The pace is starting to pick up now (and I wasn't exactly standing still to begin with!) Am now booked on Tom McConville's fiddle workshop (I honestly don't know why I bother considering stuff since, the second they enter my mind, I'm pretty much certainly going to them! Impulse control, I seem to lack it...) and have booked for Shepley Spring Festival (didn't actually mean to do that at that particular point but, since the early bird prices stop at the end of February, glad I did.) The Festival plan is now, IVFDF, DERT, Bristol, Oxford Folk Weekend (being put on by Ian Giles as a stopgap for the actual festival. I do like Ian Giles!), Holmfirth, Shepley, steward at Ely, Sidmouth and Shrewsbury. May consider Bromyard depending on who's on and what I feel like. Fortunately my cheque from British Gas came through which will cover the costs nicely provided I remember to put it in the bank. Should probably do that tomorrow.
Am also actively in the process of finding a fiddle teacher so that's something at least. At least I'm still practicing. Am also working through the Folkworks tune books I got at Whitby. scary how many of them I recognise. Completely unsurprised at the fact that I still can't remember the names of any of them.
Have been looking at the programme for IVFDF. As pre usual, most of the stuff I want to do clashes but, so far, the plan is to switch between the French Dance and the ceilidh on Friday night, (May venture in to see Jim Moray if there's room), then Irish Step, Contra, Step Clog and Rapper workshops on Saturday followed by the Contra evening dance before I slip away to the Tickled Pink ceilidh and then Border, North West Morris and Melodeon on the Sunday. As I say, that's the plan and I have never followed a plan in my life. Must remember to take my melodeon anyway so that I can get the straps attached.
Got told at work that I seemed in a particularly sunny mood today. That'll be what listening to Belshazzar's Feast all morning will do to you. Definitely still enjoying the job, the fact that I can listen to my headphones while doing it is just a happy little bonus.
At some point I will tidy my room. Probably just in time to move out of it at the end of the year...
Showing posts with label DERT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DERT. Show all posts
Wednesday, 23 February 2011
Monday, 21 February 2011
Coach Fatigue
Spent this weekend (well, the Saturday anyway) in Edinburgh with Mons Meg in order to get out one and only rehearsal for DERT (yes, we're taking it ultra-seriously this year...). Caught the national express coach up on the Friday night and it was packed to the gills so by the time I got up to Edinburgh (having passed through snow in Northumberland, not that that worried me at all, oh no!), I'd concertina'd up nicely. Add to that the fact that I'd had no sleep at all due to personal space defence (and I think my personal space is getting larger as I get older. At this rate, by the time I'm 50, I'll have to go and live on a deserted island.) and I was heading for silly mode the minute I got into the city.
Had a lovely Saturday. It was great to see Mons Meg again and to dance in The Village. We made the most of our practice time and I think we've got a respectable (if not precisely prize-winning) dance and our borrowed Monkey dancer fitted in just fine. The pub tour was also great fun (although the audiences were a bit odd. They cheered us at the end, fair enough and we wound up with plenty of money in the hat but very few cheers for the tumbles which is unusual. Never mind) I thin the stand out pub (for possibly the wrong reasons) was the Southsider. We walked in just as a live band were doing their soundcheck. On questioning, they said they were going to just try one song for the soundcheck and then we were fine to dance. They actually did 2 songs which were...not my cup of tea precisely but, heigh ho and then we went on to dance. We had a hairy moment when Mary Ann went a bit haywire and we ended up with our new number 3 on the wrong side of the sword for his first tumble. He managed to fix this by jumping over the sword while it was still at thigh height and then doing his backward tumble. We were all suitably impressed, the audience seemed harder to please. Far more annoting was, the whole time we were dancing, the drummer putting beats in. I'm not entirely sure whether he was just trying to join in (in which case, that band need a new drummer because I don't think he managed to hit a beat during the whole dance) or whether he was trying to put us off in which case he failed (I suspect our cock-up was us putting ourselves off as per usual) because he was up against a melodeon and, while he was amped, melodeons really don't need to be and they come with the beat built in, so to speak. We finished the night with 2 good dances, one at Doctors (the site of Trina's former bloodbath. Well, one of them anyway) and the second at the party of one of Dot's friend where the audience were super receptive and I think we did our best dance of the night. We all ended back at Trina's (with the usual suspicious cocktails) and just had a great evening. I was really sad I had to leave so early on Sunday morning (and incredibly grateful that I still seem to be immune when it comes to hangovers), I'd have loved to stick around and go round Edinburgh with everyone else but the coach called again. And what a hellish trip. Another packed coach with people encroaching on my little bit of space from all sides and a heater that they couldn't turn off again so we were all roasting for 10 hours. I think that irritation and access to twitter may be a bad combination for me since I think I moaned on it all the way down so apologies to anyone who had to put up with that. I managed to grab a rather nice steak sandwich in a pub while I was waiting for my last connection which turned out to be far less crowded and a much nicer experience altogether (Huzzah for the Oxford Tube) so I was almost calm again by the time I got back to Oxford. However, I have spent today with a particularly quizzical tilt to my head thanks to the kink in my neck from my travels. Have decided that I need to set up a train fund, especially as I'm heading back up to Scotland for a Borderers event mid March (and I don't want to miss it , particularly after my dismal showing last year!)
