June 17, 2023: Sudden Event, Fireworks （突然の出来事、花火）

There was a big surprise last Thursday. When my wife and I were watching TV around 8:00 p.m. in the evening, we suddenly heard an explosion outside our flat. We ran out to see if there had been an explosive accident near our flat. What was seen was not an accident but the fireworks that was shooting in the dark sky. Meanwhile, our neighbours also came out of their flats one by one, and watched the fireworks as we did. So the corridors of our block of flats were filled with the residents. They were so beautiful that we felt as if we had been in a summer fireworks festival. We watched them in fascination for a while. They did not end only with a few shoots. They lasted for about thirty minutes with countless shots. When they ended, they were highly commended by the residents. We and other residents felt very lucky as there was no prior notice on the fireworks.
Afterwards, my wife looked around and found that it was a practice run for a fireworks festival to be held in October. I welcome and look forward to the official festival. But they will only be shooting for an hour, half the time of previous festivals. I do not know exactly why, but it may be due to the rise in costs.

　先週の木曜日にびっくりすることがありました。夜の8時ごろ、妻とテレビを見ていたら、突然、マンションの外で大きな爆発音がしたのです。どこかの家で爆発事故でもあったのかと思って、慌てて外に飛び出しました。そしたら、事故ではなく、空にきれいな花火が舞い上がっていました。その間に、隣人の次から次へと家から出てきて、花火を見ていました。マンションの階段は住民で埋め尽くされるほどでした。花火はすごく美しく、夏の花火大会にいる気分になり、しばらく見とれていました。花火は数発で終わらず、無数の花火が30分間打ち上げられました。終わった時、マンションは拍手喝采でした。花火打ち上げの予告がなかったので、すごく得した気分でした。
　妻が調べたところ、10月に予定されている花火大会の予行練習を兼ねた打ち上げだったようです。ここ数年、花火大会も中止していたで、再開は歓迎です。でも、打ち上げの時間が半分くらいに減ります。経費高騰のせいでしょか？