On Sunday evening a sturdy group of 25-or-so marshals assembled in the Swanston Car Park, soon to take to the slopes of Allermuir for #Twosday2. The night was the brainchild of Bob Johnson, and despite a couple of setbacks and a few revisions, the basic idea remained the same throughout: get a load of headtorches into the Pentlands, and create a line of light across outline of a hill, shining-out across the city. It was ambitious. It could be visually stunning, or just completely invisible, there was no real way to tell ahead of the evening. A couple of light tests were inconclusive as too many variables came into play: location of the headtorches, strength of the headtorches, visibility from the city, light pollution, drizzle, number of people, spacing between torches, and nearly all of these couldn’t be guaranteed on the night. For something so simple, it was surprisingly complicated. You know that things are getting out-of-hand when you need to contact the airport before starting. Despite all the possible issues, the end there was one overriding factor – it was a bit of fun, so it was definitely worth doing!
Bob formed a tight organisation team of Graham Nash and Mike Lynch, and they set a date of 22/2/22 to do it. Graham laminated some signs, Mike created a hashtag-based social media campaign, and Bob bought some coffee from Cobbs – it was organisational poetry-in-motion. Unfortunately, the first attempt was rightly called-off due to the weather. It seemed fairly benign in Edinburgh, but on the summits, it was just a bit too blowy and wet to have folk standing around. Again, supposed to be fun, so a new date was selected for another attempt, #twosday2 – 20/3/22, the Spring Equinox (Northern Hemisphere) and National Ravioli Day (USA). It was set.
Back in Swanston Car Park, Graham gave the safety briefing and handed-out bibs and spare food. Bob, Gordon, Graham had already been out marking the course, and Mike joined for the dry run. We all took to the hill to stand at our positions and wait for the steady stream of pals, families, clubmates, and general public to make their way uphill to meet us. And so they arrived! With everyone in place on the hill, we waited for a firework to signal the start of Twosday2. Graham and Nick primed the rocket, a flash, a bang, and all the headtorches were lit, shining out across the city below. It was great being in amongst the line of lights, and looking around we had the best position for the show. In town, some cameras took some photos, and there were some surprised posts on Facebook and Twitter. Ten minutes later, a second firework signalled the end, and we all drifted off the hill, and back home to some warm supper.
A great evening in great conditions, and a fun night on the hill! Massive thanks to all the marshals and everyone who came along. Some photos from around town, below.
Jim