Still, all worth it for rapper and DERT. Only 2 weeks left now! Little bit excited, just a little bit...
Have booked my coach tickets for IVFDF (I know, I know but this journey 's only a couple of hours so nowhere near as bad!) next weekend so looking forward to that and am contemplating going to Tom McConville's fiddle workshop in Lewes on March 12th. Have had a look at the music and it may be a bit of a stretch but I love his style and I can usually pick up something, even from difficult workshops, to have a go at (The one with Matt Cranitch being a case in point) besides which, I still haven't found a fiddle teacher and I'm desperate for some form of tuition. Yep, I think I'll give it a go. Now just have to find my chequebook. Just let me go and get my rope and climbing harness....
But still, DERY, DERT, DERT!!!
Had a lovely Saturday. It was great to see Mons Meg again and to dance in The Village. We made the most of our practice time and I think we've got a respectable (if not precisely prize-winning) dance and our borrowed Monkey dancer fitted in just fine. The pub tour was also great fun (although the audiences were a bit odd. They cheered us at the end, fair enough and we wound up with plenty of money in the hat but very few cheers for the tumbles which is unusual. Never mind) I thin the stand out pub (for possibly the wrong reasons) was the Southsider. We walked in just as a live band were doing their soundcheck. On questioning, they said they were going to just try one song for the soundcheck and then we were fine to dance. They actually did 2 songs which were...not my cup of tea precisely but, heigh ho and then we went on to dance. We had a hairy moment when Mary Ann went a bit haywire and we ended up with our new number 3 on the wrong side of the sword for his first tumble. He managed to fix this by jumping over the sword while it was still at thigh height and then doing his backward tumble. We were all suitably impressed, the audience seemed harder to please. Far more annoting was, the whole time we were dancing, the drummer putting beats in. I'm not entirely sure whether he was just trying to join in (in which case, that band need a new drummer because I don't think he managed to hit a beat during the whole dance) or whether he was trying to put us off in which case he failed (I suspect our cock-up was us putting ourselves off as per usual) because he was up against a melodeon and, while he was amped, melodeons really don't need to be and they come with the beat built in, so to speak. We finished the night with 2 good dances, one at Doctors (the site of Trina's former bloodbath. Well, one of them anyway) and the second at the party of one of Dot's friend where the audience were super receptive and I think we did our best dance of the night. We all ended back at Trina's (with the usual suspicious cocktails) and just had a great evening. I was really sad I had to leave so early on Sunday morning (and incredibly grateful that I still seem to be immune when it comes to hangovers), I'd have loved to stick around and go round Edinburgh with everyone else but the coach called again. And what a hellish trip. Another packed coach with people encroaching on my little bit of space from all sides and a heater that they couldn't turn off again so we were all roasting for 10 hours. I think that irritation and access to twitter may be a bad combination for me since I think I moaned on it all the way down so apologies to anyone who had to put up with that. I managed to grab a rather nice steak sandwich in a pub while I was waiting for my last connection which turned out to be far less crowded and a much nicer experience altogether (Huzzah for the Oxford Tube) so I was almost calm again by the time I got back to Oxford. However, I have spent today with a particularly quizzical tilt to my head thanks to the kink in my neck from my travels. Have decided that I need to set up a train fund, especially as I'm heading back up to Scotland for a Borderers event mid March (and I don't want to miss it , particularly after my dismal showing last year!)
Still, all worth it for rapper and DERT. Only 2 weeks left now! Little bit excited, just a little bit...
Have booked my coach tickets for IVFDF (I know, I know but this journey 's only a couple of hours so nowhere near as bad!) next weekend so looking forward to that and am contemplating going to Tom McConville's fiddle workshop in Lewes on March 12th. Have had a look at the music and it may be a bit of a stretch but I love his style and I can usually pick up something, even from difficult workshops, to have a go at (The one with Matt Cranitch being a case in point) besides which, I still haven't found a fiddle teacher and I'm desperate for some form of tuition. Yep, I think I'll give it a go. Now just have to find my chequebook. Just let me go and get my rope and climbing harness....
