LL-L "Holidays" 2004.11.04 (03) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 04.NOV.2004 (03) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: Sandy Fleming <sandy at scotstext.org>
Subject: "Anniversary" [E]

> From: R. F. Hahn <lowlands-l at lowlands-l.net>
> Subject: Anniversary
>
> Talking about "gothic," don't forget to write a brief anniversary blurb
> (with picture?) as one of the main movers and shakers.  Yes, it's fine to
> write it in Scots (with an English translation), and, yes, it's fine to
make
> it spooky, gothic, whacky, tongue in cheek, whatever ... Be yourself!
It's
> also fine to advertise your non-commercial passions (such as ScotsText,
with
> link), and that goes for everyone.

Spooky, eh? Why does everybody think goths are spooky? _We're_ normal!  :)

I haven't got my photos up yet, but on the other hand with being up late for
many nights in a row it's difficult to get to sleep as early as usual so
I'll do this posting to tire my eyes a bit! Meanwhile here's a photo of me
that somebody else took. The "baby" isn't mine, I'm just holding it for a
friend!

http://gothstevek.fotopic.net/p8809031.html

(er... the strange expression isn't due to badly fitting fangs, it's that
I'm talking animatedly to someone just out of shot!)

Brief, eh? I'll try!

Whitby is the big event for UK goths, which is held at Whitby, NE Yorkshire,
on account of this being where Dracula landed in England. It's held twice a
year - we're keen!

The core of the event is the Spa building below the promenade. This was open
on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings. There are goth bands and a
large darkened dance hall, and a large brightly-lit area. The brightly-lit
area is for chatting and admiring and photographing hair and clothes.

I always stay with a very nice landlady (location secret, sorry, booking is
so difficult!) whose husband actually offers me lifts to the Spa in the
evening. I always refuse - he needs to understand that walking through the
town in the night in long floaty clothes and getting stared at is all part
of the fun!

Through the day there is just meeting people and doing things - eating (if
corsets aren't too tight), chatting and shopping for clothes, especially at
the bazaar set up in the Spa, and climbing the 199 steps to the Abbey for
quiet time.

Clothes will be mainly boots, corsets, skirts, trousers, poet's shirts,
teeshirts, long coats and dresses, and are generally black (sometimes
purple) in leather, PVC, cotton, silk, and crushed velvet, mesh tops and
stockings in various grades (see photo of me, above, for a glimpse of that),
sometimes with lots of attachments in the form of steel buckles and
suchlike. There's also bright dayglo and blacklight colours for cybergoths
and the occasional bit of fake leopardskin or red tartan for those with a
taste for punk. Also quite a bit of red and pink, though always remember
that pink clashes with red!

There are masses of accessories: hair extensions, braids, handbags,
glowsticks, badges, handcuffs, chains, slave collars, chokers, gloves (often
long-sleeved and/or fingerless), top hats, pendants, New Rocks and other
boots and shoes, and so on.

There may be a dentist fitting fangs (I've never seen an optician fitting
coloured contact lenses and lizard eyes, though - is there a marketing niche
here?).

There are an estimated two thousand goths walking around the town at these
weekends and my landlady tells me that a lot of the bookings people in her
profession get for the weekends are not goths but just people who come for
the atmosphere when all the goths are present.

After Saturday the Spa is closed and on the Sunday there is a choice of
three clubs. This was Halloween, which I didn't dress up for, although there
was no shortage of children and parents out guising who expressed an
interest in my "costume" as I walked through the suburbs. I avoided the Met
(where they play Industrial music) this time - too much dry ice around, as
if trying to lipread through fangs, cat masks and hats with face nets isn't
hard enough! Instead I started by going to Laughton's where they do an 80's
night in the mistaken belief that goth started in the 80's (imagine a line
of goths congaing - it's just not right! - or is it?). A gothgirl wrote
something on my arm with an ultraviolet pen but I couldn't find any
blacklight to read it, so went on to the Shambles where they were doing a
more "normal" goth night. Many of the gothgirls were in witches' hats (what
else can a gothgirl do to mark Halloween?), which made for quite a spectacle
on the dance floor. Music w
 as goth, cyber, industrial, and also those unusual popular classics that
goths enjoy dancing to - "Sweet Transvestite", "Monster Mash", "The
Timewarp" and "Prince Charming". But still no blacklight to read what the
gothgirl had written on my arm!

On Monday many of the goths had gone home but there was still a bonfire
night with fireworks on the beach for the stragglers. I skipped having a
shower that morning because I still hadn't managed to read what the gothgirl
had written on my arm. I spent some of the morning looking round the shops
trying to find a blacklight torch. Eventually I found one and bought it.
rushing back to my room and drawing the curtains, I shone the torch on my
arm - in eerie glowing letters the message appeared - "Goths smell!" Ironic
that I'd missed a shower so that I could read that  :)

By Tuesday it was all over and seemed to have gone by in a flash, although I
stopped at Sheffield on the way back to spend the day with a friend who
couldn't make it to Whitby. This day too went by in a flash, eating (corset
permitting), chatting, shopping for clothes...

Sandy
http://scotstext.org/

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