Fireflies
by Ron Davies
The big difference between now and then – the war years and just after – is that Christmas never lasted so long as it seems to these days.
Bonfire night took much longer and had much more going for it: the excitement of collecting and storage, the fear that rivals might steal your best stuff, the incredible tension of lying on top of mounds of combustible rubbish listening for sounds of approaching marauders while the valley winds whistled through the many cracks of wall and roof.