Queensferry Rules
TRANSCRIPT
Contact: R F Simpson,
The v/o is from John Nicol, male, 37 years old.
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Forth Rail Bridge Music 00:00
Title: Queensferry Rules
: a day in the life of John Nicol Music 00:14
South Queensferry GV Music 00:22
As above Growing up in Queensferry was fantastic.
It’s a lovely place, it was a great place. 00:22
Bowling club GV Music/SFX 00:30
As above Growing up, (there) was a lot of walks with my dad 00:32
Forth Rail Bridge Music 00:35
As above I’m proud to be from Scotland, I’m proud to come 00:38
from Queensferry.
As above (cut
to flags at 00:45) Everything that I associate myself with, I’m kind of 00:44
proud of. Don’t think this is exclusively about my
relationship to Queensferry, but I think that in some...
Bridge through ...ways when you grow up, you get to a point where you 00:55
buildings leave home...
Bridge at dawn ...and you have an understanding, you get to see from a 01:01
distance you get to see how fantastic, or otherwise, things are.
And now I understand why people come here...
Chip shop ...and, you know, people that are here on holiday, 01:11
or come here for the day or whatever, you know, I can...
Boys at shore ... see the magnetism of Queensferry totally 01:18
Bridge Through buildings SFX wind/water 01:24
As above In the nicest possible way I’m probably a bit of a weirdo 01:26
you know, so it fits in; there a kind of happy accident that...
Queensferry Rules, P2
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Bowling club ...you know I grew up, and I come from this place 01:36
that has this weird thing.
Glimpse Burryman SFX static 01:42
Bowling club The Queensferry that I walk, the Queensferry... 01:44
Queensferry GV ...that I interact with people on the Burryman day, feels 01:47
like a different place from the place that I understand
as Queensferry.
As above,
with pot So for 364 days of the year Queensferry is one thing, this 01:55
is a different slice....
Bridge/marina ...it’s a parallel place. 02:04
Burryman walking SFX static 02:07
Bridge/marina And I kind of feel like I’m observing Queensferry through 02:10
these little apertures, and I’m a brain inside this burr casing
rather than (being) John inside a suit.
Burryman glimpse SFX static 02:26
Train approaching SFX train 02:28
3 men walking So we go out on the weekend before. I’ve calculated 02:34
that I need...
Picking burrs ....approximately 11,000 burrs. The burdock plants... 02:40
Picking, John ....grow in hedgerows, invariably near water, and... 02:45
Picking, John ...they also seem to only produce burrs every 2 years. 02:50
Picking, John They’re covered in moisture and they’re... 02:55
Burrs in hand ...moving with insects. 02:58
Sorting burrs They’re left to dry, and then on the Tuesday, Wednesday, 03:01
Thursday we’ll make up patches.
Burrs, c/u The actual marvel and sort of bizarreness of the burdock 03:11
itself. There’s a sort of mechanical wonder of the hooked
arrangement, and I know that the scientist who invented
Velcro looked at a plant that is very closely related to the burdock.
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Sorting burrs Burdocks have absolutely no give in them at all. The 03:33
actual movement of walking around; basically its sawing
away bits - my shoulders, my knees. And there’s always
the odd burr that ends up working through my clothes
and sticking the worst place you could possibly note want
a burr to stick.
Bridge GV Music/SFX 03:58
Bridge The day itself: at a point about 8 o’clock in the morning... 04:17
Pub int ...I’ll go on to the dance floor, and at this point this is where 04:22
I’m going to feel uncomfortable from this moment forward,
for the rest of the day. And it starts off, over my clothes I’ll
have a set of long johns which go over my trousers. I’ve got
a long sleeved vest and my mum and my girlfriend Emma
stitch these together. Basically I’m being encapsulated in a
material that the burrs will then be applied directly to. So
I don’t have...
Face c/u ...that many layers of clothing between me and the burdocks. 04:52
Pub int I feel a connection with the past when I’m doing the Burryman 04:59
simple because there is nothing sophisticated about the way
that I observe the tradition. You know I’m not trying to make it
easy, it’s the way it is: it’s basic, it’s primitive.
Pub int Music 05:17
Dressing The burrs are then applied. starting at my ankles, working up, 05:20
slowly encapsulating my whole body.
