Today is the 5^th of January and for us this is bonfire night. Well yes, you could say we are a bit behind the times up here. But it’s hard to fit everything in around both the weather and the community social calendar. 

Bad weather – as in howling gales – caused the postponement of bonfire night throughout November. When December arrived and we still hadn’t managed to find an evening when a) the weather was behaving itself and b) all the school children were around (those over 16 have to go to Kirkwall for their schooling from Sunday to Friday) the decision was made to save the fireworks for Christmas. 

Christmas here was accompanied by sleet, ice and snow. Just the right atmosphere for our Christmas celebrations but not so good for sending Guy up in flames. Not until tonight have the roads been ice-free and the social calendar empty. So, having enjoyed a two-month stay of execution, luck has finally run out for this traitor in our midst.

Tonight the weather is behaving itself beautifully. The wind has dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. The night sky is dark and mysterious. Our massive pyre has been built on the shores of a wide sandy inlet. Word only went out this morning that the firework display would be held tonight, but word here gets around like wildfire. Anyone still not in the know will surely notice this beacon from almost anywhere on the island. 

Sure enough, more and more vehicles arrive and park along the roadside. Within half an hour there are at least 150 folk, bundled into woollies and wellies, gathered around the blaze. Pretty soon our cheeks are glowing and jackets are being peeled off as the bonfire warms us. When we tire of its leaping flames, we have the option of going for a paddle in the shallows of the sea inlet. 

Biscuits, sweeties and sparklers are handed around along with apologies for the lack of hot soup. The vast quantities of this prepared for November 5^th have long since been consumed.

The fireworks are set up further around the bay with a few creeks between us and them acting as a deterrent to curious children. Rockets whiz and bang to emblazon the sky and Catherine Wheels whirl and effervesce at the water’s edge. But the most impressive element of this display is auditory. As each firework explodes, the bang is repeated and amplified many-fold as it ricochets off the ocean all around us. Gun battles at sea spring to my mind and I can imagine the terror of invasion. It is a bizarre experience and one that the locals around me say they have not heard before either – it is usually too windy to hear anything.

Tonight’s gathering heralds the end of our winter festivities. Tomorrow we must take down our Christmas decorations and prepare for school on Monday. Next week I have an appointment with 10 litres of heavy-duty floor varnish – yes my kitchen floorboards have finally been laid. But today hasn’t just been about bonfires. It is my father’s 86^th birthday too. Happy birthday Dad.