Bloody Weather!

Bloody snow!!!

2 hours it took me to go and collect my parcel from the world's most inconvenient parcel depot all because of the blizzard that started while I was on my way. Fortunately, my parcel did turn out to be my shoes and they do fit so totally worth it but, still!

Arm is still a little peculiar but only when I stretch up so musical instrument practice is not a problem. Started learning 2 new tunes on the melodeon last night while, thanks to my 'Teach Yourself Folk Fiddle' being apparently american, I was trying to play 'Oh Susannah' and 'Golden Slippers' last night. Think I'm going to try and find some other tunes.

Very exciting month coming up. Borderers this weekend (provided it doesn't get snowed off), DERT the weekend after, then Oxford Folk Festival (First time seeing Bellowhead live! As someone who's camping, please let it stop snowing before then), then going to see Les Miserables at the Playhouse and, finally, dancing at the St George's day thing in Falkirk. Lots of folky goodness in that mix.

Getting my hair cut tomorrow. Never been to this place before (chosen because it's opposite work and cheap). Basically want to get most of my hair lopped off and get my fringe back (and then, maybe, I won't get my hair caught up in the swords when I forget to tie it back!). Must remember to state specifically that I will be spending most of this year on campsites and will therefore not be able to style it so I need something that I can just brush and go (or just go for the days (alarmingly frequent as they are) when I forget to brush it). I don't care if I look like a startled hedgehog as long as it's out of the way.

Apparently there's another parcel waiting for me at the post office (somewhat more convenient thankfully). No clue what this one is but, seeing as my postman seems to be under the impression that there is very little that can fit through my (perfectly average sized!) letterbox it could just be a normal letter!

Rapper Musings

Very good rapper pracice last night. We watched the videos that Joe took of us dancing on saturday and they looked better than I thought they would. I still appear to be on my masochistic spree since I managed to propel my eye onto Neil's elbow during one dance (and it really was that way round) which stunned me a little and my left shoulder wasn't as fixed as I thought it was since I managed to wreck it again during Winalot's backlock. (Hate the backlock, hate it with a hateful hatred!). Sat in the shower again last night to try and free it up and it seems to have worked again so will just have to take it little easier this week. The fact that I'm not dancing rapper again till Monday should help.

Off to collect a parcel tonight from what has to be the most inconveniently placed parcel depot ever. Really glad I have Roger (Who seems to be missing one of his wing mirror covers for reasons best known to himself. Must check out the spare parts directory at some point.) since it's a 25 minute run out of Edinburgh and not exactly on the bus routes! I suspect it may be my new rapper shoes. Sadly too late to get new soles in time for DERT but still a little excited. With any luck I'll have ordered the right size first time off and I won't have to spend time faffing around sending them back until I get the correct size.

Easter kind of snuck up on me so I had completely forgotten I have a Borderer's event this weekend. Still, nice surprise (even if it means I have to leg it on Monday to get back to Edinburgh in order to get to our last DERT practice.). Must make sure I've dug out all my tudor kit in advance. This would probably be helped by my tidying the burrow. I should probably look on this as encouragement.

My mind seems to have set itself on going to Ely overnight (obviously I don't mean actually going down to Ely overnight, I mean that my mind set itself overnight. You know what I mean!) so it looks like I'm booking for that. Here's hoping the weather improves and it's not another horrible wet summer since I appear to be spending most of it in a tent. As far as wellies go, I usually just put gaiters on over my Doc Martens since they're easy to pack but I may have to actually invest in some proper wellies for this year if it doesn't get any better. Might have a look and see if they still do those half welly half walking boot type things that I used to wear when I worked at the stables, they were good.

St Andrews Tour

Spent most of this week compusively playing the melodeon. Can't seem to put it down for long. Weirdly, it also makes me want to practice the fiddle so I've been getting a lot of that in too.

Early start to St Andrews on saturday and an absolutely beautiful morning. I think we may just have experienced summer! Was really lovely waiting for everyone else to turn up while we sat in the car and listened to Dot practice her northumbrian pipes in the playground (and I'm really getting tempted by them. No, too many instruments to learn at the moment. Maybe later.)

