This is the link for the live feed of the event for Tuesday. We have watched it a couple years now. It's fascinating and we found the live commentators observations very interesting.
Posted by
Lake District, England
11109 posts
This year should be interesting in terms of getting there. The Northlink ferries from Aberdeen are currently running 12 hours late, after 3 days of cancellations due to very stormy weather, it is going to take a number of days to get them back on to schedule.
Also the shelves of the local supermarkets are threadbare following all the cancellations, which have also affected the freight ferries.
The problem with the live feed, good as it is, is that it only shows the evening procession. It doesn't show the build up from 6am that morning, with the proclamation of the Bill at the Market Cross, or the morning processions round the town- which are an integral part of the event, as are the private functions in the "Halls" afterwards. The disrupted ferry timetables may cause another problem as the ferry terminal is now one of the "halls".
This is also the Lerwick Up Helly Aa- each community on Shetland has it's own version. The fire season started at Scalloway- where the whole event lasted for over a week!!
For the first time there is a small 1,000 passenger Fred Olsen cruise ship in Lerwick for Up Helly Aa day. That has caused a lot of local angst, both in terms of bus capacity and possible over crowding on the procession route. The daytime problem is that the night time events in the halls requires the use of every single bus on Shetland mainland. If they have been doing cruise excursions during the day then drivers have maxed out their legal hours. So Fred Olsen have drafted in buses from Aberdeen- if they can get there!!
There is a local tension in terms of capacity versus drawing in new visitors who may later come independently.
A wider question, as the fire festivals are at their heart local events and Lerwick even without a cruise ship draws in many visitors- but that is also very important economically. Someone who comes for the first time in January will hopefully come back in the summer
Having been there, as a normal visitor, it is a stunning event in person which I recommend to everyone, fully acknowledging that I am part of the problem. Having got a coveted halls ticket I experienced the whole thing as authentically as an outsider can.
Posted by
Paris
11224 posts
Oh how I would love to go one year.
Posted by
OP
US
183 posts
Thank you Stuart for your always helpful commentary!
As you have actually visited during Helly Aa and I as I have seen in the live feed fire embers floating through the air I can imagine there might be a significant number of scorched puffer jackets by the end of the evening? Maybe people keep a jacket especially for Helly Aa so each year's celebration adds holes to remember the day?
It's a silly question but my little brain can't let go of possible consequences of fire embers floating through the air.
Posted by
Lake District, England
11109 posts
In my experience embers, if you are a spectator, really aren't a problem. They are embers and have lost their potency by the time they hit you (if they do), remembering that in all likelihood there is a fair old breeze blowing.
As it happens, due to the severity of the weather, I was wearing my best quality hat (a very expensive but incredibly toasty beaver fur hat from Churchill, MT- holds very precious memories of an amazing overland trip) and a very expensive jacket. That jacket was a gift from my company for achieving 1 million man hours without a Lost Time Accident on a construction site. It is so warm it is very rarely worn, and too important to wear too often.
Buying 200 or so of them must have cost the company a fortune.
Wearing both was with misgiving (as I had seen film of the event beforehand), but practicality won out on the night. Both escaped unscathed.
On the livestream it may all look a bit anarchic, but is in reality very well stewarded. In the wind you are right, there were a lot of embers flying around, but I didn't see or hear of anyone suffering ill effects.
As it happens the cruise ship is unable to get there due to severe weather on the way from Haugesund (Norway). She has been diverted to Alesund. Very unfortunate for those who had gone on a possibly once in a lifetime chance to see UHA, and also for shopkeepers in Lerwick who had stocked up, expecting a winter bonus.