at each other.

 

I was hit in the abdomen by a stray rocket and the gunpowder burnt a small hole. I was not badly hurt but very shocked.

 

I kept the shirt as a reminder – and it was more than a decade until I went out at Loy Krathong again.

 

This week the police and other authorities have been talking as usual about safety at Loy Krathong.

 

One of the things is fireworks that they have said are banned.

 

I hope they mean what they say and fine anyone setting them off.

 

Thai people – all people – are a menace with fireworks.

 

Rooster

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2017-11-02

[RedQualia]

Whatever happened to Mai Bpen Rai and Jai Yen Yen? Foreigners, probably...

[leeneeds]

As usual the few stuff it for the rest, I love setting off fireworks, really enjoy the effect they have on kids faces,

another pleasure being eroded away,

[Jeremy50]

UK school children, also have to wear safety goggles when playing conkers, not that many play anymore, too busy looking at their phones. Thailand used to have a touch of the wild east, most of that's gone now. Besides, I don't remember ever seeing fireworks at Loy Kratong, just those rather lovely flying lanterns, well, you can't even do that anymore. Is the Junta going for the Singaporean model, or the North Korean?

[YetAnother]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

But in Thailand many adults still behave badly and recklessly and some don’t set any kind of example to children when it comes to safety.

safety ? thailand ?

[Thian]

1 hour ago, leeneeds said:

As usual the few stuff it for the rest, I love setting off fireworks, really enjoy the effect they have on kids faces,

another pleasure being eroded away,

I don't like the loy kratong party here, the kids are standing in the crowd setting off fireworks and they have no clue at all about safety....also their parents have no idea what can happen to others nearby.

 

We only light a candle on a float and go home.

[alex8912]

Lol. Does Rooster have his anti Songkran story written already?  Even nanny state England had laws in the 1960's that you had to be 14 to buy fireworks.  In the mid 70's all the kids in my neighborhood outside NYC could buy them from the ice cream truck man! Nobody ever got hurt badly but you would always hear or read about the one person out of millions who did and move on. 

I have  no idea the point of keeping a shirt that had a little burn in it for 10 years!! Then not going out for Loy Krathong the whole time. Wow.  I bet readers who served in the forces must be laughing off their butts now.  

[starky]

Old rooster must be great fun at a party. Another old wowser telling people how they should live their lives. 10 year old t shirt as a reminder, f@[#\ me. Oooo burnt me shirt, heavens better not go out me house for 10 years, coulda taken an eye out. Really living on the edge rooster.

Edited November 2, 2017 by starky

[lordblackader]

25,000 people killed, 1 million injured on Thai roads every year - but uga buga fireworks. 

[Sir Swagman]

11 hours ago, Jeremy50 said:

UK school children, also have to wear safety goggles when playing conkers, not that many play anymore, too busy looking at their phones. Thailand used to have a touch of the wild east, most of that's gone now. Besides, I don't remember ever seeing fireworks at Loy Kratong, just those rather lovely flying lanterns, well, you can't even do that anymore. Is the Junta going for the Singaporean model, or the North Korean?

Conkers in safety goggles? OMA! 

[Jonah Tenner]

12 hours ago, Jeremy50 said:

 Is the Junta going for the Singaporean model, or the North Korean?

North Korean

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

A good point but way over the top.

Fireworks are dangerous and need to be used with care of course. Thais seem to have little or no regard for safety and I gave up on Loy Kratong years ago for that reason.

Organized displays are now the norm in most safety conscious countries, and the cost of entry is far less for what you see than trying to do your own.

 

Oh, and North Korea has much bigger rockets that are far more lethal than anything in Thailand... certainly not just a hole in your shirt.

 

I don't like the "nanny" culture either.

However sometimes the idiots spoil it for the rest and it becomes necessary most unfortunately.

 

 

Edited November 2, 2017 by George FmplesdaCosteedback

[wakeupplease]

13 hours ago, starky said:

Old rooster must be great fun at a party. Another old wowser telling people how they should live their lives. 10 year old t shirt as a reminder, f@[#\ me. Oooo burnt me shirt, heavens better not go out me house for 10 years, coulda taken an eye out. Really living on the edge rooster.

Did you say rooster is great fun at a party?

 

That must have taken place in a morgue, some people are just not happy unless they are interfering in other peoples lives. Please rooster get back under your stone and let people enjoy themselves. Sort of reminds me of a grumpy old fart who used to live next to me in the UK and the whole of the road hated this guy.

[Stargeezr]

Good rant Rooster.  I experienced being way too close to careless people and fireworks and

firecrackers during Loy Krathong in Chiang Mai and years ago in Pattaya. Even fireworks being

fired from the boxes of moving pickups along the beach road. I saw a few people hit and burned.

  No one was stopped by the police who were present so I knew that being safe was not on the

minds of people around me. I have stayed away from that festival for 10 years. I much more,  enjoy

Christmas, New Years Eve and other times of the Winter in Thailand.

Geezer

[thaibeachlovers]

On ‎11‎/‎2‎/‎2017 at 11:26 AM, alex8912 said:

Lol. Does Rooster have his anti Songkran story written already?  Even nanny state England had laws in the 1960's that you had to be 14 to buy fireworks.  In the mid 70's all the kids in my neighborhood outside NYC could buy them from the ice cream truck man! Nobody ever got hurt badly but you would always hear or read about the one person out of millions who did and move on. 

I have  no idea the point of keeping a shirt that had a little burn in it for 10 years!! Then not going out for Loy Krathong the whole time. Wow.  I bet readers who served in the forces must be laughing off their butts now.  

I too had a hole burnt in a perfectly good shirt by a rocket fired horizontally, which could have hit me in the eye.

Loy Krathong isn't active service, so I'm not laughing.

I'll be going tonight as been assured no fireworks, but if there are I'll be leaving.

[rickudon]

Was boring this year. No public fireworks, only saw 2 lanterns, hardly any bangers even heard. Most people didn't even bother celebrating as no fun. I'm all for restrictions, but blanket bans are not the answer.