No Need to Pack My Pitchfork, Then

Okay, I'm an idiot.  I'm going to be taking part in the final 26 Pairs of Eyes event at the Foundling Museum in London next weekend.  It's part of the Bloomsbury Festival.  It's titled 26 Pairs of Eyes Torchlit Performance.  I'm really looking forward to it.  And I had this really clear picture of it in my mind ...

(attribution: Mike Pennington)

But of course it isn't going to be outdoors - it isn't going to be a procession, even though that's how the word performance entered my brain - it's going to be indoors, in a museum packed with irreplaceable artefacts and paintings and wooden floors and wooden staircases, with members of the public and writers trying to read from flammable pieces of paper in the dark.  And yet, still, I was surprised when the email about logistics for the event arrived and included these words:

"What to bring:  A hand-held battery torch."

Also, "Electric candles/tea lights will be dotted about the museum so the setting won't be completely pitch black. There'll also be floor lighting and spots illuminating our 26 objects (or at least those with a writer alongside)."

So no pitchfork-waving peasant mob - no Up Helly Aa - no singed eyebrows.  It's still going to be magical, just not mental.  And without this as the end result -

(attribution: Ann Burgess)

I'd invite you to come but it's already sold out, which is extremely gratifying.  The beautiful booklet is still available here, though.  And you can read that by any form of lighting you please.