15 August, 2004

Damp squib

Last weekend, new laws came into force in the UK, supposedly to reduce the antisocial use of fireworks.  It's now illegal to discharge fireworks between 23:00 and 07:00, except on designated special occasions such as 5 November, when the curfew begins at midnight, and New Year's Day & Chinese New Year, when the curfew begins at 01:00.  Breaking that curfew carries a penalty of £5,000 ($9,200) or six months imprisonment.
It's also illegal for fireworks louder than 120 dB to be sold at all.

So that must have been gunfire I heard at ~00:30.  Not fireworks.  Oh, no.  That's impossible.

[Apart from being a typically masterful example of sardonic wit (ahem), the title is in honour of a certain Doctor of Psychology who had reached her mid-thirties believing the phrase was 'damp squid'.  Hi, L!]