Practice itself was very good (floor was lovely) but I seem to have managed to knack my shoulder doing the backlock in Winlaton (or Winalot as it is now known). I'm really starting to hate the backlock. I can understand the theory behind it and I can see just how it should go but my lack of height makes it so bloody awkward and has a knock on effect around the set which makes me feel horrendously guilty which is just stupid because it's not like I'm being short on purpose and there's no-one taller we could sub in at DERT but there you go. Anyhow, spent the rest of the day with pins and needles all down my left arm. Think it was a trapped nerve.
Funniest moment was when Andy had a go at playing his melodeon and then Kev stepped up to have a go and someone asked everyone who actually tried a melodeon to put up their hands. Out of 8 people, I think 5 put their hands up. It seems we are a side of secret melodeon afficianados.

After lunch we set out to tour St Andrews. Despite being severely hampered by the football being on the telly we managed to get 5 dances (one of which was in the Whey Pat which we didn't think we'd get into and has a lovely floor) and got a good reception for all of them except the last dance at Greyfriars (which I think I preferred when it used to be The Tudor.) where we had a couple of blokes walk through the set. The dances themselves went well but I managed to get kicked in the ankle in one dance and slammed my elbow off the bar in another (but I kept hold of the sword despite not being able to feel it for a good few seconds!). Obviously it was my turn as side punchingbag.
After the last dance, most of us decamped to Trina's for curry and chat which was lovely. Really nice day out all told and we did far better that we thought we would.

Sunday brought on the worst post dance come-down I've had all year. Very odd, had thought I'd gotten out of that but apparently not. Wan't helped by the fact that my sore shoulder meant I couldn't really play the melodeon (didn't stop me trying which was possibly not that bright...)
Eventually I gave in and went and sat in the shower with the heat turned way up in an effort to relax my shoulder enough to try and free what was trapped. Seems to have worked since the pins and needles has mostly stopped and my shoulder is just a little sore now. Managed to do a little melodeon practice after that (and a lot of fiddle practice since that doesn't require so much shoulder movement) so cheered up a little. Spent the rest of Sunday sat on the sofa doing puzzles and listening to Dr Faustus (I got both their CD's recently and absolutely adore them) and their new incarnation, Faustus.

On that note, apparently Faustus are playing at Ely Folk Festival in July. Apparently the Oysterband, Demon Barbers and Les Barker will also be there. Very, very tempting. May have to think about booking. Will probably book. I'm definitely going to book aren't I. Must check the tent is working order.

Festival Plans

Rapper was fun but exhausting (it always is when there's not many dancers). Our musician has just proved himself a true folk dancing musician due to managing to fall in his garden, break 3 ribs, puncture a lung, drive himself to hospital and he was still playing for our practice last night. The words 'impressive' and 'nuts' come to mind.

We seem to have a fair bit of stuff coming up. Provisionally, we seem to be dancing in Falkirk for St Georges Day, Anstruther for the Lifeboat gala day, a latino scottish ceilidh in Edinburgh and, of course there's the workshop/St Andrews tour this coming Saturday leading to DERT itself. Lots of rapper can not be a bad thing.

Have decided that I am definitely going to head down for the Holmfirth Folk Festival so need to send off my camping application. Ian has very nicely put me in touch with the organisers to book Belshazzer's Feast tickets and I'm swithering between the ceilidh and Rachel McShane on Saturday night. I think I can probably do both and so will probably book to see Rachel McShane at the picturedrome.

Oxford is looming large on the horizon and the only reason I'm not all over the place bouncing about is that DERT is first and I'm too busy bouncing about that. At some point I should get my tent out and see how it is. Hasn't been used since Whitby but it did get put away dry so fingers crossed.
Still waiting to find out whether I can steward at Whitby. They said to get back in touch if I hadn't heard anything by a couple of weeks and it has now been a couple of weeks so I should probably e-mail them

Weddings and Bobby Shaftoe

Wedding was fun, weather was lovely and it was hilarious watching the groom (a professional photographer) try and take over the wedding photographs.

Those of us not at the reception trotted along to a place called Henderson's Bistro for tea (after I'd followed a car to the venue through Stirling. Talk about white knuckle!) which was really, really nice and very good value before returning to the evening ceilidh which was also good fun. Didn't do a lot of dancing but did manage enough to wreck my tights (had forgotten to bring alternate dancing shoes) and get splinters in my toes. Mostly my right foot, guess which foot I pivot on! It was lovely to see and catch up with old friends and I had a very good night. (And we're all very grateful that Newcastle United didn't lose their match!)

