Fireworks in San Francisco
I am in San Francisco tonight, the first time in years I've been here on July 4th. So I went up to Tank Hill to watch the fireworks.
A lot of people had gathered - families, people with dogs, groups of young people who would party later. Fireworks started - not the shows, but the indie efforts. People were looking around, puzzled.
"Is it legal here?" Boom! Swoooosh! Showers of sparks.
"Must be..." Streaks of light, explosions.
Actually, it's not legal. The news carried an article about it, together with a description of where people were buying the illegal fireworks...
The lights of the city stretched out below us, and the light-swagged Bay Bridge led the eye across to Oakland, where fireworks had already started. I found myself a good spot, pulled out my binoculars, watched, and eavesdropped on a group of young guys laughing about the July 4ths of their childhoods.
"We used to have fights with bottle rockets. We got PVC pipes and launched them at each other."
"We used to have ours up at our lake house. We'd get a plastic boat, and a bunch of fireworks with long fuses, sparklers and rockets and M-80s. We'd set it up carefully so the sparklers lit the rockets and then the M80s sank the boat..."
The conversation continued with details that made one glad they were around to have it.
I'm not sure if these were the same guys who were carefully avoiding the steep bitsof Tank Hill.
"I don't do so well with hills," one said.
"Yeah, stay well back," said another. They were about five feet back from where I was perched.
Then the San Francisco fireworks started, and I went round to the other side. There are two synchronized sets, but one was mostly hidden by Buena Vista hill. The other was clearly visible.
A low fog bank lay low over the city, but it was still high enough so most of the fireworks were visible. Only the largest ones went into it, and were half hidden. It was a spectacular effect, as though fire was raining out of the cloud.
"As though the heavens are exploding," said someone next to me.
"The fireworks, are they supposed commemorate the battle for freedom?" asked a woman. She seemed to be thinking of the rocket's red glare. No one knew.
"It's like war, but hella pretty."
Another display started up in Marin county, across the bay, just to the right of the Golden Gate Bridge. A dog stepped on my toe in the dark. I worried that it would freak out with the fireworks, but it was peaceful. So was everyone else. People were rapt with the city lights, the amazing fireworks, the scent of marijuana wafting over the hillside.
Happy July 4th, everyone!
A lot of people had gathered - families, people with dogs, groups of young people who would party later. Fireworks started - not the shows, but the indie efforts. People were looking around, puzzled.
"Is it legal here?" Boom! Swoooosh! Showers of sparks.
"Must be..." Streaks of light, explosions.
Actually, it's not legal. The news carried an article about it, together with a description of where people were buying the illegal fireworks...
The lights of the city stretched out below us, and the light-swagged Bay Bridge led the eye across to Oakland, where fireworks had already started. I found myself a good spot, pulled out my binoculars, watched, and eavesdropped on a group of young guys laughing about the July 4ths of their childhoods.
"We used to have fights with bottle rockets. We got PVC pipes and launched them at each other."
"We used to have ours up at our lake house. We'd get a plastic boat, and a bunch of fireworks with long fuses, sparklers and rockets and M-80s. We'd set it up carefully so the sparklers lit the rockets and then the M80s sank the boat..."
The conversation continued with details that made one glad they were around to have it.
I'm not sure if these were the same guys who were carefully avoiding the steep bitsof Tank Hill.
"I don't do so well with hills," one said.
"Yeah, stay well back," said another. They were about five feet back from where I was perched.
Then the San Francisco fireworks started, and I went round to the other side. There are two synchronized sets, but one was mostly hidden by Buena Vista hill. The other was clearly visible.
A low fog bank lay low over the city, but it was still high enough so most of the fireworks were visible. Only the largest ones went into it, and were half hidden. It was a spectacular effect, as though fire was raining out of the cloud.
"As though the heavens are exploding," said someone next to me.
"The fireworks, are they supposed commemorate the battle for freedom?" asked a woman. She seemed to be thinking of the rocket's red glare. No one knew.
"It's like war, but hella pretty."
Another display started up in Marin county, across the bay, just to the right of the Golden Gate Bridge. A dog stepped on my toe in the dark. I worried that it would freak out with the fireworks, but it was peaceful. So was everyone else. People were rapt with the city lights, the amazing fireworks, the scent of marijuana wafting over the hillside.
Happy July 4th, everyone!