We had just turned the light out, saying how wonderful the Sidney “No Fireworks” bylaw had been this year, when at 11 p.m. all hell broke loose in Roberts Bay. As an old soldier, the nearest it came to was Borneo and the large explosions from mortars and hand grenades when the Indonesians launched a sudden surprise nighttime attack on our forward base at Tebedu (Sarawak).
Luckily, I do not have PTSD. As usual, the sound was amplified by bouncing off the hill to the north of Roberts Bay and echoing for another 10 seconds. Of course, with the heat, all our windows were also open.
However, the distress of the residents of Roberts Bay was nothing compared to the pandemonium in the Roberts Bay Bird Sanctuary. All the resting birds took to the air and flew around, sounding their alarm cries for the full 10 minutes of the bombardment. It took them a good hour before they settled down, and some returned. The rest had disappeared this morning.
So much for the bylaw.
Richard Talbot
Sidney