But still, DERY, DERT, DERT!!!
Wednesday, 16 February 2011
Cheltenham and Other Festivals
Spent last weekend at Chetlenham Folk Festival. Obviously I ended up stewarding during the thing I really wanted to see (which would be Jon Boden and the Remnant Kings) and, it being on the Friday night, I didn't have time to swap with anyone but it turned out well since the person I was on the doors with didnt like them so let me do all the inside stuf so I caught mosy of them and they were brilliant. Loved all the different mixtures of instruments (although have to say that Paul Sartin looks terrified of holding the melodeon, never mind using it) and the mix of songs from the album (greatly added to by the sound of the oboe, I felt) and from the Folk Song a Day project were great. Gorgeous rendition of 'Rigs of the Time' all on strings and really liked Sportsman's Hornpipe (at least, that's what I think it was) leading into 'Penny for the Preacher. Also really liked the song about Francis Drake (whose title I just can't remember). I was off duty in time for the singaround afterwards which was great fun. We all sang along to 'Butter and Cheese and All' which was being recorded for the dollowing day's podcast and The Bailey Sisters treated us to a lovely rendition of 'The Cuckoo' before Paul Sartin brought the house down as well as not so much lowering the tone as boring a hole in the bottom and scuttling it with the hilarious 'Cock-a-doodle-doo'. Just a really nice end to the evening and I hope it catches on.
Saturday included, Jackie Oates, The Askew Sisters, Freya Abbott Ferguson, Hannah James and Sam Sweeney (introduced as Hannah and James by a slightly confused Pete Grasby which resulted in ahuge cry of 'Sam' from the audience which apparently made Sam Sweeney, backstage, wonder what on earth he'd done!), Pete Coe, The Crucible Trio and Kerr and Fagan who were just brilliant. Also managed to buy some fingerless gloves and some new melodeon straps (which was a little more involved than I suspected since the original Pokerwork strap fittings won't take the nice new straps so I'll have to get new fittings which PJ sadly didn't have with him at the weekend. He has, however promised to bring them to IVFDF and fit them for me and, in the process of all this, found that my current fitting was hanging by a thread so he fixed that so that my melodeon won't fall off the current straps in the meantime so disaster narrowly averted there). Also bought the new Blowzabella CD, 'Dance' which is just great!
On Sunday I managed to catch Mike Wilson and Damien Barber and their song to talk ratio is improving (although not by much! Doesn't matter though. Could listen to them do either all day). Went to Simon Care's melodeon workshop and he really is lovely. Didn't really teach us anything new but spent the whole session just reassuring us that what we were all doing was absolutley fine which was actually really, really helpful. I'm booked on one of his workshops at Squeezing Shropshire later in the year and I'm really looking forward to it. Finally managed to see most of The Melrose Quartet's set (and they were very, very good) before having to head for the train. Which was cancelled so they put us on a bus which didn't quite make it in time for my connection (although we were treated to a highly exciting 3 point turn in some incredibly narrow streets) so I had to wait an hour for the next train. Still I got back in one piece and it was still less time travelling than any festival I've managed from Edinburgh. Travel notwithstatnding, I had a great weekend with some lovely people and some fantastic music (and even ran into a Mons Megger. We turn up everywhere you know!) and Cheltenham has now been added to my list of likely festivals.
On Monday, I got to see The Remnant Kings again at the O'Reilly Theatre in Oxford (and, oh, the novelty of a gig I can get to with a short bus ride...). They were even better (possibly because I wasn't having to keep ushering people through doors during it). Was absolutely fascinated by the workings of the phonographs (one of which was right in front of me) and I also now have some slight urgings to have a go at the concertina after watching Rob Harbron. He really is a bit good. Anna, who I was at with, apparently fancies the double base, but I'd never be able to see over one!). We had a bit of a mad dash for beer during the interval since the bar was apparently in another building which made it interesting to find and it took them ages to serve us. (We were quite calm until we'd noticed that the band had just been served and were heading back. Panic set in a little then. The sing around was great fun again. This time we got to join in on 'Cupid's Garden' for the podcast. Lovely rendition of 'Don't Go Out Tonight Dear Father' by Jon Boden with slightly hilarious backing vocal antics from Messers Sweeney, Harbron and Sartin and we got a couple of numbers from Ian Giles to join in with. I do like him. He always seems to be so surprised to be talking to people. And, of course, Mr Sartin managed to get 'Cock-a-doodle-doo in again to general merriment.
