Despite the saying, I totally forgot the 5th of November was a holiday, I was bleary-eyed most of the day thanks to the excitement around Barack, fortunately I had a light day in the office broken up with tons of foreigners coming up to shake my hand and congratulate me on the election. This was pretty amazing to see as well.
Anyway turns out November 5 is a holiday here to celebrate Guy Fawkes, a crazy 17th century Catholic radical who tried to blow up parliament and fail. To celebrate, people around England gather for fireworks shows, to remember the failed explosion attempt, and then a big bonfire, to remember how Fawkes and other Catholics were then burned at the stake. Kind of like a bizarro-world Fourth of July in November and with an anti-Catholic undertone.
It was a freezing night and half the town was up all night with the election, so it was a subdued crowd, but an awesome fireworks show.
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