The Fireworks Festival

November 5 is a traditional British festival called Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes Night. People set up bonfires and shoot off fireworks to celebrate the failing of Gunpowder Plot. Each year many famous places hold special fireworks displays. This year I went to the Fireworks Festival at Alexandra Palace.

Alexandra Palace is on a hill in the north London. When you climb up to the top you can see almost the whole city at the south side. Besides the fireworks festival, it also has an ice rink, a German Beer Festival and a play field for children. The only trouble on that day is the weather: it was freezing cold! My friend and I tried to find the bonfire. Unfortunately, we got lost because there were so many people. In the end, we decided to find some hot drinks. Obviously, everybody thought the same because we waited for nearly half an hour to buy coffee. But, at the very moment when we just paid and waited the barista to make our drinks, the electricity was gone! Not only the coffee shop but all the stalls in the same area. People were literally screaming when suddenly all the lights were out. Luckily a few minutes later the electricity was back and we were all cheering. It sounded like the special sound effects for a sitcom.

Before the fireworks show there was a half-an-hour laser show. They set up a man-made fog to create better visual effect for the lasers. The fireworks started at 8 pm. To my surprise, both shows had background music. The host chose quite a lot hit songs with strong beats so people could dance with the music. It felt like a huge party. Besides, dancing made me feel warm. One segment came with Adele’s Hello and all of sudden everyone started to sing along with it. What a concert!

The show only lasted for about 30 minutes. Although the weather was freezing, it was totally worth it. Just think about it, how many times in your life you can sing together with 10,000 people? The atmosphere was wonderful, feels quite similar to our Spring Festival: everyone’s happy and enjoy themselves. The show was called “north London’s legendary firework display”. It truly is legendary.