Firecracker Fuss

There are two ways to approach the blasting of firecrackers during Lunar New Year: accept it with good humour or whine.

It's not a big deal. In fact, it's fun. Sure, firecrackers are loud, but you get used to them.

Or you write a letter to the newspaper to gripe:

Has the government lifted the ban on firecrackers? Mui Wo felt like downtown Baghdad on Lunar New Year's Eve.

Exaggerate much? The folks in Baghdad could teach her a thing or two about life in a war zone.

The explosions went on for over an hour, frightening babies and pets.

Cry me a river. In our village, they went on all day long for three days running.

Afterwards, a haze hung over our village - to the dismay of residents who live here because we find the air a bit clearer than elsewhere in Hong Kong.

Oh, boo hoo. How long could that haze have lasted?

Is this going to be a yearly pattern ignored by the police?

JOYCE CHEUNG-GILES, Mui Wo

Police are more interested in illegal fireworks, thus turning a blind eye toward firecrackers. The cops don't want to ruin the happy atmosphere of Lunar New Year, and there aren't enough officers to patrol the hundreds of villages scattered throughout the New Territories and outlying islands.

It's a reasonable policy: no harm, no foul; and an old tradition isn't messed with.

Unless a certain killjoy gets her way next year.

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