4th of July

I miss the good old days.

And by "good old days", I mean the good old days of 4th of July celebrations.  Sure, I guess it's a good thing that most places have cracked down on illegal fireworks.  Sure, it's certainly a good thing that people aren't blowing off their fingers anymore.

... but still ....

I can't help but miss what Independence Days were like back when I was growing up on 96th Place in the Ozone Park neighborhood of New York City.  That scene has to be seen ( and smelt and heard ) to be believed.  Of course, I've never been on an 18th Century battlefield, but I've got to image that those battlefields sounded and smelt a lot like the way 96th place smelt and sounded every July 4th in the 1970's.

All day long from about 11 AM to 1 AM you'd hear a plethora of illegal fireworks blowing up.  Smoke would hang in the air like a thick fog, and there was a distinct smell of sulfur in the air.  Most people on the block didn't travel on that day, because they were afraid they might come home and find their house burnt down due to an errant firework.  So, of course, since we were all going to be there all day anyway, it didn't make much sense to sit around and gripe about the sound and the smoke.  Instead, we all joined in on the fun.

It seems like every Dad on the block ( including mine ) got his hands on every kind of illegal firework imaginable.  They would set them off all day in the street as the kids watched, and there's really nothing that makes a young boy happier than watching stuff blow up.  I still remember the year my dad got his hands on some blockbusters (a blockbuster is  a quarter stick of dynamite ).  He lit one and placed it under a metal garbage can, and I swear that the garbage can ( which was made of steel and was about 3 feet deep )  must have launched about 20 feet into the air after that blockbuster went off.  As stupid as this may sound, I still consider that moment to be one of the highlights of my childhood.

Now, my parents where wise enough to keep fireworks out of my hands, but plenty of  parents on the block were more than willing to let their kids join in on the "fun".  I don't remember any kids handling the big stuff, but kids can still do a lot of damage with fire-crackers and bottle rockets.  Especially those kids who thought it was fun to throw lit firecrackers.  Especially those kids who thought it was a blast ( pun intended ) to shoot bottle rockets horizontally along the ground.  Bottle rockers were designed to be launched into the air, and then explode in the air.  When they are launched along the ground, you can  only imagine the mayhem that ensues.  I was never unlucky enough to be hit by one of these low-flying missiles, but I distinctly remember a few whizzing right past my feet ( The same kids who though it was fun to launch those things horizontally thought it was hilarious to aim them at people. ).

As crazy all that all was, I think it just might pale in comparison to the insanity of roman candles.  If you don't know what a roman candle is, you can click on this link, but it's basically a small mortar you can hold in your hand.  Now, it's not really a good ideal to hold a lit firework with enough explosive power to launch 10 fireballs into the air, but people certainly did.  My Dad use to hold a roman candle up like he was the Statue of Liberty.  I still remember those green and red fiireballs launching out of that roman candle in his hand.

Certainly not wise ....

Certainly not safe ...

... but it was freakin' cool!

Yeah, not wise, not safe, but COOL!

Happy July 4th folks!  I have no choice but to live the safe and secure life of a suburban Dad these days, but if you have an opportunity to, please blow something up for me today!

Rich