Hissssss... POP!

So Miss B and I went to the "Antiques, Collectables and Crafts" market in town on Sunday and had a lovely time thanks to the swans ride, the music played by some friends of ours, the hog roast, and the presence of the all-but-ubiquitous (in these parts) Professor Crump. The Prof. was doing his usual cycling around, doing bad jokes and making balloon animals which, of course, got Miss B's attention. So while we waited our turn, we had a chat about what to ask for.

"You'll need to ask for an animal," I say. "Ask for a dog or a rabbit."

"Rabbit," she decides.

So our time came and Miss B was asked what she wanted.

"Snake."

At least it was an easy one for the Prof. to make and soon Miss B was strutting around with her balloon snake ("Hissing Sid Rumpo," as the Prof. dubbed him). It was all we could to to prevent her from taking the snake to bed with her later.

Dancing the Icknield Way

OK, so this post is long overdue, but better late than never, eh?

So, on 5th September 2009, twenty-odd members of Icknield Way Morris Men rounded off the celebrations of their 50th anniversary year by dancing along 50 miles of the Icknield Way, starting at Ivinghoe Beacon, ending at Wantage, and with twelve intermediate stops (not all of which were at pubs!). We didn't walk the whole way (that would have killed us!) but we made it, all in one day.

The weekend actually started with a trip up to Wilstone on Friday evening (via a chippy in Tring), where we stayed in the village hall -- and had a great session in the local pub, along with men from the local Whitchurch Morris, who were great hosts (and a couple of their men turned out at a couple of our spots along the tour). The evening finished off, probably ill-advisedly, with a few of us having a dance practice (Glorishears, Bledington and Queen's Delight, Bucknell) in the village hall kitchen, fueled by a polypin of Bob which had magically appeared.

A little the worse for wear, we arrived at the car park by Ivinghoe Beacon and started dancing at 08:45 the next morning. It was nice to be met there by a fella from another side (sorry, I can't for the life of me remember which side) in full kit, who joined in with one of our dances. From then on it was a punishing schedule.

Spots were danced at Tring, Wendover (with a side from Aldbury Morris Men), Princes Risborough (including a chance encounter with a visiting morris man), Bledlow, Lewknor (for a nice ploughman's lunch and a parachute display), Watlington (where we seemed to be the only living things), Ewelme, South Stoke, Goring (for tea with the Kennett Morris Men), Blewbury, and East Hendred before finally rolling in to Wantage at about 19:45. One last spell of dancing and it was in to the King Alfred's Head for dinner with the WAGs.

After food and the obligatory speeches, everyone was absolutely shattered, so unusually for the team there were no songs and tunes. Just some quiet conversation for a while before staggering home to bed.

A great day, which I wouldn't have missed for the world, but I think few of us want to do it again in a hurry!

Another bank holiday weekend

Well, we had our annual house/garden party on Saturday and were lucky enough to have good weather and heaps of friends turning up from all sorts of parts of our lives. Quite a lot of ale (and other stuff) got drunk, a great deal of barbecued food (including the fabulous flatbreads) was eaten, and we went into the evening with a nice conservatory tunes session. Win.

Monday was fun too, with a recovery day behind us. We went off the the Uffington White Horse Show, where a strong turnout from the morris performed four spots in various parts of the showground. This was hard work given how warm the day turned out and how out of practice I, at least, had become over the last month or so.

Now, this coming weekend, we have the last really big event of the dancing season (for us, at least): the Icknield Way tour. To celebrate the side's 50th anniversary, we will be travelling along 50 miles of the Icknield Way (using motorised transport, thankfully), dancing at 14 different locations in a single day, before collapsing into a pub back in Wantage for dinner. Wish us luck.