26 Aug 2009
Posted in Juggling, People, Reviews at 9:49 pm by alby
Finally got some time to write stuff and edit pics!
Wednesday was a work day and I was to pick up Mats and teh Biskups in Leicester before heading to Norwich for the delayed BJC this year.
Mats has been local in the past so “knows Leicester”. Hah! At 5.30 he was supposed to have them both at my work (taking an hour off the trip should I have had to go home and then to Norwich). Quick phone call and they’re miles away in the wrong bit of Leicester completely. Still not as far as they would have been if they’d gone to my house tho.
After a decent drive and registering I went to put my tent up before it got too dark. At least 1 person approached me for advice on twinges before I’d even got to the campsite. Nice to know I’d be useful at least.
Met a few bods and pitched near to some nice folk. Whilst putting the tent up Mini was stomping around letting us all know that “The Sharpe Twins”(sic) were going to do a show. Looking over from the tent they seemed to be performing in the dark. I got there more or less as they finished. Ah well, an evening of hugs and hellos ensued.
That was day 1 really. No open stage and I didn’t stay up for renegade.
Thursday – Woken by 2 annoying teen boys in the next tent. Wittering about “Meat slurry” and trying to sound big and clever by using pointlessly over-long words. V tedious (and yes it did remind me of my teen life).
Day was spent alternately chatting and snoozing and with a big wodge of clinic time being done.
I was down to do a gym ball workshop too but this didn’t happen due to me not having heard I was doing one and thus hadn’t taken any gym balls along. As it was a few folk turned up and we did a basic Pilates thing instead until the combination of Mandy and Liz (stars) came up with 1 gym ball and a pump between them so we did a few of the sillier exercises to round off our session.
I briefly managed to say hello to Duncan (from Canada) too just before he disappeared off to move home from Edinburgh. Sorry to see you go Duncan, hope to catch up with you again some day.
After a day wandering through the site (one tent had the very large words “I piss myself” daubed on it) the evening was spent with the Lugeburf crowd (a good lot of them were there) chatting and ta to Kate for supplyage of beer. Best decision of the day was when we all thought “curry after BYJOTY then!”
I avoided renegade again but there was the fire show. A decent number of people I chatted to were going along to have a look but weren’t expecting much. It turned out to be better than most were expecting. There were still rather a lot of pointless body moves but a couple of the poi acts were bang on with their pairs moves and there were lots of pretty shapes being made. The finale was quite nice too with fireworks and flames shooting off all over the place. Definitely a step up from many fire shows I’ve seen but still not sure that it holds my attention that well. I don’t have the “ooh fire” factor any more so it’s just pretty lights moving around. I’d rather see that in a theatre rather than in a courtyard. Mind you Luke did make the point that it was fun to see a fire show and not be freezing whilst watching. The man with the fire wheelbarrow was quite fun too (if a little limited).
Friday – woken up by annoying teen boys in the next tent. This time they were cooking bacon and seemed to be bollocksing it all up right royally (and noisily). And one of them kept sniffing which is so bleedin’ annoying. I dragged myself out of bed and handed him some bog roll, much to his surprise. But he did accept gratefully and apologised for his sniffing. Ta.
More clinic time but no workshop afterwards so more napping done.
In the evening me, Kate and Graeme went into town for the BYJOTY show. I managed to wangle my way up into the balcony on the pretence of doing the photos. The show was ace but there’ll be another post for that.
Afterwards a whole bunch of us found ourselves a nice Indian place (Ali Tandoori) – thanks to the man in a pub for the recommendation. Again a lovely evening with nice folk but this time with excellent food.
Back to the site for renegade, chatting and more beer. Later I was introduced to some of Lizzah’s new southern pals and we played a bizarre dice game.
Renegade started off with Jay hosting but after a couple of uninspiring acts I gave up and went to bed.
A short while later I heard Jay announcing Ben Beever to the stage. Ah well that’s the problem with renegades; you have to endure the rubbish to find the odd nugget of worthwhileness.
Saturday – woken up by annoying teen boys in the next tent, complaining about the mess in their tent – for about an hour. Note – not “doing something about the mess in their tent” just “complaining about it”.
As I was woken early I needed yet more nappage through the morning.
Wandered into town with Lizzah for the games and then the show.
We did get to Pizza Express for lunch but they totally failed to live up to their name and we left before they got round to coming to ask us for our order. We ended up in the Norwich market where we found a chip stall – it just did chips. And nice ones they were too.
The games were a surprise for a few reasons. Firstly I was watching them, second I was in one game, third I came about 2nd or 3rd in it – it wasn’t very obvious to be honest. I was sat next to Luke and we watched the first round of club distance passing. They were all pretty awful and Luke seemed actually offended at how bad the first round was. “Come on we can do better than that” so he got me involved. It was the first time I’ve juggled for months and we came about 2nd. Not bad I reckon.
I left shortly afterwards thus missing what turned out to be the shortest 5 club endurance game ever when a sudden gust of wind blew up at the exact moment of the start of the game meaning only 1 person got more than a flash.