Most of Sunday I spent trying to clear the bed and playing with my various musical instruments. Needless to say I can now play Bobby Shaftoe with the basses on the melodeon, Mairi's Wedding a bit faster on the fiddle, some minuet or other on the clarinet and the bed still isn't clear! One day...

Surprises All Over

Been a bit of an odd day all told. Found out at fiddle class last night that the end of term concert was this evening! Bit of a startle that was. Worse was finding that Roger was missing his rear number plate. Silly Renault design has the number plate attached to the plastic bit that opens the boot rather than the car itself and, since a couple of people tried to open the boot when it was locked, the thing has been loose to the point of falling off once. Kept forgetting to get it fixed so my own fault really. Tried to retrace my steps (so to speak) but no sign of the number plate anywhere and I was a little worried that someone had obviously wrapped the trailing wires for the plate lights around my rear windscreen wiper so I did the sensible thing and phoned the police to let them know and resigned myself to an expensive (and possibly long ) fixit since Roger ain't young and I'm not sure how easy it would have been to get a replacement for the plastic bit.

Anyhow, drove to work this morning and there, right beside where I'd parked it the day before, was the missing plate and plastic whatsit! Looking at the connections, I figured the best thing to do would be to buy some good quality glue and fix the thing back into place once and for all. Have now done this and he seems to be holding up well. Sometimes things work out rather well.

Concert turned out to be fine too (bit weird having to pay to get into a concert you're playing in but so it goes. Also completely lost my hearing for about 10 minutes after walking past the pipes class practicing in a very small corridor. Nice to know my lip reading isn't completely rusty!) I think our group must have had the shortest set in the whole thing (that I saw, anyway) which, I feel, is no bad thing, and we made it through The Cockle Gatherer in one piece. I didn't stay afterwards cause I wanted to go and play with the melodeon which is what I did. Am working my way through the Freaks' tunes (just melody so far) and it's going quite well. When I can do them without having to think so much about the push pull, I'll start to investigate the basses.

Off to Stirling for a wedding tomorrow (first outing for my new hat. I do like hats, especially on formal occasions. Don't feel properly dressed without one and, as I think I've mentioned before, fascinators always make me feel like I've managed to get a piece of undergrowth stuck in my hair (Althought that could just be flashbacks to childhood)) I'm going to the ceremony then meeting up with a fair few of the dancing lot for dinner before we head to the reception so that sounds like fun.

Attended a meeting about booking travel at work today and discovered that I can also book leisure travel through them for a 10% discount. Wish I'd known that before I booked the coach to Oxford. I hate coach travel and the discount would have meant I would have been happier to book the train, still, something useful to know for the future.

Melodeon Love

Love the melodeon! Love the melodeon lots!!! Could actually get a reasonably recognisable tune out of it first go (am still working on that with the fiddle!) Not that I'm stopping with the fiddle by any means. I like playing it and I realise it's an instrument that takes far longer to get to basic level and I'm fine with that, it's just nice to have something that I can possibly get to playable level faster in the meantime. (And it is as fun to play as it looks!).

Speaking of which, fiddle class tonight. Have been praticing lots but not entirely sure it's improving. Will see how it goes.

Was looking at the Folkworks site last night. I quite fancy the week long summer course that they do. Haven't time to do it this year but I may start putting money away for next year (which also gives me time to decide whether I'd want to do dance or fiddle, assuming I'm a little bit more up to speed with the fiddle by then. Fingers crossed!)

Aim to try and clear the bed tonight. I've got a wedding to go to in Stirling on Saturday and I'm considering going along to Dot's gig on the Sunday which sort of limits tidying time at the weekend. I've got a notion that if, I get the bed clear, I'll find the rest much easier since I won't actually be living in the sitting room. Or I might just play with the meodeon and try and learn the morris tunes for Freaks in the Peaks!

Things to Look Forward To.

Off to collect my melodeon tonight. Little bit excited. Just a little bit. (My neighbours are going to hate me!)

Also have a ticket to go and see Les Miserables at the Edinburgh Playhouse thanks to ylla mentioning it on her livejournal (Apparently tickets have been on sale since last March. I hadn't heard a thing about it and she only heard about it when she went to St Andrews! No, I can't explain it either.) Anyhow, I will be sat in the middle at the back of the stalls so at least I can stand up a bit if I can't see. Have wanted to see this for years but have never gotten round to it so a little excited now. Of course, it's not till April so some time to go yet but, still!

