Sun files / REMINDER OF HOME: Spain, the 1999 winning fireworks team, lit up the night and the Burrard Street Bridge.

A flash sparkled outside the window. What was that? Lightning? But there's no rain. Then BOOM! An explosion? Was it a gas main? Ball lightning? What in the world was that?

We stopped the movie. I was up at Terry and Jan's place on the 3rd floor watching Raiders of the Lost Ark. The flash was out the living room side of the building, so Terry stepped out onto the kitchen balcony. Then there were a series of coloured flashes and loud booms. Hmm...wrong side.

Then Bethany came bursting through the door, "Fireworks! Fireworks! There out the other side!" And she left just as quickly as she came. She must have had visitors downstairs.

We broke out onto the balcony where Terry's two parakeets were trying to sleep, but surely the explosions had awoken them. So Terry grabbed them and put them inside the apartment. Sure enough, though, there were fireworks. We could see a shower of green, purple, red, and white painting the sky. We could only see the really high fireworks because there was a building in our way just across the road/courtyard. The fireworks seemed to be in the direction of Mirror Lake. They must have setup some sort of barge in the middle of the lake, but the lake's not that big.

The show looked very professional. It reminded me very much of the Symphony of Fire displays in the summer. The fireworks didn't look like the simple ball-explosions, but had the variety of O-Rings, Streakers, Willow Trees, and China's trademark Hanging Lanterns.

The length of the show was about half an hour. It could've been one of the teams that China sends overseas to compete in the international fireworks competitions. I was starting to wonder if there was any accompanying music.

During the show, I remembered that Brian had just stepped out earlier and the Moores said that he was going out to watch fireworks on the Walking Street. Something about a new air conditioner company was celebrating its coming to Wuhu. I didn't think it would be this extravagant.

Then Bethany and two of her students came up to take advantage of the third floor view. That's when one of them mentioned that this was the first fireworks display in Wuhu for fifteen years. This must have been a really big deal. They also said that they had moved a barge down the Chang Jiang from Anqing, another Anhui port on the river.

Someone asked for the name of this, obviously, very wealthy air conditioner company. Midea. I remembered seeing their ads on TV, so I kind of knew who it was. That company must be rolling in the dough if there able to fit the bill for a half hour fireworks display. I wonder if they could set up operations in Vancouver and become the new sponsor for the Symphony of Fire. Then there won't be the tobacco controversy that is presently in place with Benson & Hedges.

After the half hour was up, we returned to the living room and resumed watching the movie. About ten minutes later, Brian came through the door. He said there was an absolute river of bobbing heads gushing out from the Walking Street and flowing in all directions. He said that if we were to go down to the west gate at the bottom of the hill, we would see heads stretching in both directions down Laodong (Labour) Road. Everyone in Wuhu must have got out of their homes to see this. I don't blame them. If I hadn't seen fireworks in fifteen years, I'd probably do the same too. Judging from what I saw from the Moores' balcony, though, it was well worth it.