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I was very wrong about it not being a long slump! My last post was in February. I'm not even going to rashly claim to be back anyway, but I am still alive.
What have we done since February? Well, we moved the boat from a marina in Northampton to a marina in Shardlow near Nottingham, because Son's partner lives in Nottingham and he wanted to be closer to them.
That was another several months long business, including a several week wait on a two week mooring while the Canal and River Trust cleared a landslide, a blocked sink, the bilge pump going kaput because the stern gland needs repacking, and the solar panels unplugging themselves leading to all the batteries being drained.
However, we are now much more aware that this sort of thing is just part of the normal day to day existence of boat life. Indeed, Son is being a bit more nonchalant about the bilge pump than I would prefer. Husband has got Shingles, though, and I am no electrician, so getting there to fix it may take a while.
I have been writing a lot of fanfiction, being ill, belly dancing when I wasn't ill, and on Saturday danced at my first hafla.
Apart from all that, it has been rainy and wintery since February and we've done nothing really except for being ill and cold. Now morris dance season is on us in earnest and my knees won't take it any more, and DH has had shingles for about three weeks with no signs of getting better yet, so we're both in desperate need of enrichment.
Hope everyone else has been okay while I was out!
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Date: 2024-06-25 12:32 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2024-06-26 05:53 pm (UTC)From:Oh that's interesting, as there's a lot of the clashing blades behind yourself thing that reminds me of some Cotswold dances. It's funny how folk dances across Europe seem to share so much.
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Date: 2024-06-26 06:23 pm (UTC)From:For my taste, they repeat each figure too often, but audiences may have had less to do back then!.
We also dance faster - a very deliberate choice, but we finally have enough young dancers to be able to do this!
I forget what inspired our youngsters last summer to do this, but they were at a folk festival where we'd been performing, and took a break in the play park....
https://youtu.be/Z5eQxzsrpf4
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Date: 2024-06-28 10:20 am (UTC)From:Oh that was at Chippenham! I'm sure I was at Chippenham last year. What a shame to have missed you! I wasn't there this year because I was in Milan, but normally I'm there with either Sutton Masque or Ely & Littleport Riot. If you're there again next year we should meet up :)
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Date: 2024-06-28 01:50 pm (UTC)From:It would be lovely to meet up! (probably in the evening, rather than the day. We'd get more time to chat. Maybe after the stick and bucket competition? I may see if I can persuade Southern Star to enter.
My husband is on the Chippenham committee, does their website. Take a peek at https://www.chippfolk.co.uk/LineUp?T=Dance to see his handwork for this year's festival.
Try clicking on teams, venues, etc. It's all one database and a real delight to use.
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Date: 2024-07-01 09:37 pm (UTC)From:That is very cool! I was intrigued by seeing Rose Hips, another belly dance/morris fusion group like 400 Roses. I wonder if that's something that is going to become more common in the morris world in the future. Now that i've been to my first hafla I can definitely say that the belly dance world is much more like the morris world than I would have expected.
After the Stick and Bucket competition sounds like a thing! You may have to remind me a bit closer to the time, however. There's no way my memory will retain it for a whole year :)