Stuff and Nonsense Again

Unsurprisingly didn't really get anything done over the long weekend. This was partly due to my lack of sleep catching up with me and partly due to me getting my hands on Seasons 1 and 2 of Riptide (american 80's action adventure series. Same creators as the A-Team. Very silly but an old favourite). I did manage to de-mould the bathroom (and how impressed with the de-mould spray am I! Admittedly, I think you're only supposed to spray the mould patches rather than drown them like I did but it was amazing watching them just dissolve. Should probably worry about what it's doing to me since I'm fairly sure that's where a fair bit of it ended up given that I now smell distinctly of chlorine but I seem to have survived) so that's something.

Must make my ears and tail tonight for NYE. Nothing like leaving it till the last moment. Very excited about the whole thing. Well, somewhat less exicted about having to get the train at 05.00 in the morning but, still, it's the train rather than an overnight trip on Megabus which is a huge point in it's favour. However, Bellowhead for New Years Eve!!! Yup, just a little excited. Really looking forward to seeing everyone and going for tea beforehand too.

Managed to get my cancelled National Express tickets from the 7th amended and I'm now heading down to Oxford for the 4th and 5th to view flats. Have a selection to view so will hopefully find something to at least give me breathing space to hunt for something more suitable.
Staying overnight at the Youth Hostel I haven't stayed in before so that should be interesting and I get to spend some time in wandering in Oxford which is always nice, even if I am making overnight trips. (At least it's National Express and not Megabus!)
Bit nervous about the whole flat hunting thing to be honest. Having handed in my letter of resignation at work and given my notice to my landlady (who's been very nice about it.) I think it's all starting to hit home. I know it'll be alright, it's not like I haven't done the whole uproot life thing all before (although admittedly not at this distance) and I'll find a way to manage regardless (plus, I've never been this organised before. It's not like me at all!) but it's still, not scary but unsettling. It's also possibly due to being proactive after such a long stint of being reactive. Anyhow, think I'll settle a bit if I know I have to somewhere to live when I get there.

Have booked my tickets for IVFDF so that's out of the way. Will decide whether to offer to steward or not when more of the Workshop programme comes out. May also have booked to go and see Bellowhead at Warwick on the 29th April. My exuse is that I have not yet been to see a seated Bellowhead gig and I'm curious. The reality is that being within such easy reach of concerts is a huge novelty and may take some time to wear off...

Lots of stuff to look forward to in the New Year as well. A Mons Meg workshop and tour before I go (and, of course, DERT), lots of festivals, new dance sides to join. Smallpipes workshop to attend, new fiddle classes to find (may actually have to splash out on individual lessons if I can't find a group class. Could be a good thing) and hopefully get more done with the melodeon.

Kings and Things

We had 2 fire alarms yesterday! 2 of them! We were getting used to having a fire alarm every day but 2 is a bit much! (This happened last year, apparently a problem with the alarm reacting to the change in temperatue between outside and the canteen. Think they need a new alarm system!)

Anyhow, went to see Carols by Candlelight with the Mozart Festival Orchestra at the Usher Hall last night. Loved the music (especially the unaccompanied version of We Three Kings by the choir. Very atmospheric.), enjoyed singing the carols and enjoyed myself ogling the C18th costumes. (Still wish they'd teach their sopranos to move properly in their Robes a la Francais but she had a very good voice so they're forgiven.)

Declutterisation begins tonight. The aim is to reduce my stuff to the point that it will all fit in a small van (mostly cause it's cheaper to hire than a medium and partly because I keep reminding myself of the likelihood of having to fit it all into one room at the other end! The stuff, that is, not the van) over the next 4 days. I suspect I have a lot of very rubbish reenactment kit that is taking up unneccessary room and I know I have a huge amount of DVD's that can definitely go. Books are safe, most of my CD's are safe, musical instruments are definitely safe. Not sure about bookcases. My 2 smaller bookcase I really want to keep but it'll depend on how much room there is at the other end. The 2 bigger ones I'll only take if there'll be room and a need for extra storage. Obviously my mole collection is sacrosanct as is all my dance kit but I suspect I can winnow down my clothes. There's a lot of skirts that I don't really wear and, since stopping Scottish Country, I don't really wear ball-dresses anymore. (May keep 1 of them just in case). May be able to get rid of some of the more commercial sewing patterns and the fabric mountain can possibly be reduced in size by vaccuum bags rather than actually getting rid of any of it. This may deal with the spare downey and pillows too. My camping gear takes up a fair bit of room but I can't really see me getting rid of any of this since it does get used a lot
I may be able to get rid of my video player since I don't really use it any more. The big picture of Lindisfarne Castle will have to have room found for it because there's no way I' giving it up and Maud will have to have room found for her too because she's essential to making kit that fits me! (And I do intend to keep doing reenactment too.)

Then I have to think of all the things I have to cancel. So far I have rent, electricity, gas, telephone, council tax, cinema card, broadband, comic subscription. Will need to change address (when I get a new one) for the bank and amazon (have forgotten to that before, caused no end of trouble!) So much to do! Thank the gods for winter bank holidays.

Good Things!

Things have been a bit busy lately, mostly because that job I thought I definitely hadn't got? I did! This means I'm moving down to Oxford at the end of January and have been trying to sort myself out.
Obviously I did the most important thing first which was to contact Mabel Gubbins and ask if it was Ok if I came along to their rapper practices and they said yes, provided I like cake and gin. I do not see this being a problem so that was sorted fairly easily. Am now in the process of carrying out the second most important thing about moving which would be trying to find somewhere to live. Have resigned myself to a flat-share, at least at first, so need to have a major declutter over Christmas (a major, major declutter! Not getting rid of any books though. Never again!). Have never tried to flat hunt for somewhere over 3 hours away so that's interesting (even leaving aside all the restrictions the weather is causing!), never mind never having lived south of the Wansbeck! All a bit exciting really.

Going to be very, very sad to leave Mons Meg (although since I hope to keep dancing with them at festivals and whatnot when I can, it's not really leaving, more, not being able to make practices) and will miss the cinema outings with the usual crowd. On the other hand, not having to make so many long distance trips can only be a good thing!

Speaking of long trips, went down to Manchester last weekend for a friend's birthday. Megabus trip down wasn't too bad, only half an hour late despite snow (although those buses do not get any more comfortable!) but coming back...! Bus was supposed to leave at 19.30 on Sunday. We'd checked the information on the website and learned that the service was starting from Manchester instead of London due to the weather and yet, somehow, it managed to break down in Wolverhampton for 2 hours and the only reason we knew that was becuase my friend contacted their main office. I realise the station wasn't manned at that time of night but surely they could have passed a message on through one of the drivers of their other services? Have to say I've reported one of those drivers as well. While we were waiting for the Edinburgh bus, another megabus pulled up so we, obviously, assumed it was the one for Edinburgh. When we politely asked the driver, not only did he tell us it was actually for Leeds, he then proceeded to call us stupid. Possibly he didn't realise that his display was frosted over so no-one could read his destination but there was no need to be insulting. I usually can't be bothered with those kind of things but I was not in a good mood by this time anyway so reported he gets! Of course, when our bus finally turned up, it was having problems with it's brake lights so they had to call for a replacement when the mechanic called couldn't fix it so we were stuck there for another 2 hours. To be fair, this driver was lovely, keeping the engine running occasionally so we were warm and keeping us informed of what was going on so at least there's that. The replacement coach finally set off and we got into edinburgh at around 6 in the morning, 5 hours and 20 minutes after we were supposed to arrive. Fair enough, these things happen and the weather was bad but the lack of information while we waiting at Manchester really wasn't great. Just to add insult to injury, I suspect there may be a small leak in the toilet plumbing system over the luggage hold because my bag smelt fairly strongly of urine when I got it out of the hold. That got well and truly scrubbed when I got it home!
Manchester itself was fun, lovely to see old friends again and I came back with blackberry gin (yummy!) , a microwaveable elephant and a microwaveable clanger. (Felt like I was lavender animal smuggling as I came back up north. Fortunately, bag was pretty waterproof so they were unaffected by their trip under the possible leak!). Have microwaved the clanger since I've been back but haven't yet worked up the cruelty to microwave the elephant. He's just too cute and fluffy!

Last night, went to see Phil Cunningham's Christmas Songbook with Heather. Great fun evening. Lovely songs, hilarious banter (including Phil, after finally locating his glasses, hunting for his guitar tuner (apparently he has to buy a new one every year) then pausing before asking 'does anyone know what all the little glowy lights mean?') and truly, truly awful jokes. (My particular favourite being 'what do you call a man with one foot in his house and one foot outside? Hamish!')
Off to see the Mozart Festival Orchestra do Carols by Candlelight at the Usher Hall tonight so looking forward to that.

In other good news, found the 1957 recording of the Mikado on Amazon for £1.58. It was available for download so I did! Am now a happy gremlin. I already have the 1973 recording which is well enough in it's way, but the 1957 version has far better timing and also has Thomas Round and Ann Drummond-Grant who are far superior to Colin Wright and whoever was playing Katisha, whose name I can't remember at this moment in time.
I also watched the recent Phantom of the Opera movie on Youtube and confirmed that I really only like Andrew LLoyd Webber musicals for the dancing and the spectacle. Some interesting casting choices though. The lassie playing Christine had her voice dubbed by a very good singer but it was a shame that it didn't really match her speaking voice. Gerard Butler as the Phantom was hilarious. He really couldn't make the high notes (why did they not dub him too?)and was completely sung off the screen by the lad playing the other love interest (the Compte de something?). He had an amazing voice (same lad who was one of the villains in the recent A-Team movie apparently. Seems he was a musical actor before he went into films) so it just exaggerated how bad Butler was. Became unintentionally funny very quickly.

However, best news of all, Mons Meg is going to DERT! We have snaffled a Stonemonkey dancer and just have to rustle up a musician (which I'm currently in the process of doing). The fact that I'll have left Edinburgh by then is completely beside the point, I'll still be dancing with them, it'll just make pre-DERT practices a bit interesting. Huzzah!

Belshazzar's Feast in Brigham

Managed to see Belshazzar's Feast in Brigham thanks to the very timely thaw. Well worth the effort, they were absolutely brilliant. They played a lot of stuff from the new album which was lovely, including 'Home Lad, Home' which is possibly my favourite song at the moment. The vocals are measured and gorgeous and the accordion accompaniment is understated and so perfectly fitting. They also managed to get the audience involved in very silly, seated 'clog dancing' and a really daft version of Good King Wenceslas. Brilliant and hilarious evening and really glad I got to go.

