I am blogging from Hari’s front room in Exeter, while he packs, and then the three of us head up to London for the weekend.
Last night we went, with two of Hari’s friends, to the nearby village of Ottery St. Mary, to see the ritual ? celebration ? beer-fest? – not quite sure how to describe it – of the tar barrels.
It takes place every Guy Fawkes Night (non-Brits, are you following me, here ?) Guy Fawkes = Bonfire Night = 5th November, but this village follows its own tradition of carrying burning tar barrels through town. Villagers run up and down the streets carrying these barrels, through huge crowds, and by huge I mean huge. As in hundreds and hundreds of people, most of them clutching beer cans, all packed into small streets, while the villagers rush through with their burning tar barrels.
All wildly exhilerating, especially in 21st century England,which is addicted to Health & Safety. The spectacle was frankly incredibly dangerous. Drunken crowds+ fire hazard, and you wonder how on earth it has been allowed to continue. When I asked a St.John’s ambulance man that very question, he smiled and answered, “Good lawyers”.
I was listening to the local news on the Beeb this morning, and they said there was a fire in the village this morning, but as to whether there is any connection with the events of last night, who knows ?
A couple of images for you
