Tuesday 18 November 2014

Fireworks at Kenilworth Castle

As I left the house at stupid-o'clock last week, I made the random decision to tweet my whole day. This is what it's like to work on a firework show - oh, the glamour!

6am Up and out of the house wearing thermals + carrying many layers of clothing. It's going to be a cold, wet day. #fireworks #dayinthelife

7am Meet at the yard, load personal kit onto vans, say hi to firers heading out on different shows #fireworks #dayinthelife

#photo I forgot to include in the last tweet #fireworks #dayinthelife



8am Pause at services for breakfast. Weather starting to turn... #fireworks #dayinthelife



9am 20 mins from site and the heavens have opened. It's going to be a cold, wet rig #fireworks #dayinthelife



10am Unload pyro. 56 boxes! #fireworks #dayinthelife



11:30am Rigging the 5" and 6" shells #fireworks #dayinthelife



1:30pm Wind 1, Gazebo 0 :( #fireworks #dayinthelife



2:30pm Wired in most of the fireworks. Rain seems to have paused #fireworks #dayinthelife



3pm #fireworks #dayinthelife current clothing: full set of thermals, jeans, wproof troos, 2 pairs skiing socks, fleece, hoodie,...

...body warmer, wproof coat, buff, hat, gloves, snow boots. #fireworks #dayinthelife


4:30pm Safety briefing and a million yellow tabards #fireworks #dayinthelife



5:45pm We have pushed three vans back along the muddy track. Now time to suit up (PPE) and wait... #fireworks #dayinthelife


7pm Usher people out of the fall out zone and prepare for fiting. Sustem armed. Crowd count down... #fireworks #dayinthelife


7:15pm Someone (not me) pressed go and the show fired. 7:45pm wait for 15mins cool down and safety check #fireworks #dayinthelife


8:50pm van stuck in mud - 12 crew pushing! #fireworks #dayinthelife


10pm A long derig, including a defender row for one of the vans and lots of pushing. Finally leaving site #fireworks #dayinthelife


10:10pm Spoke too soon. Last van stuck. More pushing and towing required. #boggyfield #fireworks #dayinthelife


10:30 The lovely people @KRTFireworks treat us to pizza and a drink #fireworks #dayinthelife


11:15pm On the road. Just need to drive the van back to the yard, then pick up the car and drive home! #fireworks #dayinthelife


Midnight Very brief stop in motorway services to switch driver (we are a bit tired!) 12:30 Back at yard #fireworks #dayinthelife


1:40am Home at last. Unpack car and stumble bed-wards, via a quick cup of tea. Going to ache tomorrow! #fireworks #dayinthelife


Last tweet before I finally succumb to sleep. @FitbitUK + #fantasticfireworks (@KRTFireworks) = a LOT of exercise...


And to round the post off, here's a great photo of the show taken by Alan Ranger:

2 comments:

Elle said...

Wow! What a lot of time and effort goes into one of these fabulous shows. I had no idea!

blogger said...

I saw the fireworks at Kenilworth Castle too at about 6 o'clock. I was off to meet my paper now org friend when I saw flashes in the sky. I assumed someone is celebrating an occasion and moved on to my way.