I groaned about getting up at 3:15am, but it was well worth heading out to Stonehenge for the summer solstice celebration this morning. It was my second time out for it, and it remains a pretty mellow party. I also have to chuckle about how with thousands of people there, we still manage to bump into neighbors in the middle of the stones. Some pics and vids:

You can hear the celebration from some distance before even arriving:

The usual entrance, a tunnel under the road, is closed. The road itself is closed, so you just walk through temporary turnstiles that are setup. Police are all around, and they’re turning a blind eye to practically anything that isn’t in their face:

One of my favorite parts are the temporary food stands setup near the entrance. There’s a burger stand:

Then right next to it the vegan food stand (which has bigger crowds):

Crowds are all around the stones, but just as my last trip, it’s fairly easy to get inside. Crowded, sometimes briefly scarily so, but nice to be there. And again, one of the few non-stoned, non-drunk people!

It was raining, but very light and even that stopped from time to time. The cloud cover was complete, so people knew they weren’t going to see the sun. But they were still happy to be there. For fun, balls kept going around:

More happy people (and no, that bright light is not the sun — it’s a temporary light that was setup):

This woman was from Columbia and couldn’t believe she was within the stones:

Eventually, sunrise happened. Again, we couldn’t see the sun (if we had, it would have come up through the stones to the left). But people were watching the time, so it was kind of like New Years, even with the occasional “Happy Solstice” being said:

Something new happened from the last time I was there. This thing on a stick appeared. I didn’t get it at first until I went back and saw this photo. It’s supposed to be the sun coming through where the real sun would have shined between the stones:

Now last time, there were some actual druids in the middle of all this craziness. I couldn’t tell if any were there or not, this time. Or if one was holding the sun thing. But here’s some video of it coming in:

Eventually, we headed out like many others. Here’s outside the stones as people started departing:

And here they are making their way up the field to the car park:

But if you followed my instructions, you’d head out down this road away from the crowds. That’s where all the locals parked:

Oh, and I did see some druids finally. At the exit, oddly enough:

Happy Solstice, everyone!

If you happened to be near Salisbury Cathedral on Saturday, there was something more inspiring than the towering spire. It was raining teddy bears from the skies. Along with a lot of actual rain. It was part of a charity campaign, and my youngest son (who loves teddy bears) had his make two jumps (because we missed the first one). Plus, there was the unexpected rescue of teddy bears that got stuck in trees. Pics below.

To illustrate what type of day it turned out to be for the jump, check out the rubbish bin filled with broken umbrellas:

The bears were loaded in baskets and taken up high using a fire truck:

Unfortunately, the truck was originally positioned behind some trees, which resulted in this mess:

Teddy bears stranded in trees, not a happy sight.

Eventually, the bears were all rescued and a new basket taken up. All this took so much time that by the time we got back from the cathedral’s cafeteria, our bear had already jumped. There was nothing to do but send him up again:

Yes, it’s Corduroy. Time for the jump. The teddy medics were ready for the ground rescue part:

The ladder went back up:

And way he went:

I’m jumping on a plane in a few hours to head out to Las Vegas for
PubCon. So it’s clear off the camera time
before I depart, to make sure what happens in Vegas shows up on Flickr. Among my
clearing out photos are some snaps of Stonehenge and Salisbury Cathedral.
Rebecca Kelley from SEOmoz is
over here in the UK, so I gave her a whirlwind tour this Saturday of our local
sights. Some pics, for those who are interested.

Stonehenge was a first stop, a cold day for her visit. FYI, if you’re
thinking of visiting, be sure to read my
Stonehenge tour tips (which
also has some more pictures of the stones).

Later, we hit Salisbury
Cathedral, impressive for its giant spire, the
tallest
medieval spire in Europe:

Sadly, my little point-and-shoot digital doesn’t do it justice. Another view:

It was too dark inside for my camera to shoot well, but here’s one look at
the interior:

Former prime minister Edward Heath made his home in Salisbury. Heath died
last year, and I hadn’t realized he was buried in the cathedral. His marker:

Bye, Rebecca!