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!!!

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!

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!

Rapper, Rapper and More Rapper

Had our first tour of the year on the 8th (and in fact out first time dancing out in quite some time given all the cancellations due to snow!)
Because of the threatened snow, we decided to hold it in Leith as opposed to Glasgow as originally planned. We started off in Mathers on Broughton Street to a very good reception despite out distinctly shoddy footwork (although, to be honest, we were just greatful taht we all remembered the dance!). Then we set off down Leith Walk and let me just sat that smooth soled rapper shoes, polished sheet ice on the pavements and copious amounts of alcohol make for a somewhat exciting tour. For the life of me I can't remember where we danced but we got a good reception everywhere we went. I got recognised as being from The Council by one of the bouncers outside Priscilla's which threw me for a moment until he reminded me that he used to work in the newsagents along the road and I did like the other bouncer telling us that we could leave our swords with the DJ while we were dancing. Took us 3 goes to tell him that we actually needed them during the dance! Saw an amazing dancer in Priscilla's who was dancing to 'All That Jazz' and she seemed to be really interested in coming along to have a go at rapper. She seemed to be worried as to whether she would be good enough and she's right to be. It's a long way down to our standard from where she's at!
We started getting free Aquavit when we hit the run of Swedish bars halfway down the road which actually seemed to help with balancing on the ice. We got approached by a very enthusiastic fiddle player in one of them who was asking if she could come and play for us so we were only too happy to give her our card. Itwas also in one of these pubs where we discovered that it might have been a bit too long since we danced in a really tight space as we found it really hard going. We got through but it was probably the weakest dance of the evening (even including the one at the end where Trina lost her shoe!)
Anyhow, then it was back to Trina's and Rapper Central for Suspicious Slivovitz and Vimto cocktails, lasagne and crumble (not together!).
Absolutely brilliant evening and I'm going to miss Mons Meg soooo much!

Monday's practice was good fun since we had a new lad along who's just moved up from Oxford (we seem to be doing an exchange programme!) and, while he's not danced rapper before, he seems to have done a lot of Cotswold so he picked things up very quickly. I hope he comes back.

We've got our first workshop on Friday at Tollcross Community Centre at 7pm. No idea how many people will turn up but am a little nervous as I can suddenly no longer remember how to do any of our figures which, I suspect, will not help anyone. Must remember not to be too enthusiastic at people in case I scare them...again...

Stuff and Nonsense Again

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

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

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

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

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

Good Things!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Belshazzar's Feast in Brigham

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

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

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

Ouch!

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

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

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

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

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

Archenemy in the Making

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

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

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

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

Bellowhead (Sheffield)

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

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

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

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

Melodeons at Witney

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

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

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

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

Odd Day and Bad News

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

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

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

Ooops! Catch-up.

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

Shall try to recap.

Festivals I Have Been To.

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

Concerts

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

Rapper

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


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

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

Falkirk and Election Woes

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

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

DERT 2010 (Part 2)

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

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

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

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

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

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

DERT 2010 (Part 1)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ups and Downs

Weekend got off to a bit of a bad start on Friday when I finally turned into my mam and put unleaded petrol in my diesel car! Fortunately, while I'm daft enough to do this, I wasn't daft enough to start the car engine so at least there's that.
The AA man came to tow me to a garage (and admitted to me that he'd done the selfsame thing 2 days before. Apparently there's been a large number of incidences recently. No clue why) where it took 2 lads 1/2 and hour to open the bonnet because the fastenings had seized (Only opened it a week ago!) and then the bonnet cable snapped! Anyhow, they managed to drain the tank and then it took 3 of them over an hour to try and shut the bonnet again. They didn't manage it in the end so my bonnet is now tied down with cable ties.
Then one of them went to put my oil (cause I'd just double checked my oil and water since I didn't know when I was going to get my bonnet open again) in my boot and, before I could warn him not to open it by the handle (see previous tale about the loose number plate), the poor lad was standing with the whole set up dangling from his hand. This just pushed me over the edge and I creased up with giggles which had them looking at me in a very nervous manner. Anyhow, we got the thing glued back on, paid up and prepared to set off only to find that my safety belt (for reasons best known to itself) had decided to jam. By now everyone was in fits and waiting to see what the amazing collapsing car was going to attempt next. Anyhow, by now it was very late and I was missing a lot of money so I had to give up on the Buittle weekend which I'm a little miffed about but, since it was my own fault, I can't really complain too much. On the other hand I managed to get a little bit of tidying done (I've found the bed!) and a lot of various instrument practice (Have worked out a slightly (emphasis on slightly) more complicated accompanyment to Bobby Shaftoe).

In good things, got my hair cut and I think I will use him again since it was very reasonably priced and he listened when I pointed out that I'm spending most of this year camping in fields and therefore styling of any kind is not an option (I avoided mentioning that it would have been pretty much the same scenario if I had been staying at home!). No more getting my hair caught in swordlocks for a while. Huzzah!
I've heard back from Whitby about stewarding for the Folk Week. They want me on the rifle club for some afternoons and evenings which is fine. If I do get programmed on for the rapper evening thing, I suppose I can try and swap it off. Still, free ticket and camping, so, you know, small price.

Watched Doctor Who on the iplayer. Liking the new lad and liked the little lass playing Amelia. She was scarily unannoying for a child actor. The older version was fun too (although, please let them not go down the whole romance route again. ) and I loved the joke about frying. Nice to see an episode taking place on earth that isn't set in London too.
On the whole, looking forward to the series.

Rapper practice was scarily relaxed last night given that it's DERT this weekend. The Steak Pie dance is looking good (other than the time that I tried to move to position for the wrong tumble and walked smack bang in to the sword between 1 and 5 (which, I may add, they were holding at around chest height and yet it managed to catch me across the forehead!). Anyhow, that aside...)
Winalot fell apart a bit because we didn't have a musician and it's difficult to remember where you are when stepping in 8's but seems mostly OK except for the backlock which we're just going to play be ear. (On a better note, I think I may have fixed my shoulder since I only got twinges while dancing last night and that's a huge improvement). DERT excitement is now starting to set in in earnest.

As if that wasn't enough, I also have Oxford to get excited about! First time seeing Bellowhead live! Just a little bouncy.

Off to see 'How to Train Your Dragon' tonight (3D again I think).

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.