BOOM

Cover! Cover! Cover! The city is under attack!

OK it isn't, but you wouldn't know that by the sound of it. I woke up this fine Old Year's Day (as it's called here) to the sound of explosions. Pop-pop-pop mixed with bang and whistle-BOOM. No I've never been in a war, but it sounds just like gunfire and bombs from movies! (OK Maybe they use fireworks for their sound effects.)

And fireworks it is. The town woke up this morning early and started blowing things up. Not cars- and house-type things, but paper and cardboard things. The explosions have not stopped all day, and there's so much explosive smoke that it's hanging over the town like a light fog, mixing with the mist that's present today. Once the sun goes down, it intensifies and as midnight approaches things will really get going.

The Dutch celebrate Old-New Year by setting off fireworks. As many as possible. Apparently, the booms and bangs frighten away evil spirits who, not being then in the right place at the right time, will miss the incoming of the New Year and be banned. Yayy. The explosives are legally sold for three days before the Year-Change Night and may legally be set off from 10am Old-Year's Day until 2am New Year's Day. (They've been going off for days and started around 8am this morning.)

In practice, it's noisy during the day but absolutely gorgeous at night. Growing up, my experience with fireworks came in two flavors: firecrackers and bottle rockets that people can play with sometimes, and real fireworks... the "go up and explode in a big starburst and change color and whistle" kind. In Netherlands, people get to play with the real ones! I've had the pleasure of seeing this before, but I forgot that it's an all-day event.

This time of year (even in a winter so mild that the geese haven't migrated) the ground is soaking wet. Roofs here are made of Spanish tile or thatch (thatch is also quite damp right now), so the risk of fire is minimal. There are some concerns about safety, but surprisingly few people manage to blow themselves up. Last year 710 people were injured using fireworks on New Year's; this is an estimate based on the fact that 84 people actually went to the hospital for firework-related injuries. A third of the treated injuries were to eyes. That makes sense--you're more likely to get treatment to a burn around/of the eye than a burned finger. Two people died (none in the previous two years, five in the three years before that).

Granted, that sounds like a lot in a country of fewer than 17 million people. But the Dutch spend around 65 million euros on fireworks. That's around 4 euros for every man, woman and child when a 96-shot extravaganza package can be purchased for 30 euros. It's 710 injuries for around 7 million people playing with explosives. Well done, Dutchy people!

For those following along with my personal adventures (there must be one of you), my BSN has not yet arrived. *sighs* I'm feeling very impatient, but pretty much everyone is off work from Christmas to New Year's so it's not too surprising, really.