Beltaine has just passed, and with it we pass into Summer and and here in the Shire of Wilt we prepare for the Summer Solstice at Stonehenge,
This year it is to be as grand a gathering as ever with all the same facilities 'laid on' as were in place Pre-Covid (as the 'Authorities' informed us at a recent meeting), I say Authorities, but perhaps that should be singular rather than plural as neither the Police nor Council deemed it of sufficient importance to attend. Nor, for that matter did many from our side of the Table. There is some difference of opinion betwixt and between what should and what should not be 'laid on' by the said Authority, English Heritage, Heretics as I oft' time refer to then.
They insist in placing there Marquee in what they refer to as the Monument and we the Temple field. Selling their wares, trinkets, souvenirs and alike, not forgetting their 'Stonehenge Rocks' T shirts, always popular with the American tourists who often refer to it as Rock Henge, all with their Portcullis logo of course.
Put their merchandise in the Car park, I say, or on the Drove (Closed at Summer for their infrastructure) Anywhere, but adjacent to the Temple, and the same should apply to the plethora of ever present 'Burger vans' and alike. It all smacks to me as reminiscent of a certain person many moons ago in a place far,far away from these Isles talking and as the saying goes, turning the tables on the Money changers upon the Temple steps.
I discharged my responsibility, in that I presented an Alternative Traffic Management Plan for this years Winter Solstice that I co-Authored with the Pagan Federation which we have been working on. Hopefully, if implemented it will solve the problems encountered last year that led to many Pilgrims missing the Dawn observance from Stonehenge.
The Iron Steed, Twenty five years old now, is looking and running better than ever but has cost an 'arm and a leg' to repair and prepare over the winter in readiness for the summer and I look forward to 'Riding out' as opposed to the everyday drudge of shopping and alike which seems to be all it's been used for over the winter months.
On the Media front I have taken part on a televised debate , which was aired recently on you tube and linked to my social media, about the introduction of so called fifteen minute cities, up against a planning officer from Montreal Canada and alike for the TRT Chanel putting across my view that here in the UK the introduction coupled with the Traffic restrictions and financial penalties proposed is far more about raising tax revenue by stealth than it is about the environment,often causing more rather than less commuter miles around crowded ring roads. And that at best everyone pays and there is no change to the level of emissions and at worse. Which is my fear, we, the poor, working and underclass are simple 'priced off the road',
There will always be fresh challenges ahead, and there will always be those of us who rise to the occasion, It's not so much about who are the Druids but when, and the answer to that is when they are needed.
Blessings from the Front
Arthur /|\
© King Arthur Pendrago
n