Face c/u As the burdocks move up towards my chest, this is as slow as 05:32
my arms are going to get all day. My shoulders are going to kill
me beyond any shoulder pain I’ve experienced in the past. So there’s
a lot of fuss going on around me, I’m trying as much as possible to ignore it.
As above Music 05:52
Mask on One of the big moments really is the balaclava goes on. I’ve got 05:58
long hair, so my hair gets pulled back. The balaclava is a full horror
show balaclava, with the mouth hole and the eyes and nothing else.
That goes over, and really...
Eyes c/u ...at that point it’s kind of bye-bye really, because it’s the psychology 06:17
of wearing a mask where I’m not now recognisable as John Nicol - I’m
on the way to being the Burryman.
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Eyes c/u Music 06:31
Hat on The burrs are then applied to my face, my hat goes on, and the 06:38
other thing that I’m always very aware of at this point is how hot it
becomes.
John moves I’m then guided out, onto the cobbled High Street, of Queensferry. 06:49
my two friends....
High St Stevie Cannon and George Topping, they are my supporters and they 06:55
are basically my guides for the day - they help my mobility, my vision,
my general awareness of where I am.
Walking SFX 07:12
As above At that point we’ll go on a pre-determined route around Queensferry 07:16
Walking SFX 07:22
Above GV From that moment onward we walk round the west part of Queensferry, 07:25
right round in a big loop, stopping for photos. There’s a collection tin
as well, there’s children that follow us, and there’s a bell ringer as well
to alert people to the fact that the Burryman is approaching.
Bus/walking I blacked out one year. Every year I am slashed to bits: it’s scary, 07:49
you know, it can be sort of scary because it’s so displaced from
what is completely familiar.
Walking/
c/u I think there is a genuine something that happens as the Burryman, 08:03
I’m aware of something different. You’re so sensitised to every little
jag and burr, to things crawling around and everything that you can’t
deal with any of it. There so much information that it becomes a drone
really where it’s just saturation point, to the point that there’s nothing,
that it’s silence.
Eyes c/u You just say there’s so much to deal with I’m gonna just, that’s the sort
of flat line in the whole thing
Various Music - main theme 08:42
Burryman It’s actually a similar feeling to the feeling that I get when I’m up 09:28
in field the mountains or on my bike, and it’s a kind of complete immersion
in the natural world. We are animals, we sometimes forget that, but
I think that it’s the whole embracing of getting stuck into things.
You know like yeah, there’s beasties and there’s jaggies and there’s
nettles and things but it’s not going to kill you. It’s sort of exploring
your world really and I think for me the burryman is really closely
Queensferry Rules, P5
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related to other things that I completely identify with.
Roundabout The Burryman is actually a tradition that was reintroduced, 10:12
at the early part of last century. The people who started to
do the tradition again, although I’m thankful to them, I think
already we didn’t have a roadmap for the Burryman. And in light
of there being nothing written down it can be blown off track.
Tesco I also think as well that it’s down to the time. I deliberately went out 10:38
to say, I want to see the earliest evidence of the Burryman, I want
to do my own archaeological dig of the tradition.
Tesco To be more historically accurate I don’t think that Scotland or the 10:52
United Kingdom or any type of territory has any place in the
Burryman. And that’s why last year I went to great lengths to explain
that the Burryman doesn’t have a flag anymore.
Street SFX 11:17
As above By a happy co-incidence my parents stay at the very top of 11:22
Queensferry, and for the last 13 years at lunchtime I get to lean against
my parents back garden fence and watch all my friends, family, nearest and
dearest having a wild party as I stand and watch.
Fence The only relief I get on the day is that I can lean against things. 11:44
I can lean against walls: I can’t stick to brick.
Street I’m a person covered in burdocks and other natural flowers, and I’ve 11:54
kind of insisted that, as much as possible, it’s natural vegetation.
The burdocks are wild and jaggy, and I want wild flowers as well.
They might not look as spectacular in some respects, but I think they’re
much nearer to what they should be.
Down hill The Burryman holds a sort of special place in my heart because I 12:23
just can’t quite get my head around what it is. And I think that my
involvement in it, you know a big chunk of my life so far has been
around the Burryman, and I still don’t feel that I’m like an expert
on the Burryman.