The games were ok. The compere was audible (credit due for not succumbing to the usual problem of not being heard easily) but I didn’t think the order of the games was too hot. The first one took some organising whereas maybe a quick and easy round of unicycle gladiators would have been the ideal “splash” intro to the non-BJCers in the audience.
Later he put the hardcore ball games together so we had first up 5 ball endurance. Followed by 7 ball endurance followed by 9 ball endurance. The problem with this was that the only people who could take part in the 7 and 9 ball games were also in the 5 ball game and were very good at it so were in it for a long time hence getting tired. Maybe it’d have been better to split them a bit to give them a rest before the harder games.
Anyway I’d gone shopping at this point to find myself another memory card for my camera. I was hoping to get lots of pics from the show later so thought a card for the show would be a good idea. Unfortunately I hadn’t reckoned on the cost of the larger cards. I would have needed a mortgage extension to get the 16Gb card so I settled on a 4Gb card instead. Big enough for something like 1400 pics so that’d do.
To the show venue at 3.30 for the early show. Show description coming in another post though so I’ll leave the show there for now. Oh apart from one item of non-show note. I got a text message telling me that 2 lovely people (Rob and Annette) had had their baby (welcome to the world Nico) and the text was written in a “just happened” style. I dashed downstairs to share the news with other folk. First person I met who’d know them was Lynne who responded with a blase “Oh yes that was yesterday”. Thus stealing my thunder somewhat.
After the late show me and Lizzah were both starving and looking for food. We ended up at 3 Ways Lebanese restaurant which turned out to be rather good. Recommended.
Back to site for beer and renegade. I left when the uninspiring acts just carried on being uninspiring. Tired so to bed. As I was walking there I heard them announce Komei to the stage. Ah well again.
The night was very difficult to sleep through as the show seemed to have energised everyone. Shame it couldn’t have energised them away from the tents though. So I had to put up with lots of shouting and screaming and drunkeness – part of the deal I suppose. At about 4am the annoying teen boys in the next tent came back shouting something about a man who gave them some sort of chilli flavoured foodstuff. “That man is awesome! I’m going to give him a Dr Pepper!” This last sentence had someone else coming back at him (from inside a different tent) with “Dr Pepper is minging – urgh!” Thus began a spirited discussion between opposing world views.
Later they moved on to chatting about Haribo and how the word should be used by Hari Krishnas instead of Gouranga. They eventually concluded that shouting “Haribo” would cause more happiness than “Gouranga” does. Hard to argue with that I suppose.
Then one of them got into an infinite loop of worrying that every time he swore he’d lose the game and swore about this therefore he lost so swore again etc etc… Ad nauseum.
After this they moved onto phoning one of their friends, giggling at how funny it would be to wake someone up. Har har.
After that interlude they went onto a “Who can sing the highest note?” competition. This was annoying but it turned from annoyance to entertainment quite quickly as these 2 drunken fools’ contest degenerated into 2 boys squeaking a lot and giggling even more. I was in hysterics. Ah bless ‘em.
Tired on Sunday morning I was. And I don’t think the man ever did get his Dr Pepper.
Sunday was a very quiet day of mellowing and packing. I’d managed to get teh Biskups and Mats to pack up before 12. We weren’t going before 3 as Pol and Freddy were to do the closing show. It was originally due to be on in the big top, then as we were sitting there we were told it was on in one of the gyms. The gym was packed but the 3 of us managed good seats on a table at the back.
Pol and Freddy were excellent. Lots of 2 person manipulation stuff with a very thick layer of clowning on top. Clearly very well practised and very entertaining.
A very fitting end to a very good weekend.
Thanks to all who contributed, even those 2 teen boys in the next tent.
Pics here (show and BYJOTY pics to come later).
Permalink
25 Aug 2009
Posted in Juggling, People, Reviews at 7:59 am by alby
There is loads to write and loads of pics to sift so there’s not much from the weekend here yet. It’ll get there sometime this week.
So in short.
- BJC was excellent.
- BYJOTY was excellent.
- Catch-22 was excellent.
- Weather was excellent.
- Company was excellent.
- A sizeable bunch of US Christians don’t seem to realize that Jesus’ schtick was the forgiveness and mercy thing.
- England cricketers can actually play occasionally.
- Lebanese food is excellent.
- as is the food at Ali Tandoori, Norwich.
- There is no 10th thing.
More later!
Permalink
07 Aug 2009
Posted in Juggling, Travel at 6:15 pm by alby
Yay! After my call for liftees to the BJC this year I got a call from one Ms Biskup and Mr Mats.
Looks like I have myself a pair of hitchhikers. Huzzah!
Permalink
03 Aug 2009
Posted in Juggling, Travel at 1:05 pm by alby
I’m a heading to the BJC in a couple of weeks and after travelling types to come with (since my usual liftees ain’t going this year).
I’ll be heading there, from Leicester, on the evening of Wednesday 19th and coming back on the Sunday afternoon.
If you want to come along then let me know soon. Can pick up on the way if necessary.