Sue's stories
Joan of Arc Tied on Rag Week's Float
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By Sue
Wednesday June 17th 1998 01:14:00
Nice Rag Week story Steve. Glad you enjoyed the experience - eventually!
It reminded me of my one and only active Rag part when I was at college. Thereis actually very little bondage in this story - just a catalogue of errors.
I studied History at a college in the middle of England and our Rag Week was always in the summer right after exams (for an explanation of Rag Week, read Steve's post). The deal was that the trucks to carry the floats would be delivered on the Friday before the parade, so we'd have 24 hours to load our theme scenery on to the truck. A really elaborate design was therefore, Ill advised.
Since we'd studied Joan of Arc just before the exams, the burning of Joan at the stake seemed like a good theme - simple set, room for lots of "onlookers" on the truck who could leap off with their buckets to collect the charity money.
After some persuasion (and a few bribes!) I agreed to be Joan, tied to the stake ready for burning. I insisted on two requirements - the truck was declared a no smoking zone and fire extinguishers were placed handy on case of stray cigarettes - realism is all very well but it didn't extend to actually burning me!
We built the set on the grounds of the college - various local firms donated scrap timber and other building materials. Our set was very simple - a 10 foot length of telegraph pole, a platform for me to stand on about 3 feet up the pole, a pretty solid box to support the pole, a pile of brush wood for the fire and several yards of heavy rope to tie me to the pole. Sounds rough but looked pretty good.
Some of the guys insisted on having several practices tying me to the pole but it was all in good fun and that's actually how we discovered thick (3/4") rope was needed. We tried with clothesline thickness but it just didn't show up. My hands were tied behind the pole with the thin stuff and the thick stuff was then tied round my ankles, criss-crossed round the pole and me up to my shoulders and down again, ending in a somewhat untidy knot hidden by the brush wood.
Friday arrived and the truck was delivered. The driver looked at our set and asked if we knew the route. We said we did and offered him the map but thought it strange since he wasn't the first truck.
"No", he said, "have you seen the route?"
We said no and he asked how high the pole was.
"10 feet", we said.
"How high is my truck", he asked.
"About 4 feet", we said.
"Good, that's 14 feet together - and how high is the Railway Bridge we have to go under?"
"Railway bridge? What Railway Bridge?"
"The one that is 13 feet clearance! You guys are always the same", he said - "you never plan ahead. Two years ago when I first did his, I set off with a 3 storey castle and returned with a bungalow!"
What to do? Chop the pole? But that would look silly.
One of the guys suggested we could hinge the pole. So he went off to find his Engineering friend. He looked at the problem, the pile of spare building material and said OK, if we build a couple of A-frames round those railway sleepers (ties in America? The baulks of wood that hold the rails) we can drill a couple of holes through them and the pole and use those scaffolding poles, one as the pivot and one as a locking bar.
"All you'll have to do, Sue, is to lie back on the pole when they lower it to go under the bridges. We can put some weight under the platform to balance it all up."
So we all worked late into the night to construct the fix and had it done and mounted on the truck by midnight. We were all too tired to finish the details and so agreed to meet at the parking lot at 8 am the following morning, with 5 hours to finish off anf add the garlands to pretty the truck up.
I was a little late in the morning and when I arrived, they said "There is good news and bad news. The good news is that the pole pivots really well. The bad news is that if we tilt you back, the truck cab gets in the way. But we have a solution, we just tie you a little tighter so you won't slip and then we tip you forward. We've tested it and it works so you go home and get into your Joan of Arc dress", a long plain white gown we girls had been working on during the week.
About half an hour before the parade was due to start, I climbed on to the platform. They tied my hands behind the pole, palms to the pole, so I could get a grip when it tilted. The heavier rope was then wrapped around me tightly but not so tight as to hurt or chafe. They gave me one practice before we set off. What a very peculiar feeling, the pole suddenly lurching forward (from my point of view) leaving me hanging in the ropes underneath. There were six low bridges and telephone cables to navigate - I felt quite seasick when we got back but it all worked out.
Our float collected nearly 250 pounds in the hour long parade, and yes, like Cinderella, I did go to the ball. Happy days.
Regards,
Sue
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