Random question...

[susie_flo]

Do any of you good people happen to know whether you'd be allowed on a flight with these in your luggage? 

http://www.sciencemuseumshop.co.uk/outdoor-living/product/270847/flying-lanterns-10-pack.html

I've got four of them stashed under my office desk waiting for an occasion and was suddenly struck by the idea of lighting them on our balcony at the end of the Venice carnival.  (But not if it means getting arrested for terrorism...)

Comments

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

Well according to the carnival info they're planning to set off hundreds of them beside the Grand Canal at midnight on the last night... so I was thinking I might get away with a couple (but not if it is liable to be frowned upon)

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

Well I *think* that's what they mean anyway... (I downloaded the English version of the carnival guide and it says "thousands of balloons made of paper with a small light inside, will be released in the sky as a symbol of the end of the Carnival and the symbolic entrance in the Lenten period.").

But now I am wondering what on earth is possessing me to want to add my own piffling lanterns to a sky that will already have thousands of them floating about...

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

That's weird, I just typed a reply and it has disappeared...

(Anyway it was merely to mention that, having re-read the guide, they are planning to set off thousands of them in St Mark's Basin, so adding my own measley offering into the mix is probably not worth getting arrested for!)

[perfectlyvague.livejournal.com]

You are in theory putting a flammable liquid in solid form into your case and an object that could be identified (if not accurately) as a firework so if you don't want your case opened, I wouldn't.

On an aside - I'm totally anti these things because of the damage they do to livestock and also houses and humans. Not least because that Chinese tradition bit is actually bullshit - you are supposed to write the wish on the lantern in certain characters with a certain number of strokes. They look beautiful and I love the idea of them. The reality is a totally different ballgame.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jan/23/chinese-lanterns-call-to-ban

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

Eek. It's probably safer not to bother, all things considered.

I just think they look so beautiful when I see other people's flying about, but I had no idea they were secretly evil.

[perfectlyvague.livejournal.com]

Roald Dahl covers this slightly in Danny The Champion of The World. I think he mentions a cow going over to the balloon one his dad makes and I always wondered if it did the cow any damage.

[green-badger.livejournal.com]

Heh, yes, we nearly set fire to Cornwall with one, and it's lucky that wreckers are a local tradition.

I think you can get ones without wire in that are safe for livestock now though. xxx

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that's good to know, thanks

[lazy-hoor.livejournal.com]

I want a rainbow in my room now. I wonder if it does double rainbows?

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

Heh. The Sci museum shop has all manner of wonderful gadge! Theoretically aimed at kids, but what do they know anyway?

(Last time I was in there I found myself lusting after the spy gadgets. I wish I could marry Q.)

[tvted.livejournal.com]

yeah...wouldn't trust airport security. You wouldn't want a full body search while preggers (if in fact ever!).

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

Ever is true! It's bad enough trying to smuggle on knitting needles...