Becoming a Southerner

Well things have been a bit hectic recently what with one thing and another.

Move down south has been accomplished and I am now installed in new room although I still haven't had any time to actually sort out any of my stuff so it's still all sat in a big heap (currently known as Mount Stuff!) and I occasionally rifle through it in search of important items. Thus has lead to least one impressive case of subsidence and I reckon I'm going to have to take a couple of days off to get it sorted since I appear to have no free weekends ever again.

Speaking of which, I spent my 1st weekend down here in Witney (well, I commuted just for the novelty value) at the Hands On Fiddle weekend. Due to the move, the sheet music didn't catch up with me until the night before which meant I ended up winging it in the 'Developing Irish Fiddle Class' with Matt Cranitch. Although this was aimed at Basic and Intermediate, those of us at the bottom end agreed that he might have missed the 'Basic' part. We'd be (in my case attempting) playing the tunes at some silly speed and then he'd say, quite seriously, 'well, now that we've run through it slowly...'. Still, picked up some tips which I can take away to work on and I still enjoyed it. The concert on Saturday evening was lovely and I've decided I really like Peter Cooper (even aside from the fact that he really reminds me of Eric Morcombe). Sunday's workshop was a bit easier. It was 'Developing Shetland style' with Catriona MacDonald and we were all learning the tunes by ear so I wasn't quite as put off by lack of practice. Lots of things to practice from this one and I really enjoyed it. (Even though I spent the next 2 days with my left hand cramped in fiddle playing position. May need to increase my practice time... ) Still need to find a teacher down here as well. Must look into that.

Work has been great. Working with some lovely people in a job that I can do (and I'm finding a use for my medical knowledge. My German may be rusty but most of the medical stuff is roughly the same so I can translate about 70% of written German without having to resort to Google) Am actually happy to go to work and everything seems so much lighter. Didn't realise just how much stress the lack of any real job in Edinburgh was causing. Think I was right to get out and should have done it so much sooner.
Walking to work at the moment (mostly because the keys to my bicycle lock are somewhere at the base of Mount Stuff and I've yet to locate them). It's about a 40 minute walk (when I don't stop to help little old ladies who fall over in the street. Well, I didn't get much choice after she practically fell on me) so not too bad and the buses here actually give change which is another huge novelty. Plus the local library is set in gorgeous old building in a lovely park (sadly, it's also one of the ones under threat of closure. Fingers crossed it makes it.) and I walk past a shark in someone's roof every day (this has yet to stop being hilarious). Have even managed to practice the melodeon and fiddle with no complaints from my flatmates who seem very nice if a bit bemused (that said, I did pick up a heavy duty mute for the fiddle at Witney, just to be nice.)

It's still a bit surreal being down here. It's quite different to living in the North but, for the life of me, I couldn't tell you why. On top of all this, have bought a new mobile phone which has all sorts of features such as access to Twitter which I'm actually finding a great deal of fun. (not least when listening to the folk awards, while drinking gin and twittering with friends. Very funny indeed.) Even better, it can do google maps so I don't have to panic about getting lost. Slightly worried about the amount of times the instructions mention that it might explode....Given my track record that does not bode well. Still, lets hope it makes it to the end of the year...

New Flat

Went down to Oxford to go flat hunting just after New Year. Found 2 which I liked, one was a very large room (larger than my current flat pretty much) right on the edge of Oxford and the other was in the gorgeous little village of Waterstock. I have to say that I loved the cottage in Waterstock and could quite happily have lived there but the room was very small and I have a lot of stuff (even after culling it severely) so I decided to be sensible and go for the Oxford one since I'll save in travel and can fit all my stuff in.
The trip itself was fairly uneventful except for some slight problems with my national express tickets on the way down. When I got my pre-christmas tickets for the bus that got cancelled amended, I was given a code and assured again and again that that was all I needed, despite my being very sceptical. Apparently I was right to be so since the first bus driver was incredibly reluctant to accept my ticket and only conceded because the bus was mostly empty (I didn't even attempt it for the Milton Keynes to Oxford stage but just bought a ticket. Fortunately it's the cheapest bit of the journey!). I called in to the National Express office in Oxford when I got down there and they very nicely printed me out some proper tickets so at least the journey back wasn't a problem. On the plus side, they've built a very nice new interchange at Milton Keynes which was a nice change from freezing to death in front of the old collection of portacabins for an hour or so like I've been doing for most of last year! Journey back was very crowded as well so I had a very uncomfortable night with no sleep and had to go straight to a full days work in that condidtion. Still, that's my own fault for having used up all my holidays on interviews and being too short for the seats. The Youth Hostel wasn't bad either (I tried the YHA next to the train station this time which, despite being right next to the railway line, still managed to be quieter than the one I stayed in last time!)
Anyhow, time since then has been spent on tenterhooks while waiting to see if the contract would go through alright and trying to tidy my current flat so that it didn't look cluttered when my landlady shows future residents round. (She was apparently a bit concerned with the 'clutter' when she came round last week, despite the flat being clean and tidy. She said she thought it made the flat look small. I refrained from telling her that it's the fact that the flat is small that's making it look small!). Anyhow, Trina has been kind enough to temporarily adopt some of my bulkier items (and all the moles) which freed up some space and I've managed to shoehorn the rest into cupboards. I now have to manage to live without leaving a trace for the next 2 and a half weeks! I've already taken some stuff to charity shops: all but 2 of my ball dresses, an old wedding hat, some old shoes that I no longer wear and some of my better made reenactment kit and a wierd bit of exercise eqipment that my mam gave to me (for a laugh, I think!) which I've never managed to work out how to use. Have got rid of all my old jigsaw puzzles that I no longer do due to lack of time. Have sorted out which DVD's I want to get rid of and will hopefully get them along to cash converters next weekend (and may possibly take along my video recorder since I don't watch american videos any more, it's over complicated and I have a much simpler video player as part of the TV that I can use to watch PAL videos). Have even contemplated getting rid of all my Tom Clancy and Clive Cussler books since, if you've read one, you've read them all and they take up a lot of space. All my old, useless reenactment kit is heading to charity shops or the bin in the next week so that too should free up room.
Anyhow, contract for new flat came through today (albeit with my name wrong on the first try but we've corrected that now) so at least I know I have somewhere to live which is actually a huge relief. Have booked a medium sized van for the last weekend (mostly cause the stuff I have is too bulky for a little van), arranged to pick up keys and booked a train back from Edinburgh for the 31st (for less than it would have cost me on the coach which I found fairly impressive!)
Then it's starting the new job on the 1st! Not nervous, not nervous at all...

Stuff and Nonsense Again

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

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

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

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

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

Kings and Things

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

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

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

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

Good Things!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fire Alarms (Again!)

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

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

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

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

Snow Journey

Been a bit of a busy few days.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Surprise Wrens

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



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

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



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

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

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

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!)