Managed a little bit of tidying last night and did a good bit of various musical instrument practice so I felt entitled to watch half of the Bellowhead DVD.

Have now cancelled my TV Licence. I expect the threatening letters any minute now...

Melodeon Envy

Rapper was good last night. Not many of us so a lot of dancing done although a certain Goarsach dancer turned up on her way back up North with her 2 dogs (both adorable) and had a go at joining in with us (her, not the dogs).
Andy had a go at playing for us on the melodeon that he's only been practicing for 2 weeks. Absolutely sickening! If I can play even as quarter as well as that after 2 weeks I'll be bloody impressed with myself. Really quite excited waiting until I can get my melodeon now. Can't wait to give it a go.
There's the possibility of us dancing at Anstruther for a gala day (can't get used to that term. They will forever be 'fetes' to me.) in July. Sounds like fun so I hope we can do it. In the meantime, we've got a DERT rehearsal planned in St Andrews for the weekend after next and then, hopefully, a bit of pub touring. I don't think St Andrews has seen rapper since the Kingsman danced there during IVFDF 2002 but they seemed to enjoy it then.

The countdown to Oxford has started in my brain. I retrieved my Bellowhead DVD from Trina last night so that should be getting watched a lot in order to try and take the edge off...

Plan tonight is to get in, clarinet practice first (cause I can't mute it!), then fiddle practice (cause I can mute that) and then tidy like a tidy thing and, if I am good, I'm allowed to watch the Bellowhead DVD. (I strongly suspect I will watch it anyway but this is the intention)

At some point I should probably put Roger through a car wash. He is absolutely filthy and I haven't really got anywhere to put him to wash him by hand (if I try on the roadside I'll get killed and that's leaving aside the question as to whether you're allowed to wash cars in the street.) Before he goes through a car wash though, I think it might be an idea to get waterproof covers for the seats and me. (Not that I don't trust the door seals or anything...)

Productive Weekend (Relatively)

Spring may have occurred on Saturday. The weather was warm and dry and I quickly took the opportunity to put my washing out for the first time this year (what I hadn't taken into account was that it was also windy and I promptly got wrapped in a sheet and bashed into a wall! And so starts my washing's year long assault on me.) Having been nicely bruised, I decided to venture into town, mainly to look for rapper shoes but this was foiled by my not being able to remember where the Army and Navy store was and thus not being able to find it. No matter, I went on to find a nice wedding hat which I can wear for next weekend's sudden wedding (by which I mean that I've suddenly found out I'm going, not that the wedding is sudden) and I may have a acquired a cheap melodeon. This is probably not helpful and it's not like I don't have enough instruments to learn (although I got in a very good practice with both fiddle and clarinet this weekend.) but the idea of an instrument that doesn't rely on breathing control, finger placement, bow technique and mouth shape to produce an on-key note is very attractive and they just look really fun to play. It's a very cheap, never been used, D/G 2 row affair and, having, checked around, should I decide it's not for me, I should be able to sell it on with no loss. I suspect the reason it was being offered so cheaply was due to the preference in scottish music being for B/C tuning (and the fact that it's a cheap make) but I want to play morris tunes which suits me just fine. Huzzah for gumtree is all I can say.
One very odd occurrence while I was shopping in one of the pound saver shops (I was looking for pegs. My washing seems to eat them!). I was happily wandering along with my headphones on when this woman stops in front of me and tries to ask me something. I obligingly took out my headphones and she asked, in a somewhat irritated tone, where the *some weird item that I can't remember* was! I said I didn't know and she told me that that was appalling customer service. I pointed out that I didn't work there and she told me I looked as if I did and flounced off. I was in no way dressed like the staff and was not even wearing similar colours so I have no idea how to take that. Ah well.
Sunday, I actually did some tidying! I only read 2 books and did one puzzle book and I can now see most of the floor in the sitting room. The bed is still 'here be dragons' territory but, I feel I'm on a roll now and could be using it again as early as June!
The soundtrack to all this has been Belshazzer's Feast's 'Food of Love' CD which arrived on Saturday. The main CD is lovely with a really beautiful version of Mark Knoppfler's 'Cal' (and the CD notes are hilarious) but the main gem is the extra live CD which had me in giggles (which got me some funny looks while walking down Prince's Street, I can tell you!) most of the weekend. Can't wait to see them live.