Spent the rest of the weekend attemting to tidy in a somewhat desultory fashion. Did manage to fix the toilet seat and it's quite nice knowing that you don't have to maintain perfect balance in order not to drift slightly sidewards.
Watched the 2 Folk dance shows on i-player. The one with the Unthanks seemed more to be about dance forms associated with particular festivals and could have done with more rapper really (as could so many things) but it was easy enough viewing and the accents made me slightly homesick. I also watched the Christmas Sessions thing again. Wierd to think that that was the programme that got me into Belshazzar's Feast in the first place and I will love it for that if nothing else (although I really enjoyed most of it which seems to make me a bit of an oddity in the folk world) The Clogdancing programme on the following night was really quite good (although the presenter drove me up the wall. Why did they focus on him when the person he was interviewing was talking?!) I need to get my floor cleared and start working on my clogging again.

Hopefully we will have rapper practice tonight. Have really missed it.

Fire Alarms (Again!)

Second fire alarm in a row at work today. Looks like we're in for another stint of standing outside in the cold every day like we did last year. Apparently our fire alarm doesn't cope well in the cold! No snow bunnys or gremlins though. Feeling a little off today and didn't feel like doing it. Wierdly, the snowball fight steered well clear of me as well.

New toilet seat arrived last night so shall have a go at putting that on tonight. At last, shall not have to warn guests to 'balance' when they want to go!

No word from Oxford and I get the impression these things are decided fairly quickly so I shall have to keep job hunting. Minded now just to throw all my efforts into the chasing the whole medical thing up here instead of waiting until I get further south. Shall continue my efforts to declutter though.

Well, the weather seems to have eased off at any rate. If Belshazzar's Feast don't cancel for the gig in Ireleth tonight then they'll probably make Brigham and Haile tomorrow and Saturday. The Brigham gig might be slightly tight to make so Haile could be the better option even if it is slightly further.

Snow Journey

Been a bit of a busy few days.

The Stramash, unsurprisingly, was cancelled, which was a shame but so it goes.

I actually got some tidying done this weekend (which was a huge shock to the system, let me tell you!). I can now see the floor in the sitting room and some of the floor in the hallway. Now I've got a toehold (so to speak), I'm far more likely to keep going with it so shall hopefully finish the job this weekend. Also spent some time practicing the Plane Tree and the Schottische a Bethanie on the melodeon. Almost got the hang of them now although only at a very basic level.

Had a job interview down in Oxford yesterday. It hadn't snowed when I booked to go down so National Express seemed like the sensible option. They seemed to keep the majority of their buses running through the worst of the weather so I wasn't too worried. When, on Monday during the period of very heavy snow where all the local buses shut down, I rang them to check that the buses were still on, they said that yes, they were and continued to say that till just before I set out to catch it. Of course, by the time I got to the bus station, they'd decided to cancel it after all. I understand why they did it and I don't want them to risk their drivers any more than I want them to risk me but could they not have come to that decision a little earlier, especially since the weather hadn't changed between me calling and it being cancelled. I suspect they won't do refunds either but will only offer to amend the tickets to a different date which is not really a lot of use to me.
Anyhow, I quickly scampered across to Waverley to check the trains but there was nothing doing till the morning so back to the burrow I went where I promptly had a nosebleed. No idea why but at least I know how to stop the thing. More bloodstained clothes to wash.
After a quick check of the rail timetable, I found that there was a train that could possibly make it in time for the 12.30 appointment so decided to go for that since I'd kick myself if I just cancelled. Thus, 04.30 saw me leaving the burrow to walk through the ice and snow to the station, where I found that, although North East Rail were still running a service south, they were doing it at different times to usual meaning I wouldn't be able to get down till 12.40. I decided to go for it and ring on the way down to see if that would be OK and shelled out for a return ticket.
Have to say being on the train was so much nicer than the coach. Lovely scenery on the way down too. Northumberland and County Durham looked like someone had laid down an eiderdown with the trees standing out in dark contrast. Yorkshire and Birmingham, on the other hand had less snow but all their trees looked they'd been spun out of icing sugar. Very lovely.
Sadly, it was Birmingham where the trouble started. The folks at the end were very understanding about me being slightly later but then I got held up because Brimingham New Street Station had shut due to some incident with the platforms and we were stuck in a queue of trains. This resulted in increasingly frantic phone updates from me but the staff at the other end were lovely and let me interview when I got there an hour later than expected.
Don't think the interview went that well, mostly due to my poor interview ability (I'm working on it but it always seems to desert me the minute someone speaks to me) and my brain being so frazzled by the journey and the panic of the night before that it took one look at the after-interview test and said, 'You're on your own, mate' and went off for a nap. Never mind, I got through it and everyone was lovely and ordered me a taxi to get me back to the station in time for my train (probably making sure I left!). The taxi driver was very sweet when he warned me to be careful getting out of the car because they'd had a fair bit of snow and it might be slippy. I was a bit bemused as I stared down at a completely clear pavement but I'll admit my concept of 'a bit of snow' is possibly a bit skewed at the best of times and it was still nice of him to warn me.
The gentleman who I asked about trains back to Edinburgh also seemed very concerned about me and seemed very upset that he couldn't guarantee me past Newcastle. Had to explain that the rucksack I was carrying contained not only a change of nice warm clothes but also food and drink and emergency equipment and I was quite prepared to find a youth hostel if I got stuck in Newcastle. As it turned out, he needn't have worried. I made the change at Newcastle with no bother and was back in Edinburgh by 23.15. Was particularly impressed by Berwick station on the way past. At least I think it was Berwick Station. We might just have stopped to let people on at a random snowy bump!

Anyhow, don't think I got the job which is a shame because it would have suited me and everybody seemed so nice, but I'm still glad I made the effort to go down. I would have kicked myself for not knowing either way.

Walked back from the station last night and was slightly flabberghasted by the amount of people walking along the road. The pavements are just as clear as the road is so there's no reason to do it anyway but, just to make it even more stupid, most of these people were wearing black and walking with their backs to the traffic! How daft are they?! Not to mention all the people in the paper who were complaining about being stuck in the gridlock around Falkirk for 17 hours and being freezing and starving. Now, being stuck in a car for 17 hours is not fun, I agree, but there's information everywhere about not driving if you don't have to and, if you do, keeping the car full of fuel in case you have to keep the heater on and to take warm clothes and food with you for just such an emergency. So, yes, not pleasant, but people have been warned and surely common sense should play a small role here. Even as a child, without having to be told, I wouldn't venture out in bad weather without knowing I could cope if I got stuck. Maybe that's due to being bought up in the country were help isn't always close to hand but, still.

Anyhow, apparently the weather is supposed to improve slightly over the next couple of days so I'm still holding out to see Belshazzar's Feast on Friday. Fingers, toes and any other available extremeties crossed.

Surprise Wrens

Slightly dealyed into work this morning as I managed to reopen the cut on my lip before setting off and then had to change my t-shirt cause the original one now has blood all down it. Then set off to walk into work only for it to start hailing! After walking along for 5 more minutes accompanied by the steady litany of 'Ow, ouch, ouch, bloody ow!' I cracked and got the bus.



Have an interview on Tuesday next. It's in Oxford! Have booked seats down on National Express (who have footrests so I don't spend the whole journey slowly disappearing under the seat in front and they let you out to stretch your legs every so often, and while I'll admit I don't have that much leg to stretch, that is always appreciated, if only to get the chance to use a loo that doesn't rock!) but, checking the service updates, see that the only services running down from Scotland at the moment are from Glasgow. National Express say they'll change and adapt tickets free of charge and I can get across to Glasgow by train so that's OK but fingers crossed the weather doesn't worsen.

Nice thing was that they've already asked for references which meant my line manager, who I get along with really well, spent this morning trying to get me to help her fill it in, give her spellings and threatening to only do a good reference if I bribe her with cake. Have promised cake if I get the job (I'm probably safe).



Spent last night trying to get to grips with The Plane Tree and Schottische a Bethanie. Have worked up a very basic base line for both tunes (fairly easy cause they're roughly the same tune just played slightly differently) that I'm happy with. Once I've got to grips with cross-rowing (which is mostly OK provided I don't go into the upper octave. It gets more complicated up there) I'll set about seeing what I can do to liven up the bases.
Still not sure whether they'll be having the Stramash since the one on Tuesday was cancelled because the school was shut. Will have to wait and see, I suppose.

Have had a hankering recently to invest in a barbour wax jacket again. I practically used to live in mine when I worked at the farm and the stables, even when it had to be tied together with baling twine. Have had cheaper versions since but they barely last at all. Since proper barbours average around £200, I was going to save and hope for a sale but then I suddenly thought of e-bay. Have now won a lovely, green (my favourite) wax jacket for under £40. Will see what it's like when I get it but the photos and descriptions specify no rips or tears and the zip is in working order. Basically, if this is true, then a barbour wax jacket can come back from anything. I think I still have my jar of Barbour jacket wax somewhere so shall be able to use that. Even better, on my way back from buying the postal order to pay for it, I saw a wren! Haven't seen one for years and there it was, sat in a tree, large as life (so to speak). Am really, really happy to have seen it.

In other news, the little old lady in my stair who made life so interesting for us all by, ever so sweetly, clearing all the snow off our doorstop every morning. With a kettleful of boiling water!!! has started doing it again. She means well and, although I tried to explain to her why this was a bad plan last year, it didn't sink in then and it obviously hasn't yet. Will have to resign myself to making sure I have hold of the railings every time I leave the burrow. Oh well, adds excitement to the mornings I suppose.

Ouch!

Feel very silly now. Was wandering through the burrow last night while reading a book and drinking a cup of tea when I managed to walk into one of the doorframes. This resulted in me managing to split the inside of my lip on my mug and spill the contents of said mug all over me. Fortunately the book was unscathed (having been in the other hand) and the mug seemed to have survived intact (although this was proved wrong this morning when I picked it up and the handle fell off. Luckily it was just a common or garden mug, not a favourite.). Anyhow, had fun clearing up the resulting mess, washing the tea (again, fortunately warm, not hot) out of my hair and the blood out of my jumper and am now trying not to smile cause it hurts (and this is proving difficult because there's been a number of people getting stuck in the carpark again. Some of them react in very bizarre ways!). I look a bit peculiar at the moment as the cut (which is little but quite deep) is completely on the inside of my mouth so all that is visible from the outside is the swelling and it looks like I've got cotton wool tucked up underneath my top lip! Apparently multi-tasking is not for me!

