The first pair of sand martins appear in the garden. The swallows and swifts can't be far behind. Summer is on the way. The hares watch us as we follow the farm track down to the shore. The hares think they're invisible but their ears stick out above the top of the long grass. This makes us chuckle. Having been up since three talking to the Los Angeleans and Manhattanites about the drone attack on Israels Nevatim airbase a good chuckle is welcome.
The students annual historical pageant in town. A couple of hundred people standing in front of the chapel watching horses and carriages getting ready to re-enact 'moments' from Scotlands history.
There's a wee bit of a mix up with the traffic management and a woman in a black Honda SUV finds herself face to face with a mounted Robert the Bruce. Amid much grumbling ( and some decidedly unlady like expletives ) she does a five point turn and is escorted back through the bollards that have closed off the street. ' Ye should have put them where I could see them ' she tells one of the stewards . This comment raises more questions than it answers. As she goes she lowers her window and gestures impolitely to no one in particular. Robert the Bruce remains stoically silent although the horse chooses this very moment to generate some manure for the university flower beds.
Finally things get under way. Anywhere else the streets would be lined three or four deep with tourists watching this quaint annual ritual. Here it's a decidedly low key affair. April in Scotland is not going to attract the casual visitor. American golfers who venture away from the Old Course are delighted. This is the tartan and history draped Brigadoon country of CNN travel programmes.The procession is a lengthy one. It takes a full twenty minutes for everyone to pass by. Some of the students stop and have a wee blether with the householders who have come out onto their doorsteps to watch proceedings. The organizers try to chivvy everyone along to stop the procession 'bunching'. They are not entirely successful.
Just as the tail end of the parade passes by the skies open. A red weather cell unloads a concentrated deluge on top of us. It lasts for only four minutes but it scatters the onlookers and drenches the participants.
The youngsters don't seem to be put off by the weather although St.Andrew ( who is barefoot and wearing sack cloth ) looks as though he might have drawn the short straw.
We watch Benjamin Franklin wander by. An American student is carrying a flag with 13 stripes and the Union flag in the corner. Did the 13 colonies have a common flag before the late unpleasantness ? After Culloden many of the Highland rebels were shipped off in chains to the American colonies to get them far away. A generation or so later the children of these rebels proved to be some of the most fervent revolutionaries. A reminder that then , as now, actions have surprising second order consequences.
Mary Queen of Scots asks us if we're enjoying ourselves.
Choirs sing and we have simple , old fashioned, fun.
9 comments:
Hari Om
What wonderful Sunday morning reading you brought us today - both your own post, and the article links. YAM xx
Robert the Bruce versus 'entitled' SUV driver.
No contest!
That procession was wonderful! The students must’ve had such fun. I’ve a couple of questions about the STUPID woman in the SUV. Did it look like that vehicle had EVER been out of town? The drivers of those monstrous tanks that annoy me the most are the ones whose pristine vehicles have clearly never done a day’s work in their lives! And they’re lousy parkers. Second question.. was her nose so high in the air she couldn’t use her side mirrors? There’s no excuse not to see road cones! Rant about bad drivers over!
Now to have a leisurely read of your links. Thank you.
Wonderful, colourful parade. Mary,Queen of Scots and her attendants had beautiful costumes. The flower-decorated carriage was delightful. What a shame more people didn't turn out.
The pageant looks like fun. I looked up the flag, as I was curious whether it was real, and it turns out the "Grand Union Flag" was actually used during the "late unpleasantness," until it was replaced by the more familiar flag with the 13 stars in 1777. I've been thinking lately about how the world view of those of us who grew up in one of the original colonies may have been impacted by growing up with the Revolutionary battlefields, going to schools named after Revolutionary heros, etc. The sacrifices that were made were never far from mind, and I think this makes the current situation all the more inexplicable to me.
It's rather sad that more people didn't turn out to watch the parade. The students had gone to so much trouble. Mary Queen of Scots and her entourage look particularly elegant.
As for the woman in the black SUV - well, you always get one idiot!
There are some glorious and sumptuous costumes in the pageant. I trust they are not made anew every year. I like that kind of fun.
What a wonderful morning adventure. And I can just picture those hare ears hopping through the tall grass. What a delight.
All and sunder , made me smile. How nice!
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