Anyhow, rapper tonight and I'm in a particularly bouncy mood so that should be fun.

Wondering Why I Went!

Well, not that impressed by Alice In Wonderland. It was very pretty but oddly a bit flat. The Cheshire cat was fun but was blown off the screen by the March Hare who got the biggest laugh simply by randomly saying 'Spoon!'. The lass playing Alice was alright and not too twee (although the younger version was and wearing a scary amount of lipstick!) and Helena Bonham Carter was very good as the Red Queen. The Mad Hatter, though, long outstayed his welcome and tried too hard for the pathos. I think Johnny Depp is a good actor but sometimes he really misses and this was one of those times. Also no idea why they dragged the Jabberwocky in. Ah well, at least I got to use my 3D glasses again. Quite fancy seeing the dragon cartoon they were previewing and I'd also like to see Solomon Kane and Repo Men when they come out.

It was nice to be back at fiddle (not having been there for 3 weeks). We're playing The Cockle Gatherer's Reel for the concert and it was easy enough to pick up. I'm not convinced that I sound any better with the new bridge but at least I don't sound any worse and it doesn't look like the bridge is about to snap if I look at it wrong. I've also found that IVFDF has left me with a slight leaning towards wanting to play the melodeon as well (because, obviously, I need to add another instrument to learn to my life!) may have to investigate this at some point.

All the blurb is now in for our DERT entry so I can relax a little and dedicate myself to tidying the burrow (and hunting down some rapper shoes that fit!). Roger also seems to be working fine since his key battery changed. It's a bit of a novelty to be able to just press the button and expect the car to unlock.

Recently got the CD Umbrellowhead. Basically a compilation of music by the the various members of Bellowhead's projects outside of the group. Really enjoying it. My favourites are Belshazzer's Feast's 'Rondo a la Turky', Jon Boden's 'Beating the Bounds', Benji Kirkpatrick's 'Wallbreaker', Faustus' 'The New Recruit and Rachel McShane's 'The Fisherman'. This is, admittedly about half the album but there you go. That said, the rest of the tracks are good too. Pete Flood's 'Maste Kilby' is an odd one in that I always think I'll skip it (his voice is a little flat) but then I keep listening to it anyway. The number by Setsuban Bean Unit is nuts but then they're based in Japan which seems to bring out that kind of feeling. I also really enjoyed the choral work at the end. Very nice arrangement. They're a talented bunch, all told.

IVFDF 2010 2

Dragged myself along to the 'Folk Techniques for Classical Musicians' at 09.30. Mostly enjoyed sitting on the sofas and listening to the tune (I think it was 'Hexham Lasses' which I like, will have to check!) but I did pick up a few helpful hints on ornamentation. After that I headed off to Star and Shadow's workshop on how to set up a rapper team (I am not actually wanting to set up a new team, before anyone jumps on me, I just live in fear of having to move to an area where there's no rapper!). I really just wanted to find out where they got their shoes since it's really difficult to find potential rapper shoes in my size (Army and Navy Stores here I come!) but decided to stay for the rest of the workshop. We did a fair bit of stepping and ran through some simple figures which was nice because, for starters, I was in another short side (apart from number 3 who I think must have been going round on his knees!) and there was far more room that the previous rapper workshop as well. One of the lasses in our side seemed very interested and was one of the New Scotland lot so I did a bit of encouraging and said I'd send out details. Yay! Possibly more short people for Mons Meg!
For the last workshop I went back to the comfy sofas for the 'North East Tunes' bit. Met another lass from the Morpeth area who is now a student in Edinburgh and interested in rapper so I did a bit of a sales pitch to her as well. Don't remember much after that and ended up getting woken up at the end by Jon and Jenny. I managed not to hit either of them but I think this may have had more to do with me having got my hands tangled in my hair while I was asleep. Anyhow, I then went to get fish and chips with Jon and co before heading to the survivors' ceilidh. Due to space issues, they had had to split the ceilidh into two. We went to the one with the scratch band on the basis that they would probably play the more esoteric dances. This seemed to work and I got to dance to one of Rhodri's 'make it up as he goes along' dances which are always brilliant fun. It's not often I get to stay to the end of the survivors' ceilidh and, even though I didn't dance as much as I usually do (I really was knackered by this point) I really enjoyed myself.
Went for tea and cakes with Ian and Cara and baby afterwards while I was waiting for my train and got to catch up with them, which was nice before heading up to the station and wending my way back to Edinburgh.

