Remember, remember, the fifth of November
Gunpowder treason and plot
We see no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot…
After my successful run at Beachy Head I thought I’d return to the alternative training at the gym. Although I initially hated spinning, it is now starting to grow on me – my friend Merete claims this is one of my best assets, that I can learn to love things I previously disliked. Anyway, the spinning did give results and I reasoned that I might as well continue taking the class while in Weymouth. As Guy Fawkes Night was coming up, the musical theme for the class was fire and, while peddling with all our might, we listened to songs like Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash and all I could think of was that my legs were on fire and that “it burns burns burns”. After all, a quite suitable theme for a spinning class.
While I can admit that spinning is an effective form of training, I now hold proof of that, it was refreshing to start Saturday morning taking the pushbike down to Park Run. After all, bikes are better when they move, it makes more sense. The Park Run in Weymouth has a very nice course in a forest park and part of the path is non-tarmacked so I dared to push a bit, which resulted in a sub 30min result. I’m back in the game! Now I need to continue with training slow and steady. At Beachy Head, I talked to a runner who had her 42nd birthday on the day and she was running the full marathon. So, I got a new idea – if not before, I want to be back in 2 years’ time for the 42k.
But I’m digressing, I was going to tell you about our Guy Fawkes Night outing. I must admit that I didn’t know much about this celebration before the spinning class, I had to read up a bit about the history of the tradition to burn guys, the fireworks and all that. I learned that Guy Fawkes was only one of several men who plotted and planned to blow up parliament – well the actual target was the king, and the reason was that the king was Protestant and wouldn’t allow Catholic worship. Why Guy was singled out as the guy had more to do with that he was found with his fingers in the pie – or in this case on the explosives in the cellar underneath the parliament – he wasn’t even the leader of the group. The tradition says he was killed in three ways: hung, drawn and quartered – this to emphasise the gravity of his treason. But, actually, he killed himself by jumping of the scaffold and broke his neck. This is my very abbreviated take on this British celebration, if you want to read more the Daily Telegraph has a quite informative article. Now, 400 years later it is a rather nice family celebration with a bonfire and fireworks – and the children make guys that are burned on the bonfire – which seems quite grotesque in my foreign eyes. Nevertheless, we had a nice outing on the Weymouth beach, drank some coffee by the warmth of the bonfire and enjoyed the fireworks which lit up the whole bay. Then we rushed home to warm up our toes in front of our own private fire.
