The Grinch who stole the Platty Jube
Jun. 5th, 2022 05:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shewhomustAny Bank Holiday turns me into the Grinch: what, everyone is on holiday at the same time? Everything is either closed or crowded? You think this is a good idea? Add to that my - shall we say, absence of enthusiasm for the institution of monarchy in general, and I have not been looking through this long weekend.
This is the one piece of Jubilee celebration that did make me smile: thanks to the City of Durham Parish Council and Merryoaks WI. Telling people about it at the pub quiz, I discovered that the Quizmaster had never heard the expression "yarn bombing" - well, well.
A less welcome entertainment was provided by a particularly enterprising student in the next street but one: she organised a particu larly ambitious street party to celebrate "the Platty Jube", the end of exams and the end of term. Residents in the adjoining streets (a minority, but yes, there are still some permanent residents) learned about it from flyers tucked under the windscreen wipers of cars parked in the adjoining streets: the road closure order meant they could only get their cars in and out through the back lanes. But what really alarmed them was that there were about 750 students living in the area invited to the party. They weren't reassured that the event was being advertised well beyond those few streets. As advertised, alcohol was on sale and there would be music, so the event was licensed, for a maximum of 499 people... The numbers clearly exceeded the permitted number, the police turned out, the music had to be turned off until some of the crowds had dispersed - but I've heard louder, it closed down when it was supposed to, and people did seem to be clearing up the worst of the rubbish and broken glass. So, in the immortal words of Martin Reynolds, we seem to have got away with it.
And this afternoon there was a very much smaller street party, organised by a group of neighbours who have held summer lunches several times before, though not since the pandemic. One street away in the opposite direction: tea and cake (many, many cakes), a cardboard cut-out queen, and a chance to talk to neighbours old and new.
This is the one piece of Jubilee celebration that did make me smile: thanks to the City of Durham Parish Council and Merryoaks WI. Telling people about it at the pub quiz, I discovered that the Quizmaster had never heard the expression "yarn bombing" - well, well.
A less welcome entertainment was provided by a particularly enterprising student in the next street but one: she organised a particu larly ambitious street party to celebrate "the Platty Jube", the end of exams and the end of term. Residents in the adjoining streets (a minority, but yes, there are still some permanent residents) learned about it from flyers tucked under the windscreen wipers of cars parked in the adjoining streets: the road closure order meant they could only get their cars in and out through the back lanes. But what really alarmed them was that there were about 750 students living in the area invited to the party. They weren't reassured that the event was being advertised well beyond those few streets. As advertised, alcohol was on sale and there would be music, so the event was licensed, for a maximum of 499 people... The numbers clearly exceeded the permitted number, the police turned out, the music had to be turned off until some of the crowds had dispersed - but I've heard louder, it closed down when it was supposed to, and people did seem to be clearing up the worst of the rubbish and broken glass. So, in the immortal words of Martin Reynolds, we seem to have got away with it.
And this afternoon there was a very much smaller street party, organised by a group of neighbours who have held summer lunches several times before, though not since the pandemic. One street away in the opposite direction: tea and cake (many, many cakes), a cardboard cut-out queen, and a chance to talk to neighbours old and new.
no subject
Date: 2022-06-05 06:24 pm (UTC)There was supposed to be a street party today which we didn't intend to attend, but I felt sorry for the organisers as it was completely washed out.
no subject
Date: 2022-06-06 09:57 am (UTC)As for the kitsch, I find that makes it more tolerable: a declaration that you couldn't possibly take this seriously ...