Really enjoyed the weekend, got to catch up with a lot of old and new friends and I will definitely take some kind of instrument (preferably the fiddle) next year (which, incidentally, is in Bristol followed by Aberdeen the year after) because I really enjoy the musician workshops.
I also liked getting there under my own steam rather than going on the Scotland bus just because it meant I was working to my own timetable which made the whole thing just a little less fraught (also meant I got sleeping accomodation where I wanted it rather than having to go where they sent the group). Of course, Bristol being far away, the scotland bus may be the cheaper option next year, but will investigate before deciding.

Rapper was fun on Monday night (although I was late because I dozed off on the bus and had to backtrack) but my brain was decidedly missing. Shins are still sore and at some point (preferably after DERT. Mind, I feel that could be this summer's refrain, 'just after whichever festival...') I will go see the GP

Off to get a new battery for Roger's key today in the hope that that will de-immobilise him and then off to the cinema to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D with the usual suspects.

On the festival front, I am booked for the Oxford Folk Festival and The Big Session and I have applied to be a steward at Whitby. If that works out then I am also going to book for Shrewsbury and possibly Bromyard. Holmfirth I will book as soon as the website is up and running. Ah, festivally goodness.

IVFDF 2010 (Friday and Saturday)

What with Roger being, how can I put this, stationary with a vengence, I decided to get the train down to Durham for IVFDF. Passed the house where I grew up on the way down and was really shocked to see that they had decimated the surrounding wood and built a huge house right next to the old bungalow (which wasn't small to start with). It really threw me to see the orchard gone. Ah well.

Got into Durham at around 6pm and managed to find Alington House straight off by basically pointing myself in the direction of the Cathedral and wandering roughly in that direction until I encountered crowds of suspected IVFDF goers. Fortunately I managed to get a ticket for the central sleeping venue, dumped my stuff, randomly met up with some of the usual suspects and headed off for the ceilidh with 422. This was a fair walk from the centre but the weather was nice, if crisp, and it was well worth it. The first ceilidh was great fun with Martin Harvey calling and some truly stonking music (I do like 422) . In the break, Star and Shadow rapper dancers did a spot which was highly entertaining and they look in good from for DERT. For the second half of the evening, 422 were getting us to dance to 80's pop songs which worked surprisingly well. I may not have liked all the songs (I particularly hate ABBA's Dancing Queen. Don't get me wrong, I like ABBA, I liked them before they became popular again but I really, really hate this song and what song do they always play?) but they also played 'Money for Nothing', by Dire Straits which is a great song and worked really well with the dance. There was a brief hiatus in the evening where the was possibly a fire alarm. That is to say there was a high pitched whistling and all the lights went out but no-one could tell if it was an alarm or just serious feedback so we milled uncertainly then decided that, since no-one was yelling at us to get out, we'd stay put in the warm and go and have a drink (and not only was there a real ale bar but it was student union prices so not bad, not bad at all). Anyhow, they seemed to get it sorted and we went back to dancing. Went back to Alington house for the late night dancing but sadly there really wasn't any room for it. We took over the sleeping hall for a short while but there were far too many people even for that space and they didn't get round to the more esoteric dances which is what I go to the late night dancing for. Anyhow, once the musicians went back upstairs to just have a session. I decided just to head to bed and drift off to the music. Sadly, not a huge amount of sleep was got, not because of the music but because I could not get warm which is not usually a problem for me. Odd but so it goes.

Anyhow, dragged myself along to the student union at 9am to go to the workshop on how to cope in a session. Some very interesting and helpful information and it was nice listening to them play but I shall have to redouble my efforts with the clarinet and fiddle cause I want to join in damn it! Rapper was next up and High Spen was teaching. As always, the class was seriously over subscribed which meant that space was tight and you kept havingt to wait until a teacher was free to learn anything else but it was still fun. It's the first time since last year that I've danced in a set that was roughly my height and it really was a nice feeling. Most of our set had also done some rapper beforehand so we managed fairly well and we all knew each other so we spent a fair bit of time giggling. All in all a good fun and interesting workshop but I think they might want to start limiting the numbers (this means I would need to arrive much earlier in order to be certain of getting in!) in future IVFDF's.
I stayed on for the Playing for Morris workshop (again just listening in) which was really good with lots of helpful advice on the difference in playing for different types of folk dance. I paid particular attention to the advice on rapper and border obviously. After this, I went along to the clog workshop. I couldn't be bothered to head back to Alington house to get my clogs so I did the class in my rapper shoes. Good to know I carted my clogs to the North East for no particular reason. Still, at least it was a nice outing for them. The clog itself was fun and all the shuffles must be improving my rapper stepping. I put my name on the e-mail list for the clog workshop weekend so fingers crossed that's on when I'm free.