Anyhow, as well as all that kerfuffle, I also had a go at learning 'The Plane Tree' and the Schottische that sounds a bit like it but which I can't remember the name of, last night on the melodeon. Had a good deal of fun playing around with crossrowing and I think I may be getting the hang of it. May try and add chords in tonight.

In rapper news, sadly, due to injuries and people being blocked in by snow, our 2 rapper events this week are cancelled which is a huge shame but probably sensible. In fact the whole of the Scott's Selkirk Festival has been cancelled which is a huge shame for them as well as us and I hope it doesn't hit them too heavily.

In burrow tidying news, I managed to get my tent stowed away last night thanks to some creative folding and interesting use of the bed. This makes the burrow look so much clearer (It's amazing how much room a 2-person tent can take up) which makes me feel a lot more inclined to tidy which has to be a step in the right direction.

Caught up with the latest episode of The Edwardian Farm last night too. Liked the way they went into all the detail about how they gpt the eggs from the fish for the fish farm and how it didn't hurt them etc. etc. and then just completely glossed over how they got the milt to mix with them. To me this would seem like the more complicated process. Still, great fun to watch as ever.

Snow and CD Players.

Attempted to hoover up the psychotic spider on Friday evening with the little hoover. Pointed it at the spider (who continued to sit there in a nonchalant manner), turned it on and the whole thing just went 'clunk'! Spider then took a leisurely walk up the wall to the ceiling to be smug while I had a little swearing episode. Have now decided to adopt him as a pet since he seems to be remarkably resistant to, well, pretty much everything. I shall name hime Boris for that is what I call all spiders.
To balance up the defunct hoover, my 5 disc CD player started working again after 2 year on Saturday. (It died a sad death when I accidently watered a plant over it...). Suddenly remembered where I might have left a CD I've been hunting for for a while and tried turning it on to look in the trays and the thing just worked! What's more it worked perfectly, even with the remote. Alright, it has a minor quirk in that, if you don't unplug it but just click the standby button on the machine (or the remote, they both work, she said smugly), it turns itself back on after 5 minutes but I can live with that. Spent the weekend listening to Kerfuffle's 'Lighten the Dark' , Waterson Carthy's 'Holy Heathens and the Old Green Man' and Belshazzar's Feast's 'Frost Bites' cause the inches thick snow outside the window was making me feel wintery for some reason.
Didn't get anything else done this weekend other than make a nest on the settee out of my currently unfurled tent (which is what's causing a lot of the problem at the moment since I haven't got room to do anything with the tent unfurled but I can't roll up the tent because I don't have room. Bit of a catch 22 situation there.) and the spare duvet and read the Robert Carey books again.

Getting a little worried about this snow now. Never mind our 2 rapper events for this week (we've enough problems trying to field a side due to injuries, never mind thinking about how to get across to Selkirk if this doesn't clear) but I want to see Belshazzar's Feast's Christmas tour and never mind me managing to make it across to Cumbria, they might not make it across to Cumbria (although, weirdly, they stand a better chance of managing it than I do). On the plus side, since I may be down south the following weekend so I may be able to go the Nettlebed gig (crosses fingers that the snow will clear before then!) will have to play it by ear.

Having a fun day at work watching folks trying to drive in the car park in the snow. Lots of people revving their engines and just skidding all the more and it's scary the amout of people clearing snow from around their back tyres when it's very obviously a frontwheel drive car...not to mention the overuse of brakes.
Am missing Roger (not that he was a 4 wheel drive but he was heavy enough that the snow saw him coming and just gave up the ghost there and then.). Really think the driving test should include something about driving in snow. (and people really have no excuse for not being able to drive in snow after last year!)

We also appear to have a small person in the office. Hope that this is not a situation that lasts!

Spider Update

Got back from fiddle to find the spider back in the bathroom. I know it's the same one cause it went for the toothbrush when I prodded it with it. Left it trying to kill the toothbrush while I got myself sorted out then went back in after it. It's a nippy little bugger, at any rate and it's now sat on the wall just of reach of my glass and card and now it's waving it's front legs around.
It's just a little house-spider, not even a very big one and no idea why it's so angry (well, I supposed it could be cause I keep prodding it with stuff...).
Anyhow, have declared the whole affair a draw and have left it to calm down while it, no doubt, sits there and plots world domination. I'm getting a sort of jack russell vibe from it in that it actually appears to be a very big spider crammed into the body of a little one in much the same that jack russells are actually very big dogs condensed.

Archenemy in the Making

The Burrow has been invaded again. This time by a particularly aggressive spider. I encountered it in the bathroom and, seeing as I was about to take a shower, got a cotton bud thing to gently prod it out of the way. Usually, in this situation, the spider will raise it's front legs and then scuttle like a scuttly thing for cover, but not this one, oh no! This one didn't even bother raising it's front legs but just went for the end of the cotton bud and clung to it while appearing to visciously attack it. I'm not sharing a bathroom with you in that mood, thinks I, and carried it to the door, still trying to mangle the end of the cotton bud (the spider, not me!). Took me 5 goes to dislodge the little bugger! I'm now faintly worried that it's in a bunker somewhere plotting its revenge.

Work is going very slowly today due to the fact that they're repainting the lines in the carpark outside and the whole process is absolutely fascinating. I always wondered how they did the numbers and the little stick figures you find on walkways. I always thought that there must be some kind of template but no, there's a bloke out there doing it all freehand and as fast as you can blink. Very impressed really.

Rapper stuff in the pipeline (although probably not actually in a pipeline since it might be difficult to dance) includes dancing for an AID's benefit thing at our usual practice pub, The Village, in Leith which should be fun. The staff are really friendly and supportive there and they've been trying to get us to dance for various events for ages but we haven't been able to due to prior bookings or unavailability of dancers so it's lovely to finally be able to dance for them. There's a possible tour in Glasgow in early January and the possibilty of our first teaching workshop at around the same time. In December, we are once again heading Selkirkwards to dance at the Scott's Selkirk Festival which was a lot of fun last year, so stuff to look forward to.

As to my new stretchy scarf, must remember not to knot it tight around my neck like my previous one since, on letting go of the ends, this one contracts...

Stramash Tune

My old scarf gave up the ghost last night and unravelled. Now have a nice, new, very cheap scarf which, I did not realise until today, is stretchy! This came in useful when I was leaving the newsagents at lunch and, as so often happens, snagged the end of my scarf on the door handle. This would normally result in me being yanked backwards as the door shuts before I realise what has happened but, with this scarf, as the door shut, the scarf stretched and I had time to realise I was hooked and detatch it before I became door furniture. Huzzah for the stretchy scarf!

We're playing 'Song of the Chanter' (or some title aproximating that) in fiddle at the moment. It's a reasonably nice tune and it's what our class will be playing at the stramash a week on Thursday so shall be practicing that tonight. At least I have this weekend free to practice and to work on the melodeon (plus I'm getting the urge to have another go at the clarinet). At some point I will tidy, if only because I can no longer find anything at all and it would be nice to have a flat surface upon which I can start making my New Year's outfit.

Getting slightly worried about the weather. Desperately want to go and see Belshazzar's Feast when they play at Brigham Memorial Hall in December but if the weather sets in the way it's supposed to, I may not be able to get out that way and I shall be royally miffed. Not quite worried about New Year's Eve yet since the bus goes down fairly major motorways but the little roads in Cumbria are a little more concerning. Oh well, fingers crossed.

Bellowhead (Sheffield)

Having bid farewell to my fellow Spibods, I once again navigated the tube to Victoria and got on a bus to Sheffield. Once again a not very comfortable megabus trip but at least nobody tried to bash me in the face this time. Spent some time rambling around the Meadowhall shopping centre (and got some Percy Pigs from M&S. Bettyslippers keeps producing them at Bellowhead gigs and I think I'm becoming addicted!) and then headed off to find the Leadmill. I amused myself for a little while trying to find a bus station whose luggage lockers were useable till after the gig to stow my big bag but couldn't find one open long enough so resigned myself to having to keep it with me at the gig and ambled along to join the queue. Turns out I was the first in the queue which turned out to be fortunate since the queue organisation was appalling and the venue was a really funny shape. Ayhow, got in and took up station on the fiddle side of the stage (having seen the brass side the previous day) which allowed me to my bag on the other side of the barrier which was nice. Couldn't see any other spibods but I got chatting to the lass beside me who was good fun which was fortunate because two lads pushed their way to the front and they were right nyaffs for the whole gig, constantly mocking what was going on on the stage. Fortunately for me, they were on my deaf side and at least they seemed to like the dance numbers.
Another great gig from the 'Heads and lovely to see it all again from a different point of view with the fiddle section up to their usual antics. One very memorable note was the smoke machine which seemed to based right where the fiddles were and went into overdrive during the Rochester Coconut dance and first we lost the fiddle section, then we lost the rest of the band and then the people on either side of me disappeared! Could hear Jon Boden asking if we were still out there and asking if the machine could be turned off please and they eventually all hove into view again.
Highlights? Everybody's reaction to the fiddles disappearing, Paul Sartin hijacking Rachel McShane's chair when she was about to play the cello, Paul Sartin trying to land himself in deep water by asking for an interpreter (and those are some snazzy purple winklepickers that he seems to have gotten hold of!), Sam Sweeney apparently attempting to kill his cowbell during little Sally Racket and Pete Flood weaving an increasingly convoluted tale around 'Frog's Legs and Dragon's Teeth' while pleading for the band to start playing because he couldn't think of anything else to say. (Needless to say they just left him to it!).

Huge admiration for the band for keeping up that level of energy for so long. They've still a week left to go so I hope they don't run themselves into the ground.

After the gig, caught up with Shelley and Stephen who'd been at the other end of the stage which was nice and then set off to make the hour and a half walk back to the Meadowhall Interchange to get the bus back to Edinburgh. This seemed like such a good idea when I set out but by the time I was halfway there, my feet were agony. Then I got there and realised that was the least of my worries since they seem to have installed some sort of anti vandal device which plays loud, really bad music through the whole station. It was very effective. Given the choice I would have been out of there like a shot but I had to wait there for 2 hours and 45 minutes in the freezing cold and, by the time the bus arrived, I was homicidal! Anyhow another uneventful but supremely uncomfortable journey back to Edinburgh and was I glad I'd taken the Monday off this time cause I just about had the energy to shower when I got back before clambering in to bed and snoozing the day away. Got up in time to go to rapper which was fun despite me not really being awake and then back home and back to bed.

