Bonfire Night

Bonfire Night

Spent the day at Leeds Uni, copying what looks like a mammoth article for my Derrida lecture on Friday (its mammoth size having intimidated me into not opening it yet), and returning books to the library.

Stopped at OxFam, a charity shop, on the way home to look at books, and managed to find both The Napoleon of Notting Hill and The Incredulity of Father Brown by Chesterton. Two big discoveries: the Notting Hill is a recent edition, which means that GKC is finally back in print (including his ever-hysterical Autobiography – who knew George Bernard Shaw starred in a cowboy film?), and the oldish-looking Father Brown appears to be, in fact, a first edition! And I picked them up for under a fiver (~$10US)! Yay, bookshopping.

Got home after dark, or approximately 3:45pm (okay, so it was closer to 5pm), and started putting on layers for the annual outing to see the Bonfire Night fireworks. Note to Grandmas: I’m staying warm. Years of living in Minnesota taught me to layer. Five layers = nice and toasty. Jo fought the car through hoards of people approaching Roundhay Park, the site of the festivities. Met up with Jo's friend Anna, then with Lisa and her housemates, and headed out through masses to the park. They'd already lit the bonfire by the time we'd arrived, but the cold temps and sheer number of people wanting to get warm made getting close to the fire impossible. So instead we got to watch it blaze away like a California autumn from the relative safety of the hot doughnut queue. Mmm...doughnuts... And I have lots of beautiful fireworks photos on my imaginary camera, which was the one I did remember to bring. D'oh. Headed back to Anna's for some hot beverages and food after the fireworks and mass emigration. Met some of Anna's housemates and friends and chatted for a bit, before heading home. Fun fun, nice folks.

Got some texts too, which I'd reply to, but it's pay-as-you-go, and expensive. So here:
Fi: Aww! Sorry you missed the fireworks; but the theatre sounds fun too! :)
Claudio: Sounds like fun! Hope there weren't any explosive-related injuries! ;)
Iain: No.