Lovely evening with good company and good music.
Festival-wise this year, I'm definately going to IVFDF, Bristol, Shrewsbury, Holmfirth and Sidmouth. I was planning on the the Oxford Folk Festival and The Big Session but the Big Session is reduced to one day at the 'Beautiful Days Festival' which I can't make while they look for a new venue now that they'll not be using the DeMontfod Hall anymore and Oxford has just had to cancel due to economic difficulties. Fingers crossed that both of these manage to get off the ground again in 2012 because they're both great festivals and I shall really miss them this year. Anyhow, am currently considering Sheppley, Beverley and Ely. Sheppley's looking pretty good at the moment (list includes Bellowhead and Belshazzars Feast) and I really enjoyed Ely last year (may volunteer as a steward this year). Will have to see.
In the meantime, this weekend, I'll be heading back up to Edinburgh for a DERT pratice (and, hopefully, a pub tour) with Mons Meg. It'll be nice to dance some rapper again (rapper withdrawal is a bit severe currently since the Mables are busy trying to organise DERT so aren't really dancing at the moment) and it'll be lovely to see Mons Meg again too. I have missed them!
Also, at some point, I shall get round to sorting out my room since it is ridiculous to need a climbing harness in order to find clothes!
Saturday included, Jackie Oates, The Askew Sisters, Freya Abbott Ferguson, Hannah James and Sam Sweeney (introduced as Hannah and James by a slightly confused Pete Grasby which resulted in ahuge cry of 'Sam' from the audience which apparently made Sam Sweeney, backstage, wonder what on earth he'd done!), Pete Coe, The Crucible Trio and Kerr and Fagan who were just brilliant. Also managed to buy some fingerless gloves and some new melodeon straps (which was a little more involved than I suspected since the original Pokerwork strap fittings won't take the nice new straps so I'll have to get new fittings which PJ sadly didn't have with him at the weekend. He has, however promised to bring them to IVFDF and fit them for me and, in the process of all this, found that my current fitting was hanging by a thread so he fixed that so that my melodeon won't fall off the current straps in the meantime so disaster narrowly averted there). Also bought the new Blowzabella CD, 'Dance' which is just great!
On Sunday I managed to catch Mike Wilson and Damien Barber and their song to talk ratio is improving (although not by much! Doesn't matter though. Could listen to them do either all day). Went to Simon Care's melodeon workshop and he really is lovely. Didn't really teach us anything new but spent the whole session just reassuring us that what we were all doing was absolutley fine which was actually really, really helpful. I'm booked on one of his workshops at Squeezing Shropshire later in the year and I'm really looking forward to it. Finally managed to see most of The Melrose Quartet's set (and they were very, very good) before having to head for the train. Which was cancelled so they put us on a bus which didn't quite make it in time for my connection (although we were treated to a highly exciting 3 point turn in some incredibly narrow streets) so I had to wait an hour for the next train. Still I got back in one piece and it was still less time travelling than any festival I've managed from Edinburgh. Travel notwithstatnding, I had a great weekend with some lovely people and some fantastic music (and even ran into a Mons Megger. We turn up everywhere you know!) and Cheltenham has now been added to my list of likely festivals.
On Monday, I got to see The Remnant Kings again at the O'Reilly Theatre in Oxford (and, oh, the novelty of a gig I can get to with a short bus ride...). They were even better (possibly because I wasn't having to keep ushering people through doors during it). Was absolutely fascinated by the workings of the phonographs (one of which was right in front of me) and I also now have some slight urgings to have a go at the concertina after watching Rob Harbron. He really is a bit good. Anna, who I was at with, apparently fancies the double base, but I'd never be able to see over one!). We had a bit of a mad dash for beer during the interval since the bar was apparently in another building which made it interesting to find and it took them ages to serve us. (We were quite calm until we'd noticed that the band had just been served and were heading back. Panic set in a little then. The sing around was great fun again. This time we got to join in on 'Cupid's Garden' for the podcast. Lovely rendition of 'Don't Go Out Tonight Dear Father' by Jon Boden with slightly hilarious backing vocal antics from Messers Sweeney, Harbron and Sartin and we got a couple of numbers from Ian Giles to join in with. I do like him. He always seems to be so surprised to be talking to people. And, of course, Mr Sartin managed to get 'Cock-a-doodle-doo in again to general merriment.
