Remember Remember

(I shamelessly copied this poem from Wikipedia:)

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,

The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,

I know of no reason

Why the Gunpowder Treason

Should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent

To blow up the King and Parli'ment.

Three-score barrels of powder below

To prove old England's overthrow;

By God's providence he was catch'd (or by God's mercy*)

With a dark lantern and burning match.

Holla boys, Holla boys, let the bells ring.

Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

And what should we do with him? Burn him!

Today, the 5th of November, is Guy Fawkes Day, or bonfire night. Most of what I know of the event comes from one of my favorite movies, V for Vendetta. Basically, in 1605 a group of men wanted to blow up parliament and kill King James because of his poor treatment of the Catholics. One of the members of the group wrote a letter to a friend in parliament telling him not to go there on the 5th. The friend turned over the letter and a trap was set for Guy Fawkes, who was in the process of putting barrels upon barrels of gunpowder in the tunnels beneath the building.

In fine Olde Worlde tradition, he was tortured mercilessly and killed. Ever since then, on the 5th of November, Guy Fawkes is burned in effigy over huge bonfires while fireworks are set off. People watch while eating roasted chestnuts and candied apples.

Despite being here for the last couple of years, this was the first time I made it to a bonfire. It was a pretty good sized crowd and the bonfire was pretty impressive. I crashed a party beforehand, although I ended up more or less sleeping in the corner due to a combination of eating too much pizza and German food (it was an Oktoberfest themed party).

In other news, I have been reorganizing, decluttering, and cleaning my house in preparation for getting it on the market. On top of looking like a construction zone, it also looked like this for a while:

I am happy to say that I finally got it on the market today. The realtors went through and all should be official on Monday. Now I just have to keep it clean at all times so that strangers can walk through and judge me.

Here are some more photos of what the place looks like. Hopefully it sells. I meant to get it on the market in August. Better late than never, I suppose...