Sir,

Terrific bangs and ominous thuds sounded frighteningly close to my cottage. However, I was not going to let my boiled egg go cold and Dandy, now 14, was too deaf to pay any attention to what might be warfare going on outside.

Eventually, worry and anxiety got the better of me and I somewhat tentatively opened the front door to be rewarded with the breathtaking sight of a golden shower and red shooting stars lighting up the night sky.

Well, actually it was only 5.30 and I was delighted to have, it seemed, a dazzling display of colour as though put on specially for me, as the riot of colour was just across the road.

I forgot the cold as I stood entranced at what was, to me, my very own private firework display put on by persons unknown.

I know some people regard fireworks as a noisy problem, but they lifted my spirits and rekindled the happy memoried of bygone firework displays as I watched entranced from my doorway.

Barbara Stredder,

Marsh?Road,