Lovely evening with good company and good music.
Festival-wise this year, I'm definately going to IVFDF, Bristol, Shrewsbury, Holmfirth and Sidmouth. I was planning on the the Oxford Folk Festival and The Big Session but the Big Session is reduced to one day at the 'Beautiful Days Festival' which I can't make while they look for a new venue now that they'll not be using the DeMontfod Hall anymore and Oxford has just had to cancel due to economic difficulties. Fingers crossed that both of these manage to get off the ground again in 2012 because they're both great festivals and I shall really miss them this year. Anyhow, am currently considering Sheppley, Beverley and Ely. Sheppley's looking pretty good at the moment (list includes Bellowhead and Belshazzars Feast) and I really enjoyed Ely last year (may volunteer as a steward this year). Will have to see.
In the meantime, this weekend, I'll be heading back up to Edinburgh for a DERT pratice (and, hopefully, a pub tour) with Mons Meg. It'll be nice to dance some rapper again (rapper withdrawal is a bit severe currently since the Mables are busy trying to organise DERT so aren't really dancing at the moment) and it'll be lovely to see Mons Meg again too. I have missed them!
Also, at some point, I shall get round to sorting out my room since it is ridiculous to need a climbing harness in order to find clothes!
Tuesday, 25 January 2011
Don't Panic, Don't Panic!
Rapper workshop went very well. We had 5 and a half sets who all seemed to have fun and then we carted them all off to Bennets where we had a pretty good dance (and a very strange discussion about the shipping forecast and the possibilities of a monopoly type game based on it) and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. We seem to have gained 2 dancers and a fiddler (who, last night, turned out to be a pretty good dancer too) so things are looking hopeful on the Mons Meg front.
I've had the flat confirmed, which is a huge relief but have yet to start packing (mostly cause I'm in panic mode where I run around like a mad thing, picking stuff up and putting it back down and getting precisely nowhere.) Meanwhile, hating the post and whoever put the lock on the main door of the stair since I've been having to run back and forth to the depot (which isn't close!) on the say-so of cards that are themselves 10 days late to collect normal letters. So looking forward to having a main door address.
The pipe workshop at Celtic Connections was great fun. I even managed to get a tune (using the broadist definition of the word) out of them by the end of the day. Would actually consider adding them to my current instrument collection if I could afford them but I can't which is probably a good thing. Should try and achieve a playable level with the melodeon and the fiddle before I attempt anything else (so that could be a good long while).
The concert on the Sunday was also good fun. Not sure about the Cairngorm piece they opened with. all very good musicians but the tune would barely have stretched to 4 minutes, never mind the half hour it lasted! (Plus one of the fiddlers looked like he was ducking bullets the whole time he was playing). Interestingly (for me at least) the lead fiddler was the younger sister of one of my university dancy friends. Saltfishforty and Spiers and Boden were both excellent (although Saltfishforty are slightly weaker on their songs) and together they were absolutely brilliant. Sounded like there was far more than 4 of them.
Had my last proper rapper practice with Mons Meg last night. It was a good fun night with trying to put three beginners through the dance (and a dog I got to make friends with!). Plus Trina produced a cake for me (topped with a set of bellows with a face...wonder what that could possibly represent) and I got a framed collage of rapper photos and a T-shirt with the picture of us on the steps at Holmfirth on it (plus the contract that apparently hands me over to Mabel Gubbins which I find mildly suspect...). Am very, very sad to be leaving Mons Meg but glad I still get to dance with them at things like DERT and Holmfirth. (And we're booked for Holmfirth again this year. Looks like there's a good number of us going and we're all camping. Huzzah, Mons Meg encampment!)
Have notified all who need to be notified that I'm leaving; twice in the case of British Gas who, I forgot, did both my gas and electricity. Liked the poor lad on the end of the phone who clicked to it long before I did and pointed out that I may have just spoken to him...
Have booked for the fiddle workshop at Witney, the weekend next so am just waiting to hear back about that, then it's stewarding at the Cheltenham Folk Festival the weekend after that, back up to Edinburgh for a Mons Meg DERT practice the weekend after that, IFVDF, the weekend after that and then DERT and it's not looking like it'll ease up through the summer. Huzzah!
I've had the flat confirmed, which is a huge relief but have yet to start packing (mostly cause I'm in panic mode where I run around like a mad thing, picking stuff up and putting it back down and getting precisely nowhere.) Meanwhile, hating the post and whoever put the lock on the main door of the stair since I've been having to run back and forth to the depot (which isn't close!) on the say-so of cards that are themselves 10 days late to collect normal letters. So looking forward to having a main door address.
