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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: 2024-06-24 04:32 pm (UTC)From:Shingles is pretty horrible too...
Here - have some enrichment - I'm the one in the yellow-fronted waistcoat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPLwdndq3LM
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Date: 2024-06-25 08:56 am (UTC)From:1589! Wow :) I loved the idea of a longsword dance being done with bucklers as well. How logical! That was indeed very fast and there were a few moments when I feared for your shins. thank you!
Fortunately, since he had his house with him, Son could choose not to travel when it was rainy, but yes, it was a bit cold. We don't seem to have had much of a spring this year - just gone straight from winter to summer without a period to acclimatize. I'm not complaining though, it's nice to not be freezing any more.
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Date: 2024-06-25 12:32 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2024-06-25 03:58 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2024-06-26 03:38 am (UTC)From:Oof, the boat life thing seems to be one thing after another forever!
Shingles is miserable. :( I hope he recovers soon, though it sounds like it's already dragged on too long.
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Date: 2024-06-26 05:32 pm (UTC)From:I have to say that the boat life is very addictive, even if it is also anxiety inducing. I had no idea so many things could go wrong on a narrowboat, and half of the life consists in DIY repairs on one thing or another. But when you are gently navigating a river with the sun on the water and herons and swans following you, it is worth it.
The dancing is great! The only complaint I have about that is that I should have started sooner :) Thank you!
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Date: 2024-06-26 05:51 pm (UTC)From:Thank you! I'm sorry I stayed away for so long. I think the weather was leaving me with no energy to do anything (it's been grey and rainy here since October last year, and now the actual summer is taking us by surprise.)
The boat life really is one thing after another! Though it's nice that Son has someone to share it with now. It's the first time he's had an Other Significant enough to tell us about :)
DH is out playing the drum for the morris tonight, so that's already a big improvement. Thank you :)
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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: 2024-06-26 11:51 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2024-06-27 05:46 am (UTC)From:Aw, that's sweet! I'm glad he has someone important enough to let you know!
I'm glad he's improving!
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Date: 2024-06-28 09:58 am (UTC)From:Months on end of rain is very normal for the UK, but we had three abnormally warm and sunny springs in a row through the 2020s, so it was a shock to go back to a more typical English spring! The plants have liked it though.
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Date: 2024-06-28 10:14 am (UTC)From:It can be idyllic! There's a lot of really beautiful countryside you pass through at about walking pace, with sun slanting through the water under you showing up the shoals of fish, and kingfishers darting out of the trees on either side.
And it can be a lot of work because there's heavy 19th Century engineering to operate when you go through locks. And there's often a slight but not negligible risk of drowning in a lock when the boat gets trapped on the cill, or of going over a weir and sinking.
They do say that if the boat sinks on a canal, you can just stand up because the water will come to your waist. (Rivers are a lot more dangerous than canals.) But the locks can still kill you even there.
So I find it a weird combination of extremely relaxing with an undercurrent of anxiety and spikes of terror :)
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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: 2024-06-29 03:30 am (UTC)From:no subject
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 :)