Last night I attended Pumpherston Torchlit Procession, being the second of these events for the year. My band attend two of these every year, and LC and I then attend a third in Livingston Village.
The events so far this year have been a bit odd. The first, in Uphall Station, was on the 22nd of November, an felt way too early. I think the crowd felt much the same - there were very few people present, nobody really seemed in the Christmas mood, and the whole thing was just a bit of a damp squib. I felt really quite sorry for the organisers.
The event in Pumpherston was marred by the lack of a road closure license, which meant that the Torchlit Procession did not actually feature a procession. Instead, we played at the meeting point, they played again at the tree, but walked directly between the two rather than parading through the streets.
On the one hand, I was quite glad not to have to walk all the distance - Pumpherston is usually a very long one. On the other hand, it was very cold. For some reason, they had decided not to use the school for the first part of the event this year, which meant we met outside, stood around for a while getting very cold, then tuned up, waited some more, then played. All in sub-zero temperatures. It's fair to say it wasn't a vintage performance.
(Fortunately, the kilt is actually surprisingly warm. But that doesn't stop fingers, toes, noses, and ears from getting extremely cold.)
The Livingston Village event is this Friday. As noted, my band don't perform at that one, so it should be a rather more relaxed event, at least for me. Anyway, I'm now feeling properly in the Christmas spirit, so I'm rather looking forward to it.
#55: "The Obsidian Oracle", by Troy Denning
#56: "Children of God Storybook Bible", by Archbishop Desmond Tutu (a book for Funsize)
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