The pipe workshop at Celtic Connections was great fun. I even managed to get a tune (using the broadist definition of the word) out of them by the end of the day. Would actually consider adding them to my current instrument collection if I could afford them but I can't which is probably a good thing. Should try and achieve a playable level with the melodeon and the fiddle before I attempt anything else (so that could be a good long while).
The concert on the Sunday was also good fun. Not sure about the Cairngorm piece they opened with. all very good musicians but the tune would barely have stretched to 4 minutes, never mind the half hour it lasted! (Plus one of the fiddlers looked like he was ducking bullets the whole time he was playing). Interestingly (for me at least) the lead fiddler was the younger sister of one of my university dancy friends. Saltfishforty and Spiers and Boden were both excellent (although Saltfishforty are slightly weaker on their songs) and together they were absolutely brilliant. Sounded like there was far more than 4 of them.
Had my last proper rapper practice with Mons Meg last night. It was a good fun night with trying to put three beginners through the dance (and a dog I got to make friends with!). Plus Trina produced a cake for me (topped with a set of bellows with a face...wonder what that could possibly represent) and I got a framed collage of rapper photos and a T-shirt with the picture of us on the steps at Holmfirth on it (plus the contract that apparently hands me over to Mabel Gubbins which I find mildly suspect...). Am very, very sad to be leaving Mons Meg but glad I still get to dance with them at things like DERT and Holmfirth. (And we're booked for Holmfirth again this year. Looks like there's a good number of us going and we're all camping. Huzzah, Mons Meg encampment!)
Have notified all who need to be notified that I'm leaving; twice in the case of British Gas who, I forgot, did both my gas and electricity. Liked the poor lad on the end of the phone who clicked to it long before I did and pointed out that I may have just spoken to him...
Have booked for the fiddle workshop at Witney, the weekend next so am just waiting to hear back about that, then it's stewarding at the Cheltenham Folk Festival the weekend after that, back up to Edinburgh for a Mons Meg DERT practice the weekend after that, IFVDF, the weekend after that and then DERT and it's not looking like it'll ease up through the summer. Huzzah!
Thursday, 23 December 2010
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!
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!
Monday, 12 April 2010
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.
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.
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.
Wednesday, 7 April 2010
Dragons and Weather
Went to see 'How to Train Your Dragon', last night. Very, very funny and just a really good film. Some of the accents may have been a teensy bit suspect but the dragons were fantastic and I now want one! Saw it in 3D but I don't think there would have been too much difference in seeing it in 2D. Well worth seeing.
Planning to try and do a bit more tidying tonight. Must also do my washing so it gets a chance to dry before DERT. Getting a little edgy about DERT now. Keep practicing my stepping in random places.
Hoping this weather holds for the next 2 weekends. Not quite so important for the DERT weekend, I suppose, since we'll be inside most of the time (although it'd make walking between the pubs a mite more pleasant) but it would certainly improve my camping experience in Oxford! (Must contact the campsite and let them know that I'll be arriving a little earlier than planned)
Planning to try and do a bit more tidying tonight. Must also do my washing so it gets a chance to dry before DERT. Getting a little edgy about DERT now. Keep practicing my stepping in random places.
Hoping this weather holds for the next 2 weekends. Not quite so important for the DERT weekend, I suppose, since we'll be inside most of the time (although it'd make walking between the pubs a mite more pleasant) but it would certainly improve my camping experience in Oxford! (Must contact the campsite and let them know that I'll be arriving a little earlier than planned)
Tuesday, 30 March 2010
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.
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.
Friday, 12 March 2010
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.
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.
Monday, 25 January 2010
More Stuff To Do.
Well, Roger is now MOT'd and i am now on bread and water for the forseeable future. Passed on everything except his emissions and his brakes. Unfortunately it seemed the whole brake system had to be replaced (Apparently deep ruts in the brake discs. They were fine last MOT which makes me wonder if the increased grit use this year has had an effect. Ah well, so it goes). Still, at least I know he works. Must get his tax renewed now. Scary thing is, even with all this added cost, he's still been cheaper than any other car I have ever had. (This possibly means that I need to look closely at all my previous cars more than anything else!). No matter, he is set for going down to Hathersage and I am a little excited.
On the subject of Freaks, I made a start on bringing the tatters and the shirt into conjunction this weekend. (Nothing like leaving it to till the last minute). I reckon, if I work at it, I may get it finished before the weekend. Will have to see. Did a lot of fiddle practice this weekend too. Tried a lot of the morris tunes. Am really liking the tune for Twiglet. May even possibly be able to play it at weekend (albeit slowly and badly).
