It's All About West

Page 10 It’s All About West Swindon
Tales from across the Pond.... by Angie Vogler
Angie lived in Swindon for most of her life but now lives with hubbie Steve in Charlotte, North Carolina
For many years now travelling around the United States
on various trips, I have often wondered why there are
so many ﬁ rework warehouses claiming to be the ‘worlds
largest store’ scattered around the country. I didn’t
think too much of it before, I just wondered how many
people actually buy ﬁ reworks to have the need for all
these stores. Being brought up in England, you only see
ﬁ reworks around November 5
th
so why the need for a
shop that is open all year round?

For July 4
th
my husband wanted to let off ﬁ reworks.
I wasn’t really that bothered about it as I wasn’t that
interested in ﬁ reworks. I had been put off ﬁ reworks
from an early age following that advert with the girl
picking up the sparkler and screaming. I still to this day,
cannot hold a sparkler. Deeply scarred as I am, I agreed
that we would have some sort of show for the
*Source http://www.ﬁ reworksafety.com/laws.htm
4
th
but I was by no means to be involved in lighting

them. Steve had already been to the ﬁ reworks store to
• In California, ﬁ reworks resembling food are
look at what they had and asked me several times to
prohibited
help him choose. To me, they were just ﬁ reworks, they
• In Florida, any ﬁ reworks containing explosive or
went off, made a bang and lit up the sky. Oh how wrong
ﬂ ammable compounds are prohibited
I was!
• In South Carolina you have to be 14 to purchase
ﬁ reworks unless you are with a parent
We had to go to South Carolina to the ﬁ reworks mega • In New Jersey, no ﬁ reworks are permitted (even
store which was only 5 minutes down the road. It is sparklers)
always cheaper to go over the border to ﬁ ll up with
petrol and buy alcohol. When we got to the store we What you do ﬁ nd in these stores is that they are very
were greeted by many ﬁ rework enthusiasts who wanted keen on safety and making sure you don’t hurt yourself.
to help us. I couldn’t believe the amount of ﬁ reworks There was a sample set up of how to launch rockets out
that were in the store, aisle after aisle of boxes with of buckets and bottles and between bricks to show you
different shapes and sizes. I was a little overwhelmed how to do things securely and safely.
by it all, I just didn’t know where to start. Smoke bombs, You don’t normally ﬁ nd biscuit tins to store your
screamers, jumping jacks, roman candles, ﬂ ying planes, ﬁ reworks in over here so we had to store them in the
rockets, ﬁ recrackers, multiple mortar launchers, you cupboard under the stairs until they were ready to be let
name it they had it. Luckily for me Steve had already off. The show was great and I really enjoyed it. Steve
been in the shop musing over what they had and had and his brother were in charge of lighting them and the
a good idea of what he wanted. They had sets of girls just sat and watched the show, just how I like it.
ﬁ reworks ready for you to buy and they were on offer We went back to the construction site we let them off on
with buy one, get one free. I told Steve to go ahead the next day and helped clear up the mess we had made
and pick out the sets that he wanted. at the empty intersection. We decided to go there so we

didn’t cause any problems with our neighbours or the
It was only then that I started to learn the law on
animals in the nearby houses.
ﬁ reworks. Letting off ﬁ reworks that leave the ground

is illegal in North Carolina. In fact, you cannot buy
I’m not sure when we will be letting them off again,
ﬁ reworks in North Carolina unless it is around the 4
th

New Year’s Eve is another big event but the 4
th
July is the
July when you might ﬁ nd a few selections in the local
best time, at least it is warm and you can sit out in the
supermarket. On the 4
th
July, the police turn a blind eye
nice evening rather than freezing cold rain for November
to this rule and let you go about your business as long as
5
th
. We will no doubt be going to a Guy Fawkes display
you are not endangering other people or letting them off
later this year, I’m looking forward to doing that with all
late at night. There are lots of other rules on ﬁ reworks,
my British friends here in Charlotte!
here are my best selections to share with you*:
To Advertise please call 01793 859604 or e-mail info@itsallabout.org.uk
Issue 5 West.indd 10 30/07/2009 17:01
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