Don't think I can take much more travelling by megabus. I need to either find a job that pays enough for me to take the train or to move further south and I need to do it soon.
However, no matter how horrendous the various journeys were, they were still completely worth it for Bellowhead. Roll on New year is all I can say (as I settle down for a cup of tea in my new Bellowhead mug)

Bellowhead (London)

What a great weekend!

Had a fairly inauspicious start on the Friday evening when I decided to have beans on toast before heading for the bus. Was happily getting the beans into the microwave when there was an almighty bang behind me. When I picked myself back off the floor I discovered that front of the toaster had blown off and there was now bits of toaster and toast all over the floor. Another kitchen appliance bites the dust! Anyhow, cleared up most of the mess (although am still finding little bits on the floor now), ate the beans (after giving the microwave a stern look and reminding it of the one exploding item a day limit!), got myself packed and set off to catch the bus. Then had to get back into the burrow when I remembered half way down the road that I hadn't picked up my concert tickets!

Not the best megabus journey I've ever had. For starters the bus was an hour late and it was one of those buses without the footrests on the chair in front. Because I'm a little shorted than the norm, it meant I was continuously sliding off my seat and having to push myself back up which gave me a bit of a sore back and meant I was swearing to myself for most of my trip (which might have worried the person in the next seat somewhat). They also couldn't turn the heater off so, not only was it swelteringly hot (and this bus didn't let us out to stretch our legs anywhere so we wer stuck with it for over 9 hours!) but I had to sit with my legs twisted to the side to avoid burning my leg on the heater! Just to add to this, as we were setting off, the lad in front of me decided to put his seat back (and whoever decided that this facillity was a good idea on public transport wants shot. Space is limited enough without someone in front of you reducing it further!) and, if there was a safety device to stop it going back to far then it had obviously failed since the only thing that stopped me attending the Bellowhead gigs in my guise as Pandagirl was the fact that I managed to get my arm in front of my face before it hit me! (As it was, I now have a fairly badly bruised knee) And then the lad glanced back once and was going to leave his chair in that position! After a few words from me (and from the lad sat next to me who seemed a little startled by the whole thing as well) he put it back but tried to do it again half way through the trip. There should be a cull, there really should.
Needless to say, by the time I arrived in London I was stiff, irritated and exhausted. I decided to walk to Shepherd's Bush to orientate myself and stretch my legs and, having found where the Youth Hostel was for later, I bought myself a ticket for the 9am showing of Harry Potter meaning to have a nap in the warm while it was on. As it turns out, the film was actually quite good (couldn't stand the book. Overpadded and badly written wasn't it, but I suppose it got kids reading it and that's never a bad thing.) and I only slept a little bit. No matter, a couple of hours in a comfy chair at a nice temperature with no-one beside me worked wonders and when Firebird from the Spibod froum called to let me know she was at the Southbank Centre I decided to to risk the tube and meet her there. To my suprise, I had no problems on the tube (although the people using it were bloody rude and inconsiderate. Prefer the Metro.) and got to the Southbank Centre in no time at all. Course it was then that my phone ran out of money and I had to go searching for Firebird on the offchance. As it turned out, I found her fairly easily and we had a nice relaxing drink before we headed off to let Firebird and Bettyslippers try their hand at busking. It was their first time and I though they sounded pretty good. Having met up with Siansparkles we then headed back to Shepherds' Bush to book into the hostel and meet up with Sarahfairy.
After tea at the Stinging Nettle, we finally headed to the Shepherd's Bush Empire. It's a lovely venue which I had'nt been to before. There was a bit of queue to get in but Sarahfairy managed to get in early due to having an O2 phone and saved us some space.
The first support act was LucyFarrell and Jonny Kearney who were very sweet and listenable to and it was a shame that they had to sing over thepeople talking at the back of the room. The next support act was Matthew and the Atlas who were awful. I could have done what the accordionist was doing and I don't even play the accordion, their 2 brass players were completely wasted (although one of them did have a fairly stupendous moustache) and the lead singer seemed to think he was better than he actually was. Me and Bettyslippers amuse ourselves by trying to predict how many times they'd go 'Oooooooo'.
Finally it was Bellowhead and they were awesome. It should not be possible to cram that much energy on to one stage. A couple of firsts for me: Benji was playing and it's the first time I've seen him play with the band (if my experience was anything to go by, I'd have said James Fagan was the band member!) and he was very good, and it's also the first time I've been at the brass side of the stage and they were a huge amount of fun. Still unsure as to why Justin Thurgur was wearing a cassock but it obviously works for him so long may it continue. I'm starting to suspect that Andy Mellon actually runs on batteries cause he was bouncy as a bouncy thing and Brendan Kelly was all over the stage while Ed Neuheuser seemed to be havig a great time on the helicon. John Spiers was doing some amazing jumps in his really rather nice velvet suit and orange trainers and, at one point, Benji managed to get one foot on the rail right in front of us with the other still on the stage (although I'm even more impressed taht he managed to get back upright again otherwise!) Couldn't see as much of the fiddle section as I'm used to because a certain Mr Boden was in the way and you can't really ask him to move, especially when he was on such fine manic form, but they also seemed to be bouncing around like maniacs and they got us all dancing along with the Sloe Gin set and it's really nice to see Rachel McShane coming to the front of the stage more. Highlights? So many, Andy having to be pulled off the stage when he started playing up to the audience in Cholera Camp, Brendan barging Squeezy John out of the way to get to the microphone for Little Sally Racket, Squeezy threatening to poke Jon Boden in the side when he was holding a long note, Pete Flood trying to announce the last dance having finally made it to a microphone, Paul Sartin cheerfully calling South London a place of poverty and destitution, the list just goes on.
It was also really nice to be able to go back to the hostel and just enthuse about the whole thing with the others. Just a really great evening, even if we did get a fire alarm at 1am in the morning and had to be let back in by one of the hostel staff who appeared to be holding a newly cooked wrap and said that he wasn't around when the alarm went off when none of us had even asked. Little too specific a denial there methinks.

Mouse Burrow (Probably)

Enjoyed fiddle last night. Learning a new tune which is quite good fun (and which I can't currently remember the name of!) and we went over a bit more ornamentation.

I may have a mouse. Saw something fairly large moving out of the corner of my eye last night. Whatever it was, it had done a fairly impressive disappearing act when I went across the room to investigate but I'm damn sure I saw a tail. I suspect the cold weather has driven it inside and, when it discovers that it's actually colder in the burrow than it is in the garden, it'll decamp like they usually do but in the meantime, I may have to see if I can get hold of a trap because, while there's no food out (or, indeed, much in the burrow at all that isn't canned) there are still a lot of things it could chew and I'd rather all my festival kit and instruments remained in one piece. If it touches my books, I won't need a trap: I'll be able to explode it with my mind! I suppose I should be greatful that this is apparently a stealthy mouse as opposed to the usual culprits who come and sit in the middle of my rug and eyeball me while I'm trying to eat my tea. Lucky the little buggers don't frighten me really, I suppose, but I do object to the sheer bloody cheek that some of them have!

Well, have sent off a stewarding form to Cheltenham so will see what comes of that and I've sent off 2 more job applications so that's something else to wait for.

As for this weekend, well, on one hand I'm really dreading spending upwards of 18 hours on various coaches but, on the other hand, 2 Bellowhead gigs!!! Little bit excited, just a little bit!
Anyhow, setting off tonight then I've got all day to wander round London before I meet up with some of the Spibods at the Youth Hostel and head along to the Shepherd's Bush Empire. Am I going to make an effort to be right at the front? Course I am.

More Plans and Schemes

Started trying to cross-row with the melodeon last night. Think it's going to take a bit of getting used but I'm determined I shall manage. I have the John Kirkpatrick DVD to aid me in my endeavours. Am also experimenting with a different method of depressing the buttons (using the flat of my fingers rather than the tips like I would with piano). It seems to be working well so I may continue with it. Also got some fiddle pratice in. Seem to have hit a bit of a plateau with the fiddle at the moment so am trying out new tunes to keep my interest up. We're just starting to get into ornamentation in classes which is good fun and I cracked at Bromyard and invested in the Music Room fiddle tutor DVD so will give that a go after this weekend (really no point beforehand!). If I'm ever going to play for dancing on either of these instruments I need to really start thinking about what I'm doing. I think now might be the time to concentrate on 6/8 jigs and see if I can get a bit of speed up so I can have a go at playing for some stepping at rapper practice and get used to it. Hmm, will see.

Festivals are starting to rear their heads again. The skeleton outline had gone up for Shrewsbury and it's looking very good. Think I'll be buying a ticket again this year rather than stewarding cause there's too much I don't want to miss! Still waiting for the Sidmouth line-up to go up but I think I'll be going regardless so will have to save up for that too. The Big Session is a definite of course and so is Oxford (but I may offer to steward for that this year.). We're dancing at Holmfirth and I'm currently considering Cheltenham (Cause Jon Boden and the remnant Kings are playing there and I'd like to see them and there's also Nancy Kerr and James Fagan and Pete Coe. May see if I can steward though) and the line-up for Bristol is looking good too. Decisions, decisions.

Well, fiddle practice tonight (missed last week cause I was panicking about Witney!) so that should hopefully be fun and must make sure that I've got everything sorted for my weekend Bellowhead extravaganza.

Shaved Donkey Overload

Fingers sore from practicing melodeon for hours last night (upstairs neighbours are doing really noisy DIY to absolutely silly times so, rather than complaining, I'm taking advantage and practicing my growing collection of instruments for longer than usual) with occasional breaks for fiddle. My neighbours probably now know 'Shave the Donkey' as well as I do...

Caught up with the first episode of Edwardian Farm on the i-player last night. I do love these series and this one doesn't look like it's going to be an exception. The lime kiln was particularly interesting (and I did like the complete singlemindedness of the ram and the complete lack of interest among the ewes themselves! In my experience, ewes are only ever really interested in a ram if he's not supposed to be there!). Also watched Misfits which was hilarious and I may keep an eye on it.

Finally got round to hunting for my Bellowhead tickets last night. Found them (thankfully!) but the bed has now disappeared under all the stuff I emptied out while doing so. Spent last night on the sofa which has persuaded me that tonight's first job is hunting for the bed! Anyhow, tickets are now ensconced in my temporary safe ticket place (a different spot on the mantlepiece) and plans are afoot to try and provide a more sensible system. Moles may be involved.