I caught the end of the display ceilidh, although I didn't really feel up to dancing (apparently being laid up in bed for over a week and then dancing like mad at a folk festival leaves you feeling knackered, who knew!). I enjoyed Exeter's dem to ABBA's 'Does your Mother Know that You're Out' (something of an ABBA theme this year) but then, I usually do.
I dithered between heading for a shower or going to see the Eliza Carthy concert but eventually the need to have shower won out and I had a nice walk through Durham to find the leisure centre. I feel incredibly disloyal saying it but Durham is a far, far prettier place than Newcastle. Anyhow, shower taken (and that was possibly the best £2.10 spent of the weekend!) I headed back out to the outskirts for the Contra ceilidh. Vertical Expression were on good form so the music was fantastic and Adam was calling well but there seemed to be some difficulty with the mic so that there were problems calling the dance at the far end of the hall which wasn't helped when people started to pour in and talk while they were trying to walk through. The lighting was also peculiar with the top end of the hall in darkness and the other end brightly lit so the caller couldn't see the end sets which can't of been helpful (Also people seemed to have lost the ability to form fours from the top of the set, which was bizarre). Adam had to give up on calling a couple of the more complicated dances because the instructions just weren't getting through but other dances were substituted and I really enjoyed it despite the problems. I stayed on for the Whapweasel ceilidh cause I was too knackered to head out for the Northumbrian one which I kind of regret because, although the music was great, it was too loud, there were still the same calling problems (and I know it wasn't the caller cause Gordon Potts is usually great) and I just didn't have the energy to deal with it. Still I enjoyed the music and it was fun watching people on the floor before I headed up to the balcony and had fun playing 'what sort of dancing does this person usually do'.
I headed back to the hall after this and went to bed to the sound of the session again. Sadly another chilly night and not much sleep.

Yet Another Catch Up

Got pretty much laid flat by the flu over the last week or so so have been a bit remiss in updating this so time to catch up.

First of all, went to see Damien Barber and Mike Wilson on the Wednesday at the Pleasance with some of Mons Meg. They were very good, particularly with the shanties, their voices go together really well and the chat between songs was also very funny (I do like the stories of having to suck crisps in folk clubs when little so as not to annoy people with the crunch). They were supported by Wendy Arrowsmith who I've not heard before but was also very good. Particularly liked her Whitby lifeboat song. Wasn't too sure about the irish singer at first. There's a tendancy among irish singers to overdo the ornamentation (for my taste anyway) and she did at first but then she seemed to ease out of it and I felt her singing improved because of it.

Also went to see Pete Morton (he who did the hilarious Geoffrey Chaucer Junior thing at Whitby last year) at the Royal Oak. I really enjoyed his sets. His music is very perky and all about love and what have you but manages to stop short of crossing the line into annoying which could be partly due to his stage presence (or corner of very small pub presence) but it seems to work. He did one of the Chaucer songs which was hilarious and he mentioned that he was bringing the Chaucer show to the Edinburgh Fringe. Unfortunately, I think I will be away when he does which may be a blessing since it was just so funny and surprising the first time that I don't think it will ever be able to measure up again.

In other news, Roger's immobiliser has completely immobilised him. I think I just need to get a new battery in the key so I shall take that along to the renault dealer and see of I can get that sorted. I am also still no further forward in tidying the burrow. In fact, it now looks worse since the last weekend was IVFDF (which needs a post of it's own!) and I caused my usual chaos trying to pack for it (and at some point I shall get round to unpacking).

Finally got round to replacing the fiddle bridge. It seems to have gone OK and it does seem to sound better (except for the G string but that sounded a lpeculiar before as well which makes me suspect that I should start saving to get the fiddle properly seen to but it will have to wait until after the festival season)