Sunday, August 08, 2004
Assize Does Matter
York's a funny place - there are a lot of old traditions and events that I'm sure tourists must come to, stare at, photograph and then back away thinking "Huh?!"
The annual Assize of Ale is one such event. The website describes the history pretty well, but doesn't actually say what it involves! A large number of people get kitted out in medieval fancy dress, and walk through town from pub to pub, having a drink (for charity, allegedly) in each one. The site also doesn't explain how utterly ridiculous the people who take part look. Yesterday's temperatures were in the high 80s, at least....
Interlude
Hmmm...I can't find out how hot it was yesterday. While Google gives me several tens of thousands of results for weather forecasts, not a single one can I find to tell me how hot it actually was yesterday. One might suspect some form of conspiracy going on, to prevent people from shattering the illusions of weather forecaster accuracy. I did manage to find a newspaper report from the day after last year's Assize, when I dressed up as a jester (picture not provided because I can't find any). Perhaps I'll be able to update this post with yesterday's temperature in a year or so...
Interlude ends
This year, I chose not to dress up as anything medieval, which was a wise decision, given the heat. Nick and Tara (my ex-flatmate and his girlfriend) did, as Robin Hood and a wench respectively, and Nick (once again) nearly passed out from 7 pints and sunstroke. For me, it was an Assize of Fruit Juice.
The annual Assize of Ale is one such event. The website describes the history pretty well, but doesn't actually say what it involves! A large number of people get kitted out in medieval fancy dress, and walk through town from pub to pub, having a drink (for charity, allegedly) in each one. The site also doesn't explain how utterly ridiculous the people who take part look. Yesterday's temperatures were in the high 80s, at least....
Interlude
Hmmm...I can't find out how hot it was yesterday. While Google gives me several tens of thousands of results for weather forecasts, not a single one can I find to tell me how hot it actually was yesterday. One might suspect some form of conspiracy going on, to prevent people from shattering the illusions of weather forecaster accuracy. I did manage to find a newspaper report from the day after last year's Assize, when I dressed up as a jester (picture not provided because I can't find any). Perhaps I'll be able to update this post with yesterday's temperature in a year or so...
Interlude ends
This year, I chose not to dress up as anything medieval, which was a wise decision, given the heat. Nick and Tara (my ex-flatmate and his girlfriend) did, as Robin Hood and a wench respectively, and Nick (once again) nearly passed out from 7 pints and sunstroke. For me, it was an Assize of Fruit Juice.
posted by Chip : 19:59
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