The Turriff Marijuana Festival
Nobody has told us that there is a Turriff Marijuana Festival, this is merely a secondary deduction from available evidence. A midday foray into Safeways for the papers, ordinary tobacco for Dr Biswell to smoke, cheese, onions, etc. found the car-park full of beaten-up caravans, and Safeways itself full of strange, brightly coloured and picturesque travellers — the last tie-dye headscarves in captivity, bare feet and ankle-bracelets, a strong overall flavour of dirt and Caribbean incense. More of such were to be seen wandering here and there, looking at the prim stone houses with an air of vague anthropological curiosity. Clearly there is some reason why these birds of passage have alighted here, and I hope they’re having fun. Not enough fun is had in Turriff, I sometimes think, except by us.
July 26th, 2004 at 1:11 am
So you think Turra folk don’t have enough fun? Check out the maxed-up boy racers on Friday night chasing each other’s tails.
July 26th, 2004 at 11:34 pm
They do indeed. But I submit, roaring boys are a small, albeit highly visible segment of the population.
July 27th, 2004 at 7:57 pm
Circling the town and emitting low growls from beneath customised exteriors, the roaring boys are but one manifestation of ‘Turra folk’ taking their leisure. A self-selecting breed apart, ‘Turra folk’ appear to enjoy nothing so much as a pipe band, an accordian dance, John Deere merchandise or a long, slow discussion of pig farming over a pint of Belhaven Best. Last month, Turriff hosted about three thousand souls marching to the pipe and drum for the World (or was it British?) Pipe Band Championship. I imagine there are more ‘Ma Broons’ per square inch than anywhere else in Scotland, but who can say which of the above have the most fun?
July 7th, 2006 at 10:30 pm
Sorry if we have offended a sense of local patriotism, Dave: we have nothing whatever against marijuana, or Turriff. But this blog records currents events, usually in the household, but sometimes in the locality, and that particular week there was a very strong sense of a particularly colourful bunch in town that I haven’t seen before or, from the perspective of two years later, since. Nor did I ever get to the bottom of who they were or why they were around. Speaking from the perspective of a 47 year old, the tie-dye & silver-look ankle bracelets gave me a sort of nostalgic twinge.