The long promised fireworks review

Well time has just been flying by and I realize it has been a good couple of weeks since I promised the posting on what people do for entertainment in Ukarumpa. I would have gotten around to this sooner, but I couldn't be bothered, sorry.
Anyway…

A while ago now a bunch of us decided to have a fireworks evening. Fireworks are not readily available in the store here so we had to make to with home made fireworks. When I say home made fireworks I am not really talking about anything flash, in fact it was very basic and I’m sure you would easily be able to find the necessary items in any good supermarket, or even in some not so good ones. What you need is a metal coat hanger, some string, some steel wool and a flame, we found a candle worked well. Now tie the string on to the coat hanger so that it is at a length that you can swing around without it hitting the ground. Now wrap some of the steel wool around the coat hanger, make sure the wool is not too tight as you want the air to be able to get in when it is swinging around. Once it is securely fastened on to the coat hanger light the steel wool with a candle. Once it is sufficiently alight started swinging it around in a circular fashion as fast as you can. And that’s all there is to it. If you want to take photos of this, I suggest not using the flash, and use a relatively slow shutter speed, that way the photos show the fireworks really well. Actually you may find that looking at the photos is more spectacular than looking at the real thing.

Just to give you an idea of what it was like, here are a few photos. I can’t take credit for these ones, my photos were all stolen along with my laptop.

Lighting the steel wool

I am swinging this one. Note the fine swinging form displayed.

Warning: It is not advisable for small children to attempt this, the steel wool gets very hot. Do not stand beside anyone who is swinging the fireworks, you will get covered in sparks if you do. Ensure you have a plan for what to do in case a fire breaks out, we decided to do the fireworks outside the fire-station just in case.