The Ghost of Solstice Past

Quite a let-down, the grayness of the Solstice sunrise. Still, at least to ensure greater accessibility, our stream of "Great Solstices of the Past" was brilliant. To be honest, we may not bother with actually watching the sunrise in years to come. We have enough "in the can" to last us years. And the rate Marston Vale is being built up, I worry we may have to watch the real sunrise over a distribution centre in future.

Still, being the Winter Solstice, at least it wasn't too early. I'll be honest, I was suffering after a sleepless night. Wracking my brain over all those good reasons we need to give for why the Druidic Synod meeting on 20th June 2020 lasted until 4 am, and ended with Young Keith serenading the Community with "Knees Up Mother Brown". 

So, re last June: 

• It was a standard meeting. All appropriate safeguards were in place.
• We always drink at Synod meetings. It is a deeply Beaker tradition that we bless each agenda point with a hearty "wassail", a cup of good mead, and a jug of good ale.
• We were 6 feet apart, in the Rose Garden, at all times. Apart from Stacey and Brunwild, who photographs have revealed had what we could best describe as a developing social support bubble. Funny how we didn't notice them grappling on the chamomile lawn at the time. I suppose that's because we were all engaging so deeply with our discussions.
• All summer solstice Druidic Synods go on till 4 am. That's so we can watch the sun rise. Which is the official closing point of all solsticial Druidic Synods. And is work, not worship. Because we are being paid to be druids. A bit like C of E priests, maybe. And worship was banned at the time. So of course we weren't worshipping. We were working.
• It was an essential meeting.  We had to discuss what mitigating actions we could take to ensure distancing in the worship that definitely wasn't happening.

Now we just have to resolve the ongoing problems with Herne the Hunter and the Piper at the Gates of Dawn. They're really grumpy at turning up to solstices where no worship is happening. What is the point, they ask, of them being all ancient and mystical if we're all in bed or still holding - ahem - meetings? Hardly in keeping with their essential eeriness.

And I wouldn't disagree. But Herne and Piper are getting on a bit for deities these days. So they're living in a nice little house in Furzton, Milton Keynes instead of wisping around in a preternatural kind of way. Are we going to be that in awe of a couple of demigods who live in a nice little 3-bed semi with a view of the lake? Especially now Herne has a WFH job in logistics planning?

These days have done strange things to us.