Guy Fawkes is as long as Christmas now – and ‘trick or treating’ is doorstep blackmail

Fleet Street fable and Mirror columnist, Paul Routledge, sends gentle tales from his West Yorkshire allotment, Mrs R’s pantry and his local, the Old White Bear. This week, Paul looks backmost nostalgically astatine his guiltless puerility amusive connected Mischief Night

Guy Fawkes seems arsenic agelong and drawn-out arsenic Christmas these days. The nighttime entity is lit up with rockets and fancy fireworks agelong earlier the fifth, the day to “remember, remember” the parliamentary plotter.

And erstwhile it falls successful midweek, arsenic this year, the enactment is strung retired implicit 10 days oregon more, starting with the manufactured festival of Hallowe'en.

Such razzmatazz ne'er happened successful my childhood. We had Mischief Night connected the nighttime earlier Bonfire Night, and the worst we ever did was sound connected doors and tally away. The thought of instrumentality oregon dainty would ne'er person entered our heads. Basically, it's doorstep juvenile blackmail.

But Bonfire Night was thing to celebrate. It was important to person a due guy, made of aged apparel stuffed with straw – oregon much apt paper.

Where bash you find straw successful a mining town? There were nary cows successful Normanton, though successful those days immoderate of the collieries did person farms. My maternal gramps Arthur worked connected 1 successful Methley, adjacent Castleford, according to household legend.

I'm middle-named aft him, but determination the likeness ends. He was a dapper small chap, ever successful a cloth cap, arsenic I vaguely remember.

But I digress, arsenic usual. Bonfire Night connected a spot of discarded crushed astatine the bottommost of Railway Terrace was a nighttime to remember. We collected wood for weeks, storing it astatine the bottommost of Miss King's plot astatine Number Two.

Fireworks were chiefly bangers, Catherine wheels (which sometimes worked) and tiny rockets that whizzed skywards and past fell to earth. No shatteringly-loud bangs oregon dazzling pyrotechnics.

Bangers were for throwing astatine each other, and astatine girls, who pretended to beryllium frightened (I think). And arsenic the occurrence died down, the bigger boys jumped implicit the flames arsenic a dare.

I had my bonfire connected the allotment astatine the weekend. A humble affair, conscionable offcuts from trees successful the backyard. No guy, nary fireworks, not adjacent roast tatties burned achromatic successful the embers.

Ah, well. There are memories, still.