Guy Fawkes celebration

First, listen to Guy Fawkes, and follow the links.

Tomorrow, November 5th, is Guy Fawkes Day, and many cities will be holding a free public fireworks display. This is partly to discourage people from lighting their own fireworks in their backyard. Every year, someone gets injured by fireworks. The noise also frightens dogs and cats. Pet owners need to keep their pets indoors. This year, some children have already been injured in Christchurch by a group display of fireworks where some fireworks went sideways instead of up in the air. Usually the city displays are carefully planned by professionals so that no mistakes are made.

However, Wellington city has decided that November 5th is not a suitable time for a fireworks display. For one thing, a Guy Fawkes event is a British tradition. For another thing, it doesn’t get dark until around 9pm in many parts of the country so a one hour event from 9 till 10pm means children get home late, especially if they are stuck in traffic as crowds all leave at the same time. Wellington thinks it is better to celebrate Matariki, the Maori New Year. Next year, Matariki will begin on June 15th. It will be dark by early evening. Of course, it will also be cold, but we can’t have one (early darkness) without the other (the cold).

Vocabulary

discourage (v) – opposite of encourage; to want to stop people from doing something
professionals – people whose job is planning and lighting fireworks

Sentence Idioms

For one thing, …. For another (thing) … e.g. Fireworks are a waste of money. For one thing, they are expensive and for another thing, each one only lasts a few seconds.
We can’t have one without the other. Usually, the second one is negative.