As above I’m interested in peoples’ beliefs. I don’t really have a strong belief, 12:42
I’m just generally interested in, and respectful of,what people believe.
I believe that the Burryman has a meaning, a significance of some
description, and I think that because I don’t necessarily know what
that is doesn’t mean that it doesn’t deserve a real respect.
Walking I think the other thing that’s really important with the 13:13
Burryman is just that it’s preserved. there’s a fragility to the Burryman.
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Meeting This year, Burryman 2011 will my 13th consecutive year 13:25
of being involved in the tradition. There’s almost 20,000
people that live in Queensferry now, and there must be
other people in Queensferry that are interested in
challenging themselves, or who feel gravity towards the
tradition enough to put themselves through this for a year
or two. It’s something to do with the spirit of people from Queensferry,
this is a unique thing, it’s worth putting yourself through that for one day.
Piper Whisky is a big factor in the day. And it’s something that I think 14:10
you’re supposed to savour, you know a wee dram over some ice
and sip it. It’s certainly not designed to drink it through a straw at
9 o’clock in the morning, straight. It’s a bullet to your brain.
Enter pub Last October I decided that I wanted to stop drinking. 14:30
So this year, I suppose it’s the only thing that I’m concerned
about really: do I gesture that I’m taking whisky? What’s more
important to me is that they engage with the tradition, so by them
being excited that I’m standing at their garden gate is enough for me.
Marching When I see the next Burryman doing it I suppose I’ll feel 15:01
a mixture of emotions really. I don’t think that jealousy is one
of them. I think I’ll feel relieved and I’ll probably have a great
deal of sympathy. There’s only one person other than me alive that
knows how the Burryman feels, and that particular guy did it
for half a day.
Walking Frequently people will talk about, you know, why put yourself 15:32
through that, and I think it doesn’t matter. You know, it’s just someone,
I’m just someone that’s doing it.
Pull back My ultimate aim is to make sure that the tradition continues to be. 15:48
It’s something that there’s a complete mystery about: what does the
Burryman mean? And the only thing I’m certain of is that no-one, no-one can
actually tell you, no-one can be certain.
Walking The day really culminates with a walk along the High Street. 16:13
away I walk along as far as the Hawes Inn, and then walk back towards
the starting point of the day at the Stag. Normally by this point it’s
five, half-five, six o’clock, depending on how the day’s went; it can
sometimes be after 6 o’clock. I have a final dram in the stag and
it’s always my dad who ultimately taps me on the shoulder, affectionately,
and say, ‘right son, that’s you (finished)’.
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Pub And then I will go up the steps and there’s a chair on the 16:53
dance floor, the dance floor that I got dressed on at 8 o’clock
that morning. And I sit down, and then there’s a flurry of activity
around me and I’m basically cut free, unceremoniously and very quickly,
it takes 30 seconds to get cut free.
c/up face And to have the balaclava pulled off my head like that is definitely 17:16
one of the most amazing moments of bliss that I’ve ever experienced,
it’s just incredible to suddenly have air again around your face. I’m
just disorientated, and I’ve often described it: it’s like how I imagine
being born must feel. You kind of crash land back in Queensferry.
dancefloor Normally it’s at that point that I realise where all my agony and 17:47
discomfort really sort of hit me at that point. And that’s really in a
nutshell what happens on the day. (applause)
bridge The more that the Burryman goes into the future the more abstracted
in a way it becomes, the more oblique, the more odd it becomes. Can you imagine
sometime that finds a tape of your documentary in a thousand years and they
work out how to play the format and everything like that and there’s a
Burryman there. They say ‘what’s this?’; it’s a kind of key into something, it’s
evidence, it’s a kind of tracing or a kind of direction sign for something that even
when we were doing it, even when you’re doing this, we don’t know what it’s about.
It’s just that it demands respect enough to do it, just to continue it, even though
we don’t have any frame of reference other than the fact that we know it’s important.
bridges Music 19:08
walking Titles, scrolling as follows: 19:20
Thanks to John Nicol, his family, friends and supporters.
Umbrella grips: Michaela Waddell and Becky Simpson
Music by Michael Denny
A film by R F Simpson for 664 Productions
Walking Titles end 19:44