Snark rapper is coming to Edinburgh. Although we can't get a full Mons Meg team together to tour with them, a few of us intend to follow them around and take in the Snark experience. Also, it's rapper, you just have to!
Tried to get hold of the GMC on the phone but nothing doing so have e-mailed them again with a long and detailed explanation of what has happened, what is currently happening and what would like to happen. Will see what this does.
On a positive note, the washing machine behaved itself this weekend, (no doubt because I didn't go anywhere near it while it was on) so I may let it live.
Apparently Sherlock Holmes is still on at the cinema but I managed to go the whole weekend without wandering along which is a good thing but I am not allowed to go again until the tattercoat is finished (Otherwise it will never be finished, ever!)
Never managed to go and geet the fiddle's bridge fixed this weekend (mostly cause I was sat by the phone waiting to see if I could collect Roger) but I am waiting on it's new case arriving. It's original case sadly gave in to time last week and disintergrated on the way back from class, nearly dumping my fiddle on the road! Fortunately, managed to rescue the fiddle in the nick of time so it's still fine (apart from the bridge, obviously). Anyhow, new case is not exactly going to be state of the art (thougt process went, 'Arrgghh! Need something safe to put fiddle in it, what can I afford. Roger's MOT is coming up so probably not a lot. Oh look, cheap fiddle case on Amazon) but it will, apparently have a carry strap which would be nice since it will stop me nearly killing people with it when I have it in my hand.
Ooh, and we're entered in DERT!!!! Huzzah, let the nit-picking begin in earnest!
On the subject of Freaks, I made a start on bringing the tatters and the shirt into conjunction this weekend. (Nothing like leaving it to till the last minute). I reckon, if I work at it, I may get it finished before the weekend. Will have to see. Did a lot of fiddle practice this weekend too. Tried a lot of the morris tunes. Am really liking the tune for Twiglet. May even possibly be able to play it at weekend (albeit slowly and badly).
Snark rapper is coming to Edinburgh. Although we can't get a full Mons Meg team together to tour with them, a few of us intend to follow them around and take in the Snark experience. Also, it's rapper, you just have to!
Tried to get hold of the GMC on the phone but nothing doing so have e-mailed them again with a long and detailed explanation of what has happened, what is currently happening and what would like to happen. Will see what this does.
On a positive note, the washing machine behaved itself this weekend, (no doubt because I didn't go anywhere near it while it was on) so I may let it live.
Apparently Sherlock Holmes is still on at the cinema but I managed to go the whole weekend without wandering along which is a good thing but I am not allowed to go again until the tattercoat is finished (Otherwise it will never be finished, ever!)
Never managed to go and geet the fiddle's bridge fixed this weekend (mostly cause I was sat by the phone waiting to see if I could collect Roger) but I am waiting on it's new case arriving. It's original case sadly gave in to time last week and disintergrated on the way back from class, nearly dumping my fiddle on the road! Fortunately, managed to rescue the fiddle in the nick of time so it's still fine (apart from the bridge, obviously). Anyhow, new case is not exactly going to be state of the art (thougt process went, 'Arrgghh! Need something safe to put fiddle in it, what can I afford. Roger's MOT is coming up so probably not a lot. Oh look, cheap fiddle case on Amazon) but it will, apparently have a carry strap which would be nice since it will stop me nearly killing people with it when I have it in my hand.
Ooh, and we're entered in DERT!!!! Huzzah, let the nit-picking begin in earnest!
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
Getting Nitpicky
Very good rapper practice last night. With DERT looming, I suddenly go from ever so slighlty niggly to outright obsessive (please don't let me start dreaming about Flying Pixies again, please!) about figures. DERT's not till April and we don't even know if we've got a place in the competition yet and I'm already off! Doesn't bode well. Still we picked up on a lot of stuff that we need to correct in our Number 1 dance and we've pretty much got the basic shape of the Winlaton but we really need to start on the details.
Getting fairly excited about the Freaks in the Peaks weekend down in Hathersage at the end of the month. I will have my tattercoat finished, I will!
Must remember to book my ticket for IVFDF while I'm thinking about it, come to that. Don't think I'll get the bus down with New Scotland but will meander down in Roger since it's only to Durham. May even contemplate the train or bus. Will have a think on it.
Getting fairly excited about the Freaks in the Peaks weekend down in Hathersage at the end of the month. I will have my tattercoat finished, I will!
