Happy Guy Fawkes day...

When I was in Jr High (or was it High School? Oh well, it was sometime around then) I remember reading a book called Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging. In it, in the very first chapters, the girl character talks about Guy Fawkes day and burning effigies. What in the world? I thought to myself. Those English people are weird. 

But at the same time, I was a bit of a pyro who liked to watch things burn - and by watch things burn I mean things like old checks from my Mom's bank account that she didn't plan on using, leaves and old newspapers, stuff like that. I was a pyro who respected fire, knew how to handle it safely, and knew that burning down houses was bad. In fact, I was the one my Girl Scout Leader turned to when other troops wanted someone to talk to their troop about fire. 

That said, a holiday that was all about burning a straw man sounded pretty awesome to me. Now that I'm older, and I understand who Guy Fawkes was and what he was all about (and I'm not talking about the V for Vendetta version, but the truth) I still think it's a pretty cool holiday because fire is still pretty awesome.