Dark and cold....

I'm sitting at my desk, its 2:30pm and thanks to a suffocating cloud cover, theres nothing but gloom outside. It is cold despite the blazing sunshine this morning, so current weather is a bit sad really. Can't complain much though, despite all of the warnings the weather has been really good from the start. Yeah, its cold now, but only outside, heating is a part of life in the same way that air conditioning is a part of life in brisvegas. Definately manageble.

Not a lot to tell. Birthday was fabulous, had a big p!ss-up at an old man's pub near work. Most of my new friends came along, most of them were very sick the following day. I was also, and had to be reminded that I had become engaged to a kiwi. Apparently a breakfast invitation and a marriage proposal got mixed up somehow, Louise ended up leaving the pub with my keyring firmly placed on her engagement finger. Apparently the wedding is scheduled for May if anyone wants to come along. I have insisted that the marriage be an open one, which hasn't impressed her too much though, it may be short lived.

Not much else to report really. Had a friend down from Scotland for the weekend, went on the tourist trail and showed her the sights. The highlight was probably Abbey Road. The road itself is quite a busy one, and the famous pedestrian crossing is quite close to an intersection. On the day that Mia and I were there, there was about 10 tourists anxiously waiting for a break in traffic so that they could pose a la the beatles. Of course, this being a city where everyone seems to be impatient, cars who were held up by this display of pure tourist evil were forced to sit at the crossing and honk their horns until people stopped having fun. It was pretty funny to watch.

Anyways, someone sent me a postcard, for which I am very grateful. I couldn't understand the first joke, but the second one was very funny. I would be happy if the person who wrote it would please own up, honestly don't know who you are.

See ya.

Ottery St Mary

Ottery St Mary is a little town just north of Exeter, which is on the south coast of the country. It would usually be one of those places you pay a fleeting visit to before moving onto another town, both of which you'd probably forget in due course.

Once a year however it plays host to one of the strangest things I have ever witnessed, something that is at its heart, truly English. Put simply, residents of the town set alight tar soaked barrels and carry them on their back through the streets of the town. Sounds dangerous enough, the barrels have been soaked in tar all year in preparation, they burn alright. One would think that the safest place to observe such an event would be from the safety of your hotel window.

However, for reasons that no one can adequately explain, crowd participation is mandatory. Put another way, the residents carry the barrels through streets packed to the rafters with people who are generally very drunk or very stoned. The result is a kind of running with the bulls type effect, a mass of people moving out of the way as some loon literally charges through the crowd with a massive flaming barrel on his or her back. This is, of course, very dangerous. Quite often the crowd was asked to move aside to let through an ambulance taking another burns victim to hospital.

What is probably most odd about this event is that no one really seems to know why they do it. One explanation was that it was a pagan ritual designed to burn away evil spirits from the town, however it started in the 17th century, pagans had long since gone by then. What you're left with is a tradition which people do just because they've been doing it for a long time. In reality, this is as good a reason as any to keep doing it. In a world of spiralling insurance costs though, one has to think that the days of tar barrelling are numbered, which is a great shame indeed.

Nosferatu

Had a lovely weekend. Was driven out to Berkshire by my cousin Chris to catch up with family, which is always a treat. I won't bore you with the details, but it was typically English in that it involved small village pubs, warm and flat beer, darts, pickled eggs (if ever offered, say no), pork scratchings, a dinner of roast guinea fowl and a barmaid with a heart of gold. Very satisfying.

My flatmate Helen and I went and saw a movie last night. They say that you can do just about anything in a big city, this was a very good example. We saw Nosferatu, the first Dracula movie, first released in 1922. This is, of course, a silent flick, a guy was standing next to the screen playing a guitar and keyboard. Tell me that that isn't the best way to spend halloween!