Police, Services, Bonfire and Buckfast: A Celebration Of A Year's End

dublin | arts and media | opinion/analysis Saturday April 23, 2005 19:30 by proselytiser

Did we have permission? Did we fuck!

This is 200 students, a lake, a generator,a bonfire, cd-decks,speakers, dutch gold, buckfast, rubbish bags, trees, bushes, flowers and lots and lots and lots of fun. Coming together at the exhortation of Craic Soc, the last day of the academic year was celebrated by the students of UCD in the most open way possible. For hours we trickled behind the Vet building, to a place fondly called 'Lake2', or Tir na nOg for those that discovered it first.

Descending from the hill, or emerging from the bushes, we were amazed at the sight of a mass of energetic colleagues partying as if exams were some bad dream they once had. The ebb and flow of numbers, as people either went to Higgins' to restock on supplies, or to fetch friends who'd lost their way to this magical land, or even to get some soakage meant I never really knew what friendly, long-forgotten face I would see next.
To be honest, I was a bit late. I had a couple of things to sort out, you know, assignments and the like. But I'd stocked up early, Mr. Higgins looking at me rather strangely as I presented a six-pack of dutch gold on his counter at 11:30am. Itching to be free in lectures, giddy with excitement in my last hour of work, it was certainly worth the wait. I don't think even in the wildest dreams of the rabble of individual students who organised what was necessary did they think they'd get such a response. Not getting there until 4.30pm I felt a little out of the loop at first having to play a quick game of catch-up. Entertained by the periodic dip in lake (cesspool?) of some unfortunate punter, the jugglers, the game of football, the banter, the frisbee and the random eejit with the tulip sticking out of his arse, I soon got into the swing of things.

Services would drive up to their 'vantage point' about 100 metres away every so often. Sometimes they'd have the audacity to get out of the jeep and have a wander around. Invariably, it was greeted with a wave of cheers from the crowd. The students knew the score. 4 of them. 200 of us. Would we care to move on? Will yez go on an' shite! As the evening drew in and the dancing got goin', some lads started feeling a little chilly so got a bonfire going. Nice bit of warmth for the increasing number of people who for some reason felt the odds of catching cholera from the lake weren't weren't totally stacked against them. People continued to be mellow and I bumped into a friend from Trinity. "You wouldn't see this in front square!". They might have the ball, but give me this any day.

Of course, eventually, the boys in blue turned up. Not too impressed by the bonfire. Some people began to scarper on seeing the squad cars. Shouts went out imploring people to stay, sit down, relax. Attempts were made to appease them by instigating a blitzkrieg clean-up of sorts. Maybe we should just have ignored them. 4 of them 200 of us. Then again, a lot of people there weren't used to dealing with na Gardai as some of us were. "When they bring in the riot cops, that's when we can start to worry", someone said. Maybe. Then again, it wasn't really in the spirit of the day. Most of the people there just wanted to have fun, so the attitue was, lets just try and keep the cops happy so we can continue the party. Maybe that was wrong. Who knows.

The gardai left. The clean-up was finished. Some people had been scared off but the party kept going. The bonfire was relit. And gradually, it got dark and it got cold, very cold for those that still insisted on being amphibians. And eventually we gradually went our seperate ways, carrying bags of rubbish to be deposited at the nearest bin/skip. Off we went to parties in some other neck of the woods.

It was my last day as an undergraduate after 5 years in UCD. I'm so happy it ended like this. The last day of term has traditionally been a day of fun and frolics, and I've had some really good times, but this surpassed them all. Many thanks to all those who designed and put up posters, streaked through lecture theatres, got the generator, paid for the petrol, brought the decks and the cds, spun some tunes and helped with the clean-up. Thanks, most of all, however, must go to all of you who turned up. Thanks for believing in fun. Thanks for understanding what it is to be a student. Thanks for making my last day of college one I'll never forget.

I hope some people were inspired yesterday. I hope ideas are flying around in people's heads about what can be done in September. What more can be done. How can we get 500 people there next time. I look forward to being there. But finally...

Did we have permission? Did we fuck!

http://www.ucdsu.net/newswire.php?story_id=566

http://www.ucdsu.net/newswire.php?story_id=567