Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Fireworks Display!

My kids got to enjoy 3 fireworks display over 2 days. On 17 and 18 August, Singapore hosted Italy and China for a special fireworks display.

On 17 Aug, we decided to venture out to watch the display. Where to go for the best view? Not sure. We drove down the ECP, traffic was quite clear. I decided to turn into Marina South. Lots of cars were headed that way, so we decided to follow the crowd. We ended up at the car park near the former Planet Marina (the one that houses the Long Beach Restaurant). There were probably about 50 cars there when we arrived at 8.50pm. Not too bad. Got a good parking lot, and got into a vantage position. The fireworks display started about 30 minutes later, but it was enjoyable. We had unobstructed views. However, going home was a nightmare. A 1000 other cars must have gotten there after me. It was a slow crawl all the way to the ECP. By the time we got home, it was 10.20 pm, a whopping 45 minute drive. And our drive there took us all of 12 minutes.

On Saturday 18 Aug, the kids wanted to watch the fireworks again. Little D wanted to see the merlion, so we taught we could bring her to Esplanade Park prior to the start of the fireworks display. We were going to leave the house at 7.30 but due to some unforseen delays (I really dont know what!!) we left at about 7.50pm. Traffic was choc-a-bloc all the way from home. Looks like 100,000 other people wanted to see the fireworks too! By the time we got down to the Esplanade, it was 8.20pm and there was not a car park lot in sight. The kids were getting impatient. We drove the length of Shenton Way and Robinson Road. All we saw were big crowds of people, but no place to park. We finally found a parking lot in front of Caltex House, by the road side. Yippee!

But, alas, spoilsport Uncle Sam came along and decided that he wanted to give all the daddies a hard time, and requested everyone to drive away. Hubby finally parked at the Singapore Land Tower carpark. We managed to catch the fireworks display but not in the most comfortable of environment. Not a bad view, I must say, but the view from Marina South was much better.

Going home, the kids fought over who was to sit where in the car. They grumbled about the view being better at Marina South, and why we did not go there again. They grumbled about the strong smell of the gun powder. They grumbled about the crowd and the traffic. The quibbling and grumbling did not stop for a LONG while. I, guess they were all tired.

I was sick and tired of the fighting and complaining. I told them, instead of being grateful that we brought them out to watch the fireworks, they were fighting over all the unneccesary and little things. So, I decided to give them the real thing: the BIG and REAL FIREWORKS DISPLAY.




But, Sorry, no photos, la!

6 comments:

KellytheCulinarian said...

I love fireworks! We had them here in Arizona for our Independence Day, but it's so dry here that they were quite limited so as to not start a wildfire.

Victor said...

Oh you were there too on 18 Aug. My family too and I blogged about it as well. Faced the same parking problems like your hubby did. But it was well worth it as the display was just great... and I got photos, hee.

Anonymous said...

Oopsy! Maybe I would have done the same. I don't think I could stand this nonsense. :O
But still, hope you have cooled down since then.

Anonymous said...

Children...they are all you want when they are such angels.

Then when they are unappreciative, yes, I know how you feel.

Well, like my sister said, part and parcel of having kids. :) Somedays you just want to pull your hair out.

NomadicMom said...

SAHM - Sounds like my two monsters... fighting in the car all the time. It's the worst cause all the noise is confined in a small volume. URGH!!!

bp said...

We love fireworks too!

Oh no, your own fireworks display sound like mine, when I can't take my boys constant fighting day in day out! But I fully understand and know how you feel!