purplerabbits

I am loving Stuart's Beltane pictures, including the excellent set of the Bower, which starts here, in which I think we look rather splendid...

Survived Beltane, and so did my knee - huzzah!. People liked flags. Our indomitable reporters stayed up all night and got us the In pictures bit on the BBC website. Also there are already some red puppet pics up at Photopoint Pool on Flikr which is where the rest of them will appear in the end. Now to wash some black paint off of me and attempt to detangle my hair.

So today is Beltane and I woke up dead early in spite of myself. Still I doubt I'll have any difficulty staying awake through it and I have two days off after...

Beltane video from 1996 is on YouTube. That was a particularly good one, from what I remember from the audience. God, there used to be so many banners...

And this year I get to carry a flag. So the circle comes round or something.

If you're watching from afar the gallery will be going up on www.beltane.org very quickly after the event. And if you're watching from nearby IT'S TONIGHT! You can still get tickets at the Hub till this afternoon and then on the gate from 6pm. See you there!

That day-before-Beltane list of things to do:

Make cloak (oddly enough I'm seeing a lot of this on people's lists...)
Iron my kilty thing into pleats
Find the clothes I'm wearing underneeth, including gloves and belt
Contact club organiser about float
Fireproof the sleeves of the top for luck
Pack my tiny handbag/sporran with money, phone, contacts, keys, tickets etc
Pack fold up bag with leftover tickets, club float etc to bring to hill but not take away
Buy milk, bread, cold cure and some kind of fud
Fill flask with appropriate alcohol
Make ticket sales spreadsheet add up - by brute force if neccessary - ETA I give up
Remember to eat and rest

Optional
Book somewhere to eat Tuesday
Change bedding
Wash up

Had a great walkthrough last night with drummers and white, which incidentally included tea and scones. I'm gonna get a cloak! and a tartan tabard thingy! anna fla-ag! So ner!

And this is where I'm going this weekend:



And the weather looks nice enough for this:


Now I just have to get through a supervision before they let me out the building. Wish me luck :-(

It seems I am now helping run stewards for Beltane for my sins, so here is the (possibly the first of many) obligatory recruitment post.

Join in, make new friends, influence people by looking at them sternly and incidently get a great view of this historic Twentieth Beltane by stewarding this year! Almost every other role is full which shows how keen people are this year and how great it's going to be so get your place booked now!

We are meeting with torchies and stewards on Calton Hill tomorrow at 2pm at the corner of the Observatory by the cannon - so you can just show up or comment below or mail me. There will be an away weekend. And clubs. And cake. Especially if you make the cake.

More details about Beltane on our newly rennovated site - http://www.beltane.org

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

*pauses and takes a breath out of consideration for people's friends pages*

rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That feels better. Not a lot, but a bit.

Ow ow ow. The rest of me is slightly rested but my feet hurt so bad I took an aspirin for them. What's with that?

Beltane kicked arse. We kicked arse. I would so love to have kicked some of the punters arses, but the majority were fine. The after party was a blast but I am so very glad I came home and managed to get a cab right away while I could still move my legs.

Got woken up by the rain just now. I am infinitely thankful it held off last night in spite of the BBCs best predictions. And so very sorry for the poor buggers on the hill doing the taking down right now. Somehow I suspect there won't be as many of them as they'd like. The lure of breakfast barbeque is considerably reduced by 96% sleeting vertical humidity.

I have had cold pizza. Now to see if I can get back to sleep.

Tickets for Beltane 2005 have now gone on sale! Tickets can be purchased:

Online: http://www.beltane.org

In Person/By Post:

The Hub,
CastleHill,
Royal Mile,
Edinburgh
EH1 2NE

Phone: +44 (0)131 473 2015
Fax: +44 (0)131 473 2016

I have a week to go before we move, and we're insanely busy at work, so I won't be very visible for a while. Right now I'm waiting for Barnardo's to show up and collect furniture: they're late, but I just phoned and they're on their way, allegedly. Meanwhile I am washing crystals and minerals.

Samhuin was good, eventually, though it looked a bit shambolic in a couple of places especially with the fucking police wandering around in the middle of the performers looking gormless. However good fire and good drums make up for a lot, and I got a good view by following my instincts and going straight for the stage area.

I drank a mezcal toast to my dead, and left them a drop should they want it (my sister certainly would.)

My room looks very dismantled and chaotic, but progress is being made. Right now lolliepopp is packing ornaments because she is a total star: she's been invaluable in keeping me sane this weekend.