More job applications to fill in tonight so that should be dull but will make me feel like I'm doing something constructive in between fiddle and melodeon jags.

A new lock has now appeared on our stair's front door which is interesting. I've been given keys but no-one has said anything about it (and my landlady would have mentioned it) so that will be fun to watch. If they're wanting everyone to chip in for it without prior consultation then they're a bit buggered cause that will not be covered by a statutory notice.

Only 3 more days to Bellowhead!

Melodeons at Witney

Well, Friday saw me catching the coach down to Oxford again. Interesting trip down: there were only 3 of us on the whole coach but a woman still sat in front of me and tried to put her chair back! I took the opportunity to move to another seat while she just looked bewildered. A cull is really the only option. Still didn't manage to sleep (although I remembered my travel pillow so at least I was bit more comfortable) Anyhow, got down to Oxford where I got the bus to Witney with no trouble (Thanks to all the advice form the spibods who told me to look out for the church to know where to get off) and arrived early enough to go looking for my B&B so that I could find it later.

Got back to Henry Box school in plenty of time to meet up with friends before registration and then it was off to my first workshop. This was Liam Robinson's 'Getting it Together' workshop which proved to be tremendous fun. He was a good teacher and very funny and made the whole thing easy to understand with lots of useful tips which I can't wait to have ago at. Don't think he's entirely sane, mind!
Enjoyed lunch with some of the other workshoppers at an interesting pub and just made it back in time for the afternoon.Having coped with the workshop fine, I still managed to mess up the tune in the afternoon squeeze, partly due to my inherent nervousness at playing in front of other people and partly due to not being used to being so close to other people when playing. The other groups sounded great and it was fun to listen to what they'd been learning.
Set off to my B&B (which was lovely and friendly and would definitely stay there again) meaning to have a quick nap and then head back to see the concert but, sadly, woke up at 23.00 so completely missed the whole thing, although, given even the owner of the B&B said I looked much better in the morning, I obviously needed the sleep.
Sunday saw me doing the 'adding the Base Line' workshop with Issy Emeney who was nice and a good teacher but very odd. Still trying to get my head round the A minor, B minor and D7 chords so have a lot of stuff to work on and she gave us a lot of exercises to be going on with which I think will be useful.
Had a thoroughly enjoyable lunch in a very nice pub with some of the others (although, if that soup was tomato and basil I will eat my melodeon. It was very nice soup though regardless)
managed better in the group squeeze this time but didn't even attempt the Main group tune. Enjoyed listening to it though.
Best line of the weekend goes to Saul Rose who, on hearing Liam Robinson's explanation of what his group had been up to on Sunday which ended with him saying that not doing something made the melodeon fairies sad, commented to Liam's group, 'I think we can all see what kind of day you lot have had!'
Was really quite sad to leave Witney, which is a very pretty place, but I managed to get my bus back to Oxford with no trouble where I sat reading in a pub for 5 hours waiting for my coach. Trip back was uneventful (although the hour's wait for the change at Milton Keynes at midnight was freezing!) but I still didn't get any sleep which meant I was knackered at work on Monday and ended up having to take a half day to get an afternoon nap. I suspect my days of managing to go for days with no sleep may be coming to a close. That said though, I might just have hit the wrong part of my sleep cycle as I still do get periods when I don't sleep for days or get by with an hour's sleep at night. It might even just be that the bus was so uncomfortable or that I was concentrating so hard at the workshops. Anyhow, at least it was cheap.

Really enjoyed Witney and learned a lot. If I can afford it, I may consider doing the fiddle on in February.

Still managed to get to rapper on Monday evening though (even though I don't remember much of it). Trina gave me my icing melodeon and mole (which is currently sitting on the kitchen worktop) and we discussed finding someone to dance with us at DERT so we'll see where that goes. Trina, it seems, had an absolutely wonderful time at the Bellowhead gig on Sunday so I'm now really, really looking forward to seeing them on Saturday and Sunday (even if it does mean another Megabus trip. Think I'll take the Monday off this time!)

Odd Day and Bad News

Had a fun day on Saturday. Started by pratcicing melodeon with Trina and Kev before heading along to Bennets to start the tour. There was a bit of a fight before we started up (well it sounded like one, I stood no chance of seeing over the crowd!) but the customers had settled down enough that we got a good reception, even when my sword snapped leaving me clutching the swivel handle and pretty much nothing else. There was even a bit of blood (a teeny tiny bit but blood nonetheless)! We also danced at the Old Toll where we got cornered by a very bad, very drunk 'poet' (gods, he was awful) and Lock 25 where we ran into a stag party who got us to take the groom-to-be through single guard and a lock. We finished off by dancing 2 dances at The Welcoming Ceilidh which went down very well (despite some fairly ropey stepping).
Meant to tidy the burrow on Sunday. Filled in job applications instead. Still, at least it was productive in one way.

Today was a bit of a weird day all told. Started off with not being needed for Jury Service then a truly boring day at work. Got home and tried to call the court phone line to see if I would be needed tomorrow but the message was still talking about Monday so that was no help. Wombled along to rapper and we nearly had a full complement for once which was nice. We tried dancing Swalwell and we tried doing the Steak Pie dance with everybody in different positions which was great fun. I love dancing rapper and will dance it anyway I can, I realise that the height difference also limits the positions I can dance if people are tumbling but I have been getting desperately, desperately bored with dancing 2 all the time (and dancing 4 occasionally is not much of a change) so it was really nice to dance 3. Trina also produced an amazing birthday cake for me (had completely forgotten myself) in the shape of a fantastically detailed melodeon (it had little screws and an air button and everything!) being watched by a mole. It was also in the nature of being a 'jenga cake' where the cake underneath the icing was actually little caramel squares and the team had fun trying to grab bits without dislodging the icing. On the bad news front however, it doesn't look like we've got a team for DERT. Will still try and go down but it's not the same when you're not dancing. May try contacting the Mabels later and seeing if they need any help stewarding. May as well be useful.

Got home and found the court had finally changed the message and I'm not needed tomorrow either and it appears that that's the end of my Jury Duty which is a relief really and at least it's all over and done with now.

Too Excited to Breathe

Well, have booked my ticket for Bellowhead's New Year's Gig at the Southbank Centre. I'm staying at a hostel with 6 friends from the forum and I've sorted out my travel (Megabus, unfortunately. Still, return from Edinburgh to London for under £12...but, still, megabus) so all I have to do now is sort out a costume. The theme is circus and cabaret and while there is a lot of discussion going on about corsetry, I don't fancy spending the whole night in tights, feathers and/or sequins so I am considering being a performing dog. I have an elizabethan ruff but I can probably make a sparklier net one with marching wrist ruffs and I can easily make a little clown hat and I have dark trousers and top. I can make a tail and either create some floppy ears or just not get my hair cut and tie it in high bunches. Add some black face paint to give me a doggy nose and possibly eye patches (although that could end up with me as a performing panda!) and that could be me. This would also pack down really well and not to chilly for hanging around outside in London at night. Yep, that idea is growing on me. (After all, I am the girl who turned up to a reenactors' pirate party, where all the other lasses were in corsets and high heeled boots, as a parrot. I have a reputation to maintain! I think the most worrying thing about that night was that I was wearing a red wig, red face paint and a big beak and everyone still instantly knew who I was...)

Need to do some more melodeon practice for Witney tonight and have another go at tidying the burrow (nothing changes!). Might try and get to see Burke and Hare at the cinema this weekend or I might go and see Red again (very silly but enjoyable film. The only film, in fact, where I've ever liked John Malkovitch) and, at some point, I should really work out how the gears on my bicycle work. Last time I cycled regularly, bicycles had 3 gears and I wasn't particularly good at using those. Now there seem to be hundreds of the buggers and, while I understand the theory of using gears while cycling perfectly well, I haven't yet worked out how to make the bloody things work on the actual bike! At least I'm avoiding the whole ninja cyclist business so prevelant in Edinburgh. I have enough lights and reflective clothing on when I'm cycling that I'm probably visible from space. I probably leave swathes of blinded drivers in crashed cars behind me as I go (on my very, very slow way)

Things to Come

Well, first to start off with this morning's really annoying incident. Was standing on the traffic island waiting to cross the rest of the road (normal lane and bus lane) when man in a range rover stopped and waved me across. All very nice, except I'd seen the taxi zooming up beside him in the bus lane so I stayed on the island while I waited to see what the taxi did (since I couldn't see it behind the range rover and it was going a fair speed). Within 10 seconds, the stopped driver went from exaggerated gesticulating to really swearing at me for not crossing. As it was, the taxi did shoot past and, if I'd gone with his gesticulations, I'd be a bit of a mess on the road by now but that didn't seem to phase him in the least. It's quite common for drivers to stop there to let people across and just not register that there's traffic in the lane beside them (mainly because if one driver stops, the drivers behind often decide to undertake them in the bus lane!) but I've never seen them get so mad at people for not crossing when they say, never mind so quickly.



Needless to say I was a little annoyed when I got into work this morning and I'm now thinking of taking Mouldy the Mole back out with me to wave at people who annoy me thereby relieving my frustration by causing confusion and worry in others!



Anyhow, fiddle practice tonight. Quite pleased with how my fiddle playing is coming along and, when I've upped my knowledge of scottish tunes (my current repertoire tends heavily towards the english at the moment), I'll head back to the slow session again because I enjoyed it when I went along last time (Just wasn't familiar with most of the tunes.)



We have a rapper dem at a ceilidh (and probably a little tourette) this weekend which I had forgotten all about. Have had no rapper practice for 3 weeks so I might be a little rusty. Should probably do a bit more stepping practice tonight. Also off to practice melodeon (and I have a nice new Hohner Pokerwork melodeon (well, to me, anyway) since Ellie let me try her melodeon at Bromyard and I haven't been able to play my cheap Stephenelli since!) with others of Mon Meg on Saturday.



Lots of concerts and workshops coming up. I'm down in Witney first for the Melodeons at Witney Workshop which I'm really looking forward to but really nervous about at the same time, then I have tickets for 2 Bellowhead gigs for the new tour (London and Sheffield, same weekend), then I have to catch one of Belshazzar's Feast's Christmas gigs (They're playing a few up in Cumbria so I may have to hire a car for an evening) followed by Phil Cunningham's Christmas gig in Edinburgh and closing out at New Year (hopefully, if I can get tickets) with Bellowhead's New Year's Event at the Southbank. Then, come the New Year, I've booked for the 'Learn Smallpipes in 1 Day' workshop at Celtic Connections and the Spiers & Boden and Saltfishforty gig. Plus there's the Spiers & Boden Birthday gig in May at the Shepherds Bush Empire. Lots of stuff to look forward to.

