Walpurgis Night

Today is Walpurgis Night, which is a really big deal at this university town we live in. In some areas the pre-schools are closed down or moved, because of all the partying. In the morning, rafts are paddled down the river that goes through the town, most of them falling apart as they go down the waterfalls.

After that, there's picnicing in a park below the medieval castle, and a lot of singing and a lot of drinking. Three o'clock, the Dean of the University steps out on a balcony at the 16th century library and holds an (inaudible) speech, and then everybody waves their white caps in the air and puts them on. And in that moment, spring begins! I like that. After that, it's mostly a whole lot of drinking and singing, and in the evening a whole lot of bonfires are lit all over town with people gathering around, singing and saluting the spring.

Some years, I've done these things, only ones all of it I think (that year I got very, very drunk before the evening was over). This year I settled for the picnic part, meeting friends and putting the white student's cap on. It's a ritual stemming from a hundred years ago or so, when everyone wore hats of some kind all the time, and the university students wore black ones at winter and white once in summer, and Walpurgis Night were when you switched. A few of my more traditional friends have gotten black winter caps for just this occasion, and actually switch caps. Most of us simply bring the white one and put it on.

Little S was in pre-school, and Mistress worked from home, so it was only me going away to meet friends - and that is very rare and precious nowadays. I've would rather have had Mistress with me, but I'm very grateful that she let me go alone when she felt she didn't have time to come with. I met friends I haven't seen in a long time, people I've known for fifteen years in some cases, and it made me happy.

I live a rather strict life, following an inflexible schedule, mostly due to the needs of the two-year-old, and also due to the specific dynamic between Mistress and I - I really don't like to do things without her, for the most part, and she really don't like me to either. Since one of us must watch the baby if we can't get a grandparent to babysit, and since she makes it impossible to concentrate on anything or have any sort of meaningful conversation, we're kind of in a bind. We can do things, but only separately and we don't like that, or while bringing the kid, and we don't much appreciate that either.

I think the worst part is over though, little S is growing up and becoming more manageable every week, and also as we get more sleep and more free time and aren't as stressed out, we're more willing to be separated. Like today.

But after a few hours I was perfectly happy going home to my family, and our tentative plans on having my mother babysit while we went out this evening, maybe to a bonfire, maybe to friends for a barbecue, changed into a desire to cuddle on the sofa and go to sleep early. That's also a bit typical - I reckon I would be a big party lion if only it wasn't for little S, and if only Mistress would come with me. But in reality, a few hours is enough, and then I'm perfectly satisfied with a quiet evening indoors.

And there will be more Walpurgis Nights. A lot of them, I suspect. And there will be time for drinking and singing and hanging out with old friends. But right now, I have the cutest and most charming little girl in the world sleeping in her bedroom, and I'm going to bed with my beloved Mistress, looking forward to having my collar put on and being chained to the bed for the night. It's a good life, and a lot better than what my life was like before, even though I had all the time in the world for friends and singing and drinking. This is so much better.

(But in the future, I plan to have it all...)