I just came home from an oh-so-British evening of fun and frolics: Tar barrel burnings at Ottery St Mary, a quaint as you like village snuggled away in the hilly crevices of rural Devon.
The point of the evening is the remembrance of the 5th November, when back in the days (1605), some cheeky Catholics tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament and take King James I down with it. However, the plot was discovered and this massive fail of a terrorist plot has been marked for centuries since by bonfires all over England and weird and wonderful local traditions…which brings me back to Ottery St Mary.
This Devon village likes more than a dollop of danger with their Bonfire Night, taking the form of flaming tar barrels hoisted on the backs of strapping young locals (and a few crustier elderly specimens) who then galumph around the village through hordes of gawping tourists regardless of any ridiculous Health and Safetey regulations.
My highlight of the evening? The adrenalin rush provided when my housemates and I found ourselves cowering on the floor of a tiny lane as a maniac with flaming wood tangled in his manical grasp swung his arms around our heads. That, and a serious neck crick on the very old school Waltzer rides on the fairground.
I love Britain.
I also really really love this song at the moment. Quality chill out shizzle, bumping drums and twinkling guitars more than soothe away any recurring visions of flashing flames and approaching burning heat.
© Miranda Thompson 2010
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