We went to See the Man Engine

The Man Engine is a monstrous Cornish Miner, created in puppet form, and riding like some vast god-figure on the back of a monstrous Volvo lorry.   We went to see him unveiled in Tavistock a few weeks ago, at the start of his trek westward through Cornwall. I just unearthed some photos.     We took the hounds with us: I might not have done that if I had realised how busy it would be, but Brythen feels quite safe when he has Pp to lean on, and Rosie seems untroubled by crowds (so strange.  This is the dog that was terrified of a falling pencil on the other side of the room).

( Waiting for the Man Engine )

To get the Man Engine to stand up, you are supposed to sing to him : Sten Sten Sten!  which is Cornish for tin, and there was quite a long song in Cornish to go with it.  But this was in Tavistock, and while Tavistock is certainly the most easterly of the Mining World Heritage site, it is also quite undeniably just over the border in Devon.  Nobody speaks Cornish!  Some people sang (I think the town council had arranged a choir) but most of the surprisingly-huge crowd just watched, while the little orange guy you can see below told us partially-audible tales of mining past, then the choir sang and the Man Engine stood up!
( .... And here he is! )