Only 949 fireworks casualties this new year, the papers report proudly. Apparently this is a good thing, down 13 percent from last year. 58 amputations, only a few fatalities. The main culprit are the popular firecrackers called 'bawng' and ''piccolo' - while the ''bin laden' is harder to get hold of but twice as dangerous.
On new years eve we had a huge box of bawangs, Lalas nephews dropping them underfoot like sniper fire. To get into the spirit, I threw a couple. The second one exploded in my hand, taking the skin off the top of my finger. I sheepishly refrained from further spiritedness and stood safely behind the metal grill as the firework frenzy reached fever pitch, the whole street letting off masses of rockets, blindly hurling handfuls firecrackers into the night, banging tins and blowing horns. As the cacophony rose at the approach of midnight, Fireworks shot into houses and underfoot. Unphased, Dyl was gripped by a kind of firework mania; a look of completed focus on his face, he set off as many as one man with two hands can.
More ominous, however, is the number of people recorded in the paper who were wounded or killed by stray bullets: shooting loaded guns into the air on new years eve remains a dubious tradition in some neighbourhoods of metro Manila.
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