Mardi Gras lights!
Ada, Tim and everyone who was around at the time helped out a regular who runs a Mardi Gras float. Thanks everyone for the spectacular lights! The colours all corresponded to different words on the five maypoles, so we wanted all thirty or so different strands to be different colours. The circuit that was designed for the purpose has been written up in an electronics magazine. There were many near misses - the electronics ran late and we never got to light up the signage, even then we only got the float to the city two minutes before lockdown; one battery pulled out and a whole pole went dark but it was quickly fixed by judicious use of an occy strap; by the end of the parade the pole with one fewer battery gave up its fine colours and glowed only red! Still, it was a huge undertaking and an amazing result. A fantastic time was had by all, and even though we were far from the biggest or brightest float of 2014, it’s been well remembered (and even understood!) by many people from the crowd. Anyone wanting more info or who would like to help out on next year’s float (providing you are queer-friendly and atheist-friendly!) can visit queeratheists.org .