Saturday, 4 May 2002 dawned fine and clear in Southampton. We travelled up to Guildford by train and took part in Pilgrim Morris Men's Summer-pole festivities, which were a great success. Why did we go by train? We were travelling on to Waterloo to catch the Eurostar back to Mechelen for the Hanswijk procession on the Sunday. Back in January when I'd finally persuaded visitbelgium.com to confirm the date of this year's procession, we'd arranged to slip over for the Sunday, between two morris events. The Eurostar service was once again superb, we found the Hotel Egmont after only one false start and retreated through the gathering darkness to De Oliphant for a couple of Krieks.
Sunday, 5 May 2002 dawned to drizzle in Mechelen. I went back to the station to get times for trains back to Brussels and spotted the procession banners as I returned. We ate a hearty breakfast and walked down to the Hanswijk. It was wet. Not torrential rain, but that cold, drizzly wet that creeps into your bones. There was Our Lady of the Hanswijk proudly displayed, surrounded by candles. People were just there to be with Her. The atmosphere was electric. We stayed until the service started, but then left - it seemed to me to be something for the locals (if I wasn't part of the Blessing of the Nets at Brighton, for example, I'd feel equally out of place at the service).
 I shot 408Mb of pictures in the church. This is not technically the best image, but does convey a little of the atmosphere. As with the Westminster Cathedral pictures, I'm indebted to Tim Baker for the camera settings. |
We walked up along the banks of the river, through the park, which we'd not visited before, and round into Grote Markt. They're digging the square up to build an underground car park, and there's a rescue dig in the middle. I wondered idly how good Tony Robinson's Flemish is. Failing to find an open bar by Sint Rombout's and by now thoroughly cold, tired and wet, we bought some white asparagus and retreated to the Postilljon for a couple of Leffes. Before lunch I wanted to go back to see if OLV Hanswijk had been moved. No, she was still there, still surrounded by ordinary people. We watched a little of a video of previous years, bathed in the atmosphere and I wrote a short line in the petitions book, the only entry in English.
Then, disaster. A notice on the door seemed to tell us that the procession was cancelled. To my shame I had to go to tourist information to get confirmation - I promise to get better at Flemish before we come back, folks. Yes, there would be no procession.
I was, I admit, very disappointed at the time. We watched them putting the horses back into the trailers and returned somewhat dejectedly to the Grote Markt. By now the Carillion, where we intended to eat, had closed. A man arrived with a trailer full of sheep for one of the procession tableaux, and had the ill luck to find two of only five non Flemish speakers We retreated to the Royal for a splendid meal of Asparagus washed down with a fine Tokay Pinot, and the world seemed a brighter place. We started to plot next year's trip.
Do I regret the situation? Not anywhere near as much as you might imagine. Even in the rain Mechelen is such a nice place that I'd recommend the procession to anyone (if any other English speakers intend going for 2003, please email me and we'll share information). We went back and watched more of the video, but since we didn't have time to even see all of that, the same would have been true of the procession. I bought a couple of books and when I've done a more thorough translation I'll put up more detail. I'm terribly sad for the people who would have taken part, and wish them all the best for next year.
On the way back to Brussels we encountered a whole group of people who'd been diverted to Eurostar because of a cancelled ferry sailing. I was proud to be able to assure them that Zuid and Midi are the same station, but the conductor switched seamlessly to English announcements anyway. Remember that this is a local train: when I see a Silvelink conductor return the compliment I'll figure that we English have started to "do" languges.
By the time the complimentary champagne had settled - you'll have gathered by now that I love Eurostar - I'd come to the conclusion that as a planning run, the trip had been very worthwhile, if somewhat expensive. All I knew of the procession before we arrived was the scant detail on the tourist web-sites. We had to wander round even to find the time (though, for the record, it's clearly on the front of every flyer and poster), 15UUR. The procession would have been huge - over 2000 participants taking about an hour and a half. We had to be on the 5:56 Eurostar to make our New Forest tour on the Monday - and as organiser, showing up late would have been a bit of a no-no. We now know that next year we can take the morning Eurostar and stay over Sunday night. In fact, we'll probably make it a long weekend and combine it with a return to Dendermonde as well. And we'll remember to eat earlier on Sunday.
Monday, 6 May dawned overcast in the New Forest and rain delayed our first spot. Waiting inside the pub, there was a great deal of discussion as to the dates of Easter and Ascension Day 2003.