In the meantime, I am taking advantage of the fact that I really feel like me for the first time in a fair few years and the fact that I always get a little restless in the Autumn, to sort myself out. Am currently applying for jobs like a little jobfinding fiend while, at the same time getting in touch with my Postgrad Dean to find out what I can do next in the medicine line. Whichever happens, I'm getting out of my current job, whatever it takes. Will also be looking for a new flat when I've worked out where I'm going to be. Want to move on in all ways.

Ooops! Catch-up.

Oops, have neglected this shamefully this year. Mostly due to having way too much fun stuff to do and being either far too knackered or off to write anything inbetweentimes.

Shall try to recap.

Festivals I Have Been To.

Holmfirth - Great fun. Spent most of it hanging around with Stone Monkey Rapper who are lovely and saw, amongst others, Belshazzar's Feast, Rachel McShane and Pete Coe who were all brilliant. Got hugged by a morris dancer who was dancing on (took me a second to work out who it was!) and had a great evening in the session at the Cricket Club.
The Big Session - Just as awesome as last yeareven with the pouring rain on the Friday. Oysterband were brilliant in both their gigs, Chopper's solo stuff is lovely, Alan's stuff was great fun again. Saw the Proclaimers and realised a lifetime ambition I never knew I had (to hear them sing '500 Miles' live), really enjoyed Cara Dillon's set (which was a surprise since I can usually take or leave her stuff), loved Kerfuffle, enjoyed dancing to Whapweasel and discovered Megson and the Moulettes.
Ely Folk Festival - Blazingly hot weather, lovely little festival. Thoroughly enjoyed myself. Oysterband, Faustus, Demon Barbers, The Woodshed, Beckleberry, Chris Sherburn and Denny Bartley, Colvin Quarmby and John Tams and Barry Coope were all amazing. Met loads of people I knew, had fun at the French dance workshop and got thoroughly freaked out by how flat the land is there. Awesome weekend.
Whitby Folk Week - Amazing week. Hung around with Snark Rapper, played my fiddle in the beginners' sessions, learnt some cool new rapper figures, danced my socks off, loved the Dance Challenge between Chiltern Hundreds and Snark rapper, had an awesome night with all the sword dancers at Beck Hole, got to watch sam Sweeney and Hannah James while stewarding and had a really good time at the Northumbrian Ceilidh.
Shrewsbury - So much fun. Saw and loved Bellowhead, Belshazzar's Feast, Kerfuffle (last gig!), The Young 'Uns, The Wilsons, Kerr and Fagan (with and without Rob Habron), Fay Hield, Karen Matheson, Tickled Pink. All brilliant! Managed to play my fiddle through the Beginners' Session and loved John Kirkpatrick's 'Playing for Dancing' workshop.
Bromyard - Fun despite the rain. Belshazzar's Feast and Mike Wilson and Damien Barber were probably my favourites (both time both bands played) but Show of Hands, James Findlay, Fay Hield and Tri were also great fun. Whapweasel's ceilidh was lovely and I took my melodeon out for the first time for Issey Emney's workshop.

Concerts

Belshazzar's Feast - Saw them in Settle. Absolutely brilliant and so funny.
Spiers and Boden and Saltfishforty - Saw them in St Andrews. Enjoyed both of them as duos and they all played together really well in spite of the differing styles.
Mozart Festival Orchestra - Saw them in The Royal Albert Hall. Music was fantastic and the costumes were lovely. Might have accidently threatened to kill (and it was an honest accident) some german tourists beside me who would not stop talking (well, they did afterwards)
Bellowhead - Got an invite to the launch of Bellowhead's new album 'Hedonism' down in London. It was brilliant! They were so good in such a small space (and it was scary just how much of the audience I knew!) The new album is brilliant and they played it all the way through.
Spiers and Boden - saw them in Berwick. Really lovely weekend (got stared at by the seals off the pier) and the music was lovely and hilarious.

Rapper

Been a bit of a quiet year for rapper since DERT. We had one tour down Rose Street in the summer (fun but the football was on which dampened things a little.) We danced at the Anstruther Lifeboat Gala and then finished with a tourette in St Andrews which was good fun. We had a good day of practice for the DART team at The Village where I had another go at tumbling. Still not quite there but getting closer and I'm not giving up. We also had another soiree at The Village. Little more subdued for some reason than the previous one but still fun before we ended up at Trina's for mystery cocktails (which, is suspected, mostly consisted of vimto and slivovitz!). Apparently our team went down well in america at DART and I'm not jealous, not jealous at all.


In other areas, have got rid of Roger. There was too much too fix and parking was becoming an absolute nightmare. In one way it's incredibly annoying since I now really have to think hard before I want to go places again but in another way, it's a huge load off my mind. I managed before I got him, I'll manage again.
Attended the wedding of some reenactment friends at Craigmillar Castle. Lovely day, they both looked lovely in their medieval gear (ashamed to say I was in civvies since none of the kit I have is fit to be seen in nice places and I haven't had a chance to do any sewing this year), the company was good and there was a barn owl to drop off the rings.
Only managed one re-enactment event this year but it was a fun event in Inverness (where I managed to get quite a nasty sunburn despite linen coverings and factor 50 suncream!), multiperiod event at Fort George. Lovely to see the other time periods and nice to see the rest of the group as well.
Spent 2 weekends with Freaks in the Peaks. One was a normal dance weekend with blazing hot weather, and some fantastic sessions and the other was the canal trip which was wonderful. I ended up on the boat with Triskele rapper and we had a huge amount of fun on the gin slum as our boat became known. Some good fun dances (including the somewhat drunk gentleman who ran through the middle of a set with no trousers and only his hand to hide his modesty (as was pointed out later, he didn't really need the whole hand...) and some lovely scenery.

Lots of stuff coming as well. Will actually try to keep this thing up to date from now on.

Domestic Weekend

Why is it that, when you attend a meeting you really don't want to last too long, there's always one numpty ready to stretch it out for no apparent reason?! The election training would have taken long enough without the gentleman who decided to keep butting in with stories and sarcastic remarks about his previous experience working the elections. The majority of us had done it before, we all had experiences like that but did we go on about them? No. Why not? Well, it was a Friday evening and we all wanted to get home before 9pm.

I ended up going to see Repo Men at the cinema on the way home to cheer myself up. Not a bad film, the premise was interesting and the acting was good but the direction was a bit daft (especially the main finale scene. Some of the most laughable and medically dubious actions I have ever seen). The twist wasn't really unexpected (you could see it coming from the first time someone mentioned it) but I've seen worse films and it made me laugh (albeit, not always at the right things but you take what you can get).

Saturday, I wombled into town to get some type of fabric throw type things to cover the glass doors in the burrow (and who the hell uses a glass door for a bathroom?!) since the posters I've been using are starting to disintergrate. On the way in, I passed the Farmers' Market which I usually miss cause I'm either doing stuff or don't remember it's on so I took the opportunity to have a ramble. Ended up buying a game pie (venison, wild boar and pheasant) which was one of the yummiest things I've ever eaten. May have to try and go along next week and hope that trader is there again.
Anyhow, managed to get some cheap throws and a tin whistle in D (I don't know how I got that either) and set off back to the burrow where I spent the rest of the day doing random bits of frenzied tidying interspersed with lots of musical instrument (especially now that I seem to have added another one!). Finished the day by watching Doctor Who on i-player. Much better episode than last week and it's a 2 parter which always seems to work better.

On Sunday, I remembered to put my tent out to air (the weather was good when I put it away at Oxford but the underside was very wet). Sadly, my putting the tent on the line was obviously the signal the rain gods were waiting for and I now have a burrow full of even wetter tent that I am trying to air out. Almost thought there was going to be a thunderstorm yesterday what with the general mugginess and humidity but, nothing doing.

Have been eyeing up Bellowhead's November tour dates. It looks like the Edinburgh date is going to clash with the melodeons weekend at Witney (which I really want to go to), however, having looked at buses and dates, I think that I could go down to the one in London which is on a Saturday, see folks down that way and then see the gig at Sheffield on the Sunday before heading back up north... There's still a couple of dates that haven't been confirmed yet so, if one of them's Gateshead, I may womble along to that too.

Falkirk and Election Woes

Well, Falkirk last night (although we did have a text from James at one point asking if we said Falkirk or Selkirk which caused a few moments ofamusement). We started off dancing at the Folk Club at Argyles with Winalot. Not our best dance, stepping was atrocious, but it went down well enough. We then scarpered off to dance in 2 more pubs. Neither had many people in (the second only had 2) but they were all very appreciative and we are apparently welcome to come back which is always nice. James got his first dance out with us in the second pub which (apart from him desperately trying to escape in Strangler) went really well. We then returned to Argyles to do the Steak Pie dance.This went a lot better than the Winalot but the stepping was still truly horrible. Dot and Ian both did turns and we stayed to the end of the night before heading home. I do wish I had the nerve to get up and do stuff like that but it's still really fun just to sit and listen.

Apparently I managed to miss my election training session last night (hadn't realised it was that date) and got a very patronising phone call this morning telling me off for it. I wouldn't mind, I did stuff up after all and they do want reliability but I've been working the election for quite a few years now and I haven't put a foot wrong and I really wasn't in the mood for being patronised which possibly led me to be a little breezy about missing it on the phone which, I suspect, was not the attitude they were looking for. Upshot is that I have a replacement session at 7pm tonight. There goes my evening.

Oxford Folk Festival 2010 (Sunday)

On Sunday, I decided to try a couple of workshops which started off with the Hands On Workshop at the Bate Museum where we got to handle and (attempt) to play some of the instruments. We had great fun and some folks managed to get some tunes out of the various instruments (although not, apparently, the hurdy gurdy!). I was really taken with one of the crumhorns. It had a really nice sound and was surprisingly easy to get a scale out of and I now sort of want one...
After that I went along to the harp workshop which was also very good. I also want a harp!
After this, I went back to the Town Hall to visit the craft fair again and succumbed to the lure of the bowler hats. I am now the owner of a very nice hat with jewels along the hatband and some feathers. I must now make a new tatter coat to match the hat (although my current one will probably go well enough for now). The lassie who was selling them seemed very surprised that poeple wanted to buy them which was fairly funny.
I then headed back to the Far From the Madding Crowd for the french session which had some great tunes and a little bit of dancing. After a couple of drinks, I met up with some of the BFP's and went to see Karen Tweed and Paul Hutchinson. Underrehearsed and chaotic would be one way to describe them as they occasionally found themselves playing the wrong parts or had to search frantically for sheet music that was on the stand all the time, but they were so funny and the music was lovely that I thoroughly enjoyed it. I particularly liked the suggestion that, since they didn't have a CD out together, that we could play one each of their CD's at the same time, followed by the susggestion that we could run up and down the hallway for a doppler effect.

