Ulverston / Whitby: After The Event
2 r ainy nights, roughly a month apart, at opposite edges of the country; one in Whitby , one in Ulverston. Crowds have gathered despite the rain; in Ulverston they are here to see the Oss and associated effigies , hear the Harmonica and the Human organs pipe band, and the ostler's bewildered proclamation.. In Whitby a couple of hundred are mustered to march. I was there; it may go down the harbour side I thought, above the Penny Hedge, providing a juxtaposition of dancing illuminated willow and drowned, unseen hazel staves. By 6 It didnt look promising; I watched the wind pull on the bin-bag surface of the harbour water from the dining room of the Jolly Sailors, (Sam Smiths. No mobiles, no screens, no swearing please) ate and went back to the digs to get a coat , returning just in time to miss the parade as it crossed the bridge. And then back up Grape Lane it came, a fleet of tissue and withy lifeboats cresting the shoulders of the kids that made them; pyramid