Burning Barrels

Rolling burning barrels down the hill was the climax of Hatherleigh Carnival. It looks dramatic, but it's a shadow of what the event used to be; the drama of the past has been lost. Back in the day, Mr PP's uncle and brothers - and even his cousin, who's probably in his 40s, so not that long ago - with other groups of lads ran in a procession of burning barrels. Today, only one group can take part and they may only walk, not run. So another long tradition comes to an end under the banner of Health and Safety. Was it dangerous? Probably. Is there any record of anyone ever being killed, maimed or seriously injured? No.

We'd picked up Mr PP's uncle on the way and headed chez an aunt, who still lives in Hatherleigh, in North Devon, where his father grew up. The place is packed on carnival night so we parked on her drive. After 41 years of hearing about it, this is the very first time I've seen the carnival.

The barrel rolling was preceded by a procession of floats, all very colourful and noisy. There was even one (a young farmers' float, I think) labelled Hatherleigh Oktoberfest with lads dressed up in mock-Lederhosen and performing a comic routine as they proceeded. This procession was not as large scale as the genuine Oktoberfest parade that we saw in Neustadt just a few weeks ago, and had a different flavour being held in the dark rather than daylight. Fun though!

Didn't arrive home till gone midnight so, yet again, I'm backblipping, even if only by one day.