After a quick break to the icecream place for (in my case anyway) a Freeze (sorbet and lemonade. Lovely!) we went back to the Town Hall to see Maqam (Giles Lewin and others playing arabic music). They were very good but hit just at the wrong part of the day as I was a little drowsy and the music was very lulling. Managed not to fall asleep but it was a near run thing.
We then headed to the Cornbury stage to listen to (and sing along with) Ian Giles. This was really good fun with some really funny songs we could join in with. The Festival finished with What's Up Folk, a (large) group of kids from John Spiers' old school that he's done some work with in the past. Some very good performances (although we weren't too sure about them doing Kafoozalum. At least they didn't sing the words.) The lassie who sang solo was very good (although a slightly diconcerting choice of song for someone her age) and the 3 lads (one of which was also the trombonist who was really going for it!) who sang were also good.

We then headed off for tea before folks set off home. Since 2 of us were staying till the Monday, we headed off to The Bird and Baby (which I'm fairly sure is a nickname but I can't remember what it's real name is) where we drank green beer for the sheer novelty and just chatted before I finally headed back.

The coach trip back was a bit of a nightmare since it got delayed so it took over 10 hours and I was close to a kid who would not shut up whining. I got through 3 books (have just started reading Patricia Briggs who I'm quite enjoying) and listened to a lot of Bellowhead on the i-pod to get through it.
Still, totally worth it. I'm already trying to work out which of Bellowhead's November tour dates I can make it to and very much looking forward to Holmfirth where I'm going to see Rachel McShane and Belshazzar's Feast. It was also really lovely to meet so many people from the forum. Everyone was so friendly and it was really nice to have a group of people that I could just randomly meet up with when I felt like it and do stuff with. Will hopefully be running into them again at various festivals through the year.

Am now seriously starting to consider moving down south. Most of the stuff I want to do is down that way and I would save myself so much time and money taken up by travel. It would have to be somewhere with a rapper side and a strong folk scene. Am going to have to sit myself down at some point and have a very serious think.

Last night I was supposed to go over to a friend's for tea and DVD's. Instead I ended up helping her pull up the bathroom carpet in her old flat due to a leak. Still, it was nice to see her and we had pizza and a chat afterwards.

Still waiting to hear what is happening with Falkirk. Hope we cans till do it.

Oxford Folk Festival 2010 (Saturday)

On Saturday, I again wombled into town and watched the morris parade. It was brilliant to see a street full of morris dancing, all colour and music and bells. I then went to see Luke Daniels and The Gael Academy. The kids were pretty good and Luke Daniels is a very good melodoen player (although he doesn't seem to use the bases which I think is a very irish way of playing) but he wasn't the most charismatic talker between the tunes. No matter, his playing made up for it.
Then came Spiers and Boden. It was supposed to be Torivaki but, due to the whole icelandic volcano kerfuffle, they couldn't make it over from France. However, the same lack of flights also meant that Messers Spiers and Boden couldn't fly out to their gig in Austria so we got them instead. Well worth it. They were brilliant. Fantastic music, hilarious banter and a really enthusiastic audience made it a wonderful set.

Spent most of the afternoon sitting at the castle with a BFP (Bellowhead Forum Person) eating ice cream and watching the morris dancing. I especially liked Bristol Morris (which included the lad who'd tommyed for Bristol Rapper at DERT). Wasn't too keen on the rapper dancers we saw on the way to the castle mind. There were 2 sides dancing together, 1 male, 1 female with some very odd 'red indian' face paint'. The stepping (such as it was) was very peculiar, the spins used the irish stepping which you see a fair bit with american sides and produces very slow spins in rapper and the sword handling was, to say the least, wimpy. Made me feel so much better which, I suspect, makes me an evil gremlin.
We got chased out of the castle by the belly dancers who, while good, just went on for too long and were dancing to taped music which, after all the live stuff for the morris, just didn't cut it. So, after a brief pause to tell a passing Jon Boden how much we enjoyed the set, we hurried back to the Town Hall to get seats for The Demon Barber Roadshow. They were on really good form. The clogs, the morris, the rapper and the music all gelled together into one huge ball of energy which nearly had me stepping in my seat.

A fair few of BFP's then met up to go for tea at a nearby pub which was very nice but a bit slow which meant we didn't manage to get into the celidh which was a shame but we had a wander around the craft fair (where one of our number bought a rather splendid bowler hat decorted with cartoon character badges) before we headed off to the pub 'Far From the Madding Crowd for a few drinks before decamping to the campsite (so to speak).

Oxford Folk Festival 2010 (Friday)

Well, the coach journey down wasn't great but could have been worse I suppose. managed to get throught the whole of 'Changes'. Jim Butcher's writing hasn't slipped at all and the book is a real rollercoaster ride where you're never quite sure who's going to make it. Harry Dresden does some really scary things and yet they're all believable given the circumstances. As for the ending, it was a bloody cliffhanger and yet I didn't mind. Can't wait for the next installment (If there is a next installment. The cliffhanger could be taken a lot of ways!)

Anyhow, arrived in Oxford at around 7.00am and, since I couldn't get onto the campsite till 12.00pm, I decided to have a general wander round. Fortunately, the weather was gorgeous and I set off to explore. Oxford is really lovely. I've never been before (and I could never stand 'Morse') so I didn't really have any idea what to expect but it really was pretty (even allowing for the fact that the weather was probably showing the city to it's best advantage).
Wombled off to the campsite for 12.00 and found it was very nice and friendly (although it turned out to be fairly noisy at night due to being next to some mechanical business of some description so I was fairly grateful for my hearing quirks), set up my tent and found I was camping next to one of the Bellowhead Forum members so it was lovely to meet up with someone else down there. I had a nap for the rest of the afternoon and then set off to the Town Hall to collect my ticket. There I met up with more Bellowhead Forum members and we went for a really rather nice indian meal before heading back for the Friday evening concert.
Once in the hall, I headed straight for the front where I was met by a whole host of Bellowhead Forum members who were incredibly friendly and enthusiastic and it was just really nice to be able to put names to faces.
The first act on was 'Telling the Bees', a band from Oxford who I've never heard before. Really enjoyed their set, very mellow and yet oddly haunting (bought one of their CD's at the weekend as well, which I've really enjoyed.)
Next up was Maclaine Colston and Saul Rose who were brilliant. Good music, funny banter and just really enjoyable. Sadly, cause we were sat on the floor at the front and not everyone else was, we didn't get a great view but the music more than made up for it.
Then it was Bellowhead. They were amazing. Chaotic, funny, very silly and just so full of energy. It was their 6th birthday party so the band were batting balloons into the audience and letting off party poppers (or trying to in some cases) everywhere and, at one point, wearing false noses! Jon Boden managed to throw his coat off in Fire Marengo so that it landed on his own head. He managed to keep singing so it was a shame that half the fiddle section nearly collapsed in giggles. Very funny. They played a fair few tunes from the album they've just finished recording which were great fun and have guaranteed that I'll be buying the CD when it comes out around October if only for the song Paul Sartin introduced as being about something very dear to the band's hearts;- 'Funky Wizard Sex'!. I don't think I've ever bounced so much. Did get a bit startled at one point when a party popper went off and landed on my head. There was an absolutely manic giggle behind me as the streamers got lifted up and I turned round thinking that it was still one of the other lasses behind me, only it wasn't. It was Saul Rose. Ye gods, he's tall. Anyhow, I think I can safely say that Bellowhead have now joined the Oysterband as my joint first favourite band and I can't wait to see them again.

After we got chucked out of the Town Hall, a few of us headed off to a late night ice cream parlour place where I had some very nice passion fruit sorbet before walking back to the campsite. Apparently there was ice on my tent that night but, due to a combination of me still being hyper from the concert and a nice new snuggly sleeping bag, I never noticed.

Bounce and Books

'Changes', the latest Dresden File novel by Jim Butcher arrived last week. I really, really want to read it but, again, I think bad things are going to happen to the characters so I've been trying to put it off. I think I will take it to Oxford with me cause that worked with Whitby with the last one.

Speaking of which, off to Oxford tonight (on a 10 hour coach journey which I'm not really looking forward to) so the weekend starts here. So excited! Have been writing out lists of stuff to calm me down a bit but it's not working that well.

Have to head off to Linlithgow tonight after work to pick up a parcel which should have been left at my door last night. I would leave it but I'll not have another chance to collect it before it would get sent back. Besides, it's a new sleeping bag which I ordered because my current one is going at the seams (again, like my rucksack, it was a cheap thing that's seen some hard use and is even older so fair enough) so I can take that along to Oxford and be nice and cosy.

Damnit! I want to be in Oxford now!

Extra Bounce and Needle Attacks!

Spent last night trying to get the hallway clear and I succeeded but only because everything is now in the sitting room!. Never mind, it means that the meter reading whatsit can get to the meter (and he had better come tonight!).

Tonight I will mostly be packing for Oxford since I'm getting the coach on Thursday night. Will also be reinforcing the bottom of the soft bag I bought at IVFDF since it always tends to go in bags like that and it's useful and I would like it to last.

Very, very excited. Have printed off all my booking things (campsite, coach and festival ticket) and the venues map and have been listening to Bellowhead CD's and DVD at all opportunities.

Have also booked bits and bobs for Holmfirth (These would be camping and tickets to go and see Belshazzar's Feast and Rachel McShane) so excited about that too. Add to that the fact that the Freaks in the Peaks Canal trip is sneaking up on me and I am a bouncy little gremlin indeed.

Got a little bit of the bounce knocked out of me last night when I managed to bring my hand down hard on the blunt end of a needle (well I will use the settee arm as a pincushion). It went pretty deep and I now have a slightly swolled and reddened puncture wound in the centre of my left hand. Will have to keep an eye on that (boom, boom!) Anyhow...

Looking around at stuff last night, I really, really need to have a big clear out (not just a big tidy!) The chest of drawers in the hall can certainly go (especially since I think the only thing keeping it upright is the stuff inside it!) and I can replace it with a cheap basket stand thing from Ikea or some such cause most of the stuff inside it can be binned too. All the books are sacrosanct, as are the CD's but there's a lot of DVD's I can see if I can sell to one of those second hand DVD shops. There's also a lot of reenactment kit I just don't use any more, mostly because it's rubbish so it'll be a case of binning rather than selling on. There's also the electronic items graveyard (hoovers, kettles, irons, heaters etc) that I seem to be hanging on to for unknown reasons. They can definitely go.

Anyhow, while not loking forward to another overnight coach journey (and the fact that I arrive in Oxford at around 07.45 but can't get in to the campsite till 12.00), I am definitely having problems containing the bounce being generated by this weekend. I've never been to Oxford before and am quite keen to see round it (please let the weather be nice!) and, as well as Bellowhead, I'm really looking forward to seeing MacLaine Colston and Saul Rose, The Demon Barber Road Show, Paul Hutchinson and Karen Tweed (I think they are going to win out over the northumbrian pipes workshop) and going to the workshops (I'm aiming for the singing and harp playing ones and possibly some morris) and, of course I will be keeping my eyes peeled for rapper since I think Black Adder will be there.

DERT 2010 (Part 2)

After the prizes, we headed along to the Exeter. We had a bit of a chat with Hexham rapper (Who, we found placed just ahead of us in the Open. We were, apparently, eighth! Not bad for our first time competing. We decided to do a dance in the pub. We kidnapped Hexham's melodeon player and made a fairly respectable showing I felt, considering that 3 members of the side were out of position and we didn't go wrong. Anyhow, much, much fun. Spent the rest of the evening chatting with Hexham and some of the Mables
On leaving the Exeter at closing time, Andy, Neil and I headed to the Rowing Club (one of the other sleeping venues) which had a bar. Had a really good time and sang along a little bit before we headed back to the Rycote Centre. I spent a little time at the session there on getting back and was even drunk enough to sing along even though there weren't many singing. I was very quiet and gods know whether I was in tune but at least I knew the words (The songs were Doli a and Bonny at Morn which I think every Northumbrian is born knowing). I stayed up just long enough to watch certain members of our side helping to put one of the Candyrapper dancers in a box (I believ he got away though) before I went off to bed.

May have experienced my first ever hangover on Sunday morning. Not very impressive and no pain, just very tired and a little off (There were those who looked worse!) but it passed quickly as we met up with the rest of the side for breakfast. After that, we headed to The Flowerpot where we caught the end of the Kingsmen's workshop (which I would have liked to have seen but didn't feel up to dancing in) and saw Stonemonkey dance before we got our hands on the judges comments. Most of these were pretty positive and constructive and I think we mainly have to work on kit and stepping. Now I have my new shoes I plan to practice stepping as often as possibe as soon as I find the floor again.

The trip back up north was a bit of a trial, slightly eased by listening to Belshazzar's Feast and Mitch Benn, but my shoulders were incredibly stiff and I was dead on my feet when I got back.

Watched Doctor Who before I went to bed and really enjoyed it. Like the lack of manic running and really liking the new doctor and his companion.

Anyhow, was expecting to crash badly today but I think excitement about the Oxford Folk Festival next weekend is keeping me hyper. If the weather could be like it was this weekend, that would be appreciated!

Must clear the hall tonight cause the man's coming to read the meter on Wednesday and it would probably help if he can get in.

DERT 2010 (Part 1)

Had a brief panic on Thursday evening when I put my kit for Dert into my rucksack and the bloody thing disintergrated. (To be fair, it's over 12 years old and was a cheap thing which has seen some hellish hard use so it's done pretty well). This had me venturing into town on Friday morning in search of a replacement where I discovered a new shop that has opened on Prince's Street which seems to have everything on offer at the moment. Managed to find a new rucksack for a very good price and also bought a self-inflating sleeping mat type thing to save weight and space when I head down to Oxford on the coach the next weekend.

Anyhow, random stuff sorted, I picked up everyone and down to Derby we headed. A boring but uneventful drive (and thank you to Neil for using his sat nav to find the registration venue) we got to the Brewery Tap in Derby at around 19.30, picked up our wristbands, t-shirts and (quite sweet) monkey keyrings (The resident group is Stone Monkey) and then headed off to the Rycote centre where we sleeping. Excitement set back in as we said hallo to Gaorsach who were also sleeping there (in their one enormous bed and matching slippers and pyjamas) and I tried to work out how to work the self-inflating matress which, helpfully, didn't come with instructions. We were all a little fascinated with it and although I was convinced that it was inflating not everyone else was. It was decided to leave it, meet up with the rest of Mons Meg and leave it to it's own devices. I had a very good night but don't remember that much of it due to drinking 4 pints (they were very nice) having not eaten very much and then tiredness from the drive and from not sleeping particularly well the past week or so hitting me like a brick. Anyhow, went back to the sleeping venue after closing time to find that the mat had pretty much inflated but decided to just finish it the rest of the way cause I wanted to sleep. (I would also just like to point out that the loos in the place were ridiculously high. My feet did not touch the floor when I sat down. I felt like I was 5!). Didn't sleep too much cause I kept waking up every half hour, partly cause that is, unfortunately, my normal sleeping pattern and partly cause I was just a little bit excited.

Saturday morning, I was exceedingly bouncy and it seemed to take ages for the rest of the side to get there. Watched a couple of the american teams (who were all in our venue too) practice and found the Tommy Toss one of the sides did very impressive.
Finally, all of our side met up and, better still, Kev had managed to get my new shoes soled for me! Not sure that putting them on for DERT was my best idea since it is a marked difference in how they feel to step in and the competition was probably not the best time to adapt to them but it was so nice to be wearing shoes that fitted!
It was also about this time that Trina pointed out that she'd forgotten to bring her light coloured bra and was stuck wearing her black one which was commented on by the judges last year. She remedied this by covering her black bra (and a lot of the toilet floor) in talc which covered the bra nicely but left me coughing everytime I went near her. Still, got to admire the ingenuity. The things we do for rapper!
Anyhow, we found our way down to the Flowerpot where we starting with a practice dance along with Sallyport and Star and Shadow who we were going round with. Practice dance went very well and it was great fun to watch the other sides (although Sallyport's song about spanking gnomes is going to stay with me for a while. Now with visuals, thanks to Andy!) before Dave from Stonemonkey (our erstwhile steward) herded us all together (and there's a comment about cats in there somewhere) and started us walking to our first competitive pub, The Brewery Tap. (He may have tried to give us instructions for the day at some point but we were all too busy mocking him and making jokes to actually listen. We're rapper dancers, it's what we do. Dave, however, was great and happily repeated all of what he'd just told us throughout the day at regular intervals when we asked.
There wasn't much room to get in to watch the dancers at the Brewery Tap so I went outside and watched Sallyport through the window behind the judges (and I may have amused myself by waving at them every so often) Got asked what was going on by a group of lads who were passing by. They were a little non-plussed by my explanation and then Sallyport's tommy ran out into the street to try and get them to come inside but I think he scared the hell out of them!
Our first dance was OK (even though I let go of a sword in Dambusters. This was mostly because I suddenly found out I had an infected cut on my finger by the shooting pain that ran up my arm when I gripped the sword but I got it back without any bother and Neil managed to get in a yellow card joke) and lots of us went out to try and put off Black Swan through the window while Neil and Andy went to raid Gregs. I did like the comment from one of Sallyport wondering if one of Black Swan had his phone on him...

Anyhow, lunch eaten, we set off for the next pub, the Alexandra. This pub had an incredibly slippy floor which really slowed our drive and knocked our confidence a bit but the dance went reasonably well. We got to watch Pengwyn dance and they looked on good form.

It was a bit of a lengthy walk to the next pub (The Falstaff) but the weather was gorgeous and the pub was a little gem. Full of odd things and weird fretwork. The ladies loos, though, were the real eyeopener and, quite frankly, the nicest loos I have ever seen in a pub (or anywhere else for that matter!) They were decked out in green and purple with chiffon curtains (and purple loo seats!) with a kind of posh glass dish as a hand basin. The Star and Shadow lasses and myself were so enthusiastic about them that most of the Sallyport lads went into check! Really enjoyed dancing here. Nice floor and good atmosphere and just generally fun.

After the long hike back into town, we ambled along to our next venue which was the stage at the Guildhall. We'd been hearing some horror stories about it all day but, I think by the time we got there, there were a few more people in the audience and our 3 sides had been supporting each other fairly enthusiastically throughout the day so I actually enjoyed that dance as well. We stayed on for a bit to watch Sallyport trying to make Phil and Aubs laugh while they were being interviewed by some lass from the BBC (And her boom operator who was carrying either an overweight ferret or a tribble moving at speed. We never quite decided which) for a program they're doing on folk dance. Ian got some brilliantly funny pictures of their faces while they were doing this. Hopefully they'll be up on the Mons Meg site at some point.

Our last dance was in The Flowerpot again and, again, it was a really good atmosphere. We had one fairly minor mishap when Trina tripped in the spin, hit the floor and was dragged across the floor for a while a la Jean Torville in Bolero, but she did with style, was helped back to her feet and went back into the spin as if nothing had happened! Talk about recovery!

After a quick practice of Winlaton outside in the beergarden, we headed off to the Quad for the Traditional competition. Would probably have been a lot more nervous about this (since Winalot didn't exactly go well in our last practice) if I hadn't been mildly tipsy at this point. We were also busy laughing because Trina had, for reasons best known to herself, run through the fountain in the square and had, as a result, a fantastically see through wet shirt. Fortunately she had a spare shirt with her although I still think the wet version would have garnered us more points with the judges! Anyhow, it was lovely to see how other sides did Winlaton and our dance was probably the best we've ever done it. I think we had one minor mistake that was barely noticable and we recovered immediately from and the lock held together (and my shoulder is still attached with no pain. Although, this too could have been thanks to the alcohol)

This was followed by tea (which was a surprisingly nice cottage pie for me) and then back to the Guildhall to catch the rest of the evening dances. We'd missed a lot of them since we'd been doing the traditional but we caught Bristol Rapper (who had number 5 tommying from within the set, mostly by expression alone and was hilarious!) and we got to see the Kingsmen who were very good and you had to love the ABBA calling on song.

Can't really remember who won what except that Black Swan won the music, High Spen won the Traditional and The Kingsmen won best character, the Premier and the Steve Marris. Well deserved.