Celebration of Light fireworks

We have just come home from a fireworks show in English Bay. It was part of the Celebration of Light fireworks shows. Over 4 different nights, 4 countries compete for the overall best show of fireworks set to music. Tonight was the last night and it was China’s turn, Last Wednesday it was South Africa, which also had a natural Celebration of Light with a massive lightning storm just before their show. Have a look at Youtube. Last Wednesday week Canada opened the show and was followed last Saturday by the UK.

We had decided that we would go in our van with friends from down the road, because we could get more in, and would only have to take one vehicle. I arrived to pick them up and found that we had another friend of the boys coming as well. That meant we would have 4 adults and 5 kids in a seven seat van. We decided that two of them could sit on blankets in the back. I also attached the bicycle carrier so that I could take my bike. They were expecting around a million people in the city, and parking would be a problem. We had a good run in at around 6:00 pm, and I dropped them right on the beach road at English Bay, which is where the fireworks were being staged. My task then was to find a parking spot. All parking for blocks around the area was restricted and they were towing offending vehicles. I headed further in to the city. I finally found some some high-rise car parks where it was only $5 for the night. The problem was that I had a cargo boot on the roof and couldn't get in because of the height. I had to get the chairs out of it before it was light enough to lift off, get the bike and rack off the trailer hitch so that I could open the back of the car and get the boot in. This done, I then put the bike and rack back on and parked in the parking garage. I then stowed the rack in the car and hopped on the bike to ride across town back to English Bay.

Everyone seemed to be going in the same direction. When I got back to the beach the crowd had grown. There were people searching for a good position from which to watch the fireworks, and an already large crowd on chairs, towels and blankets. We still had 3 hours to wait. It was entertaining watching the passing parade of people. There were hundreds of boats in a semi-circle around the barges from where the fireworks would be launched. The police boats were patrolling the area making sure that they stayed a good distance away. An emergency fire boat put on a display of shooting water from it's two water cannons, and the police were in force patrolling the crowd, and searching coolers and bags for alcohol. One guy near us was arrested for smoking pot. He was handcuffed, and bags and bicycle marched away. The crowd was very well behaved as we counted down for the show. At 9 pm there was a blast and three sky rockets exploded. The countdown had begun. There was a similar explosion at 9:15, 9:30, 9:40 and 9:50. Ten minutes to go.

Just before 10:00 pm the Chinese National Anthem was played, and then the show began. They put on a wonderful display, but it was difficult to hear the music from where we were and through the noise of the explosions which reverberated from the nearby high-rise apartment buildings. There was no breeze so the smoke hung low over the water. The show lasted about 25 minutes and finished with about 30 seconds of continuous explosions and star bursts. There were huge applause and then the crowd began to move. I crossed the road through the crowd to get my bicycle and when I had unlocked it and turned around I couldn't see the rest of them anywhere.

I walked my bike with the crowd because there were just so many people. When I got to where the crowd thinned a little I got on the bike and rode to where the car was parked, and got it out of the garage. I then had to get the cargo boot back on to the roof and then hope that they remembered where I had said that the car was parked. I had packed the walkie-talkies and had given them 2 while i had the other. I began calling them but was getting no reply. There was no point in me driving in the direction they were coming from because roads were closed and I had no real idea of which way they would be coming from. Finally after about 30 minutes I heard crackling on the walkie-talkie. After several crackly calls I managed to work out where they were and went to pick them up.

Once in the car we had a dream run home. It was quite a fun night.