TONIGHT families and friends will be making their way to the first of the season's big public fireworks displays.

A great time will be had by all, except for those of us sitting at home jumping out of our skins at the cracks and explosions thinking "but Bonfire Night isn't until next weekend".

I like celebrating November 5 - wrapping up in coats and boots and setting off into the night with great expectations of being wowed by amazing pyrotechnics - but sadly in recent years the whole event has become something of a nuisance.

You only have to read the Echo to discover that not everyone is enamoured with the night we commemorate the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 to blow up Parliament, and the paper's campaign Bang Out of Order brought the whole problem into the spotlight.

What's gone wrong is that we don't celebrate Bonfire Night on or around November 5 any more, but over an extended period of anything up to three weeks.

Of course the organisations which put on these stunning displays for their communities want to attract the big crowds to ensure they are viable.

They don't want to be up against a rival event, and so they are staggered, over at least two weekends of firework fun.

Fine. Tonight I'll make sure the cat is in by nightfall and that my bedroom door is left open so he can make it to his favourite hiding place under my bed when all the fun starts.

Come to think of it, I better keep him in tomorrow night, as well, because experience tells me the big display in my town this evening will just be a bit of a warm-up for some excitable individuals who'll be wanting to set off their own rockets, bangers and catherine wheels in their back gardens before Monday dawns.

And then there's next Friday, Saturday and Sunday, too - the real Bonfire Night weekend.

So what? It's just a cat, many will say, but judging by our letters page it seems November 5 can be a real problem for many pet owners, people with livestock and those who run businesses like kennels.

Some animals have to be put on tranquillisers and horses have to be moved.

If Bonfire Night celebrations are confined to one week it's manageable - any longer and it is bang out of order. Perhaps I should get our cat some ear muffs.