The rest of the day was spent with some of the volunteers and the MAO workers fitting the reindeer dynamo bicycle, adding the dangling wheels, and connecting the Tree to the city's electrical supply.
But I new that once the tree was in place, without its lights on, this first Friday night was going to be its most vulnerable. If anyone climbed it and loosened any of the bicycles, they could sever the lights, pull a bicycle or two off, and wreck the illumination ceremony. I designed the tree to take the weight of several large drunken yobs, but I’d never tested the theory (not for lack of candidates).
Michael Holyoke agreed to help me out on the site, weaving a couple of spools of cable around the police barriers that surrounded the Cyclemas Tree. At this point, it was around 10:00 at night. The bouncers in front of the Old School House Pub had surprisingly good suggestions at to how to improve the tree aesthetically, some of which we took on.
Three young teenagers drifted into view, riding cycles and loitering. Their interest in the tree was difficult to read. One of them piped up, "I've stolen one of them Royal Mail bikes.""Is that right," I returned, not really in the mood to hear yet another variation of "Oi! That's me bike!".
'"Looks like shit," said another one.
'"It's rubbish, actually," I said, hoping to deflate the reposte.
One of the kids, the wildest of the three, challenged us, saying he was going to climb it. "Better not, you could get electrocuted if you busted one of these lights when it's on", I said. Michael and I were starting to realise we were headed for a 'situation'.
'"You're just saying that so we wont climb it," said one of the kids. '"I'm gonna climb it!" Whereupon the kid jumped the barrier.
"Forget it, kid, nobody's going to climb this thing, and you're not allowed within the barrier", said Michael, and he grabbed the kid.
That did it. The kid started swearing and shouting that nobody was going to touch him and it all got nasty. The three kids wheeled off and Michael and I knew that at this last and most sensitive hour, Cyclemas had just made its first enemies. And we knew that sooner or later, the feral teens would eventually return to trash the tree.
And so Michael and I, both of whom have worked with tough kids, admonished ourselves for getting it so wrong with those kids. We were clearly used to our own kids who are more or less obedient. Cynicism allowed us both to declare some kids, like the feral teens, were just plain rotten and dead inside. We spent half an hour kicking ourselves with hindsight, discussing what we should have done differently.
But the kids came back in half an hour. We were still working on the cabling, and of course, had just spent the last half hour forming our battle plan.
'"OK, look you guys," said Michael, "we're really not supposed to do this, but we can let you inside the barrier, but only if you work for us. How does that sound?"
"Sounds like shit!" said the leader.
"We'll have to do better than that, Michael," I said, as we naturally settled into something of a good cop / bad cop routine.
"Give us a fiver," said one of the kids.