Must remember to book my ticket for IVFDF while I'm thinking about it, come to that. Don't think I'll get the bus down with New Scotland but will meander down in Roger since it's only to Durham. May even contemplate the train or bus. Will have a think on it.
Tuesday, 12 January 2010
Rapper Aftermath
Rapper practice last night was fun but not exactly energetic. This was partly because we had no musician but mostly because none of us were really awake. We did, as predicted, do a bit of stepping practice but I think I need to do quite a bit more in the burrow between fiddle practices to get up to scratch for DERT. Speaking of DERT, must send the booking form in.
Busy this week. Off to the library tonight, going to see Avatar in 3D with Vicki on Wednesday, fiddle class on Thursday, off to see The Imagined Village in Glasgow on Friday and then COSM's mid winter feast whatsit on Saturday. After that, Roger goes for his MOT.
It's very nice that the snow is now disappearing but the thaw is turning all the pavements into sheet ice and it's a little unnerving having to cling fences as I go (although, at least it's finally stopped my neighbour from cheerfully melting the ice outside our door each morning with water from her kettle...!) and that's with my walking boots on!
Must also get a move on with my tattercoat since the end of the month is creeping up. I have the shirt, I have the tatters, I just need to bring them into conjunction.
Busy this week. Off to the library tonight, going to see Avatar in 3D with Vicki on Wednesday, fiddle class on Thursday, off to see The Imagined Village in Glasgow on Friday and then COSM's mid winter feast whatsit on Saturday. After that, Roger goes for his MOT.
It's very nice that the snow is now disappearing but the thaw is turning all the pavements into sheet ice and it's a little unnerving having to cling fences as I go (although, at least it's finally stopped my neighbour from cheerfully melting the ice outside our door each morning with water from her kettle...!) and that's with my walking boots on!
Must also get a move on with my tattercoat since the end of the month is creeping up. I have the shirt, I have the tatters, I just need to bring them into conjunction.
Wednesday, 30 December 2009
What's to Come..
Have to get myself sorted out tonight so I can leave for Buittle straight after work tomorrow since that's where I'm spending New Year and the roads could be a little dicey. This includes making sure that Roger is working since he's spent the last week parked and under layer of snow! Really looking forward to going though.
Also to look forward to are the Mons Meg traditional ceilidh thing at The Village Inn in Leith with possible curry beforehand, the second term of my fiddle class (Must get some more practice in before then), seeing the Imagined Village in Celtic Connections (Must locate my ticket and keep it safe!) and a possible rapper tour in Glasgow while Celtic Connections is on.
Have also booked my ticket for the Big Session Festival. It's in June so I really must find a safe place to put it. This is so organised for me that I'm still trying to recover! (Must also get round to booking for Whitby Folk Week as well!)
Am waiting on my landlord getting back from holiday so that they can let me know their final decision on whether I can keep rats or not. (They were all for it and then got spooked by a friend's story of nightmare tenants with a hamster). I hope they say yes since I really, really miss having a pet. If not, might have to go flat hunting which I could live without at the moment.
Currently trying to make a tatter coat for Freaks in the Peaks Border Morris side. Have got as far as dying the shirt green and collecting the fabrics for the tatters (May also have acquired a top hat which is ever so slightly too big and will need decorating too) so should hopefully get it finished before the next event at the end of January in Hathersage.
Last but not least, there is DERT to prepare for. Must get the booking form sorted.
Also to look forward to are the Mons Meg traditional ceilidh thing at The Village Inn in Leith with possible curry beforehand, the second term of my fiddle class (Must get some more practice in before then), seeing the Imagined Village in Celtic Connections (Must locate my ticket and keep it safe!) and a possible rapper tour in Glasgow while Celtic Connections is on.
Have also booked my ticket for the Big Session Festival. It's in June so I really must find a safe place to put it. This is so organised for me that I'm still trying to recover! (Must also get round to booking for Whitby Folk Week as well!)
Am waiting on my landlord getting back from holiday so that they can let me know their final decision on whether I can keep rats or not. (They were all for it and then got spooked by a friend's story of nightmare tenants with a hamster). I hope they say yes since I really, really miss having a pet. If not, might have to go flat hunting which I could live without at the moment.
Currently trying to make a tatter coat for Freaks in the Peaks Border Morris side. Have got as far as dying the shirt green and collecting the fabrics for the tatters (May also have acquired a top hat which is ever so slightly too big and will need decorating too) so should hopefully get it finished before the next event at the end of January in Hathersage.
Last but not least, there is DERT to prepare for. Must get the booking form sorted.
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