I just found out today that our local free weekly was running a charity contest as an eBay auction. The winner would get to give the command to fire the Citadel’s noon gun while in period costume, among other things. I would have totally bid fairly highly on that–it would have been hilarious, especially as a gift for someone.
That thing has often rather startled me–and indeed on one occasion, when I cruelly stopped the car right beneath the gun at 11:59 for a “chance to take in the view of the harbour”, nearly scared a weekend visitor into heart trauma.
However the auction actually ended several days ago, and closed for a ridiculously small sum. Apparently the free weekly isn’t great at getting the word out about contests.
Here’s what the routine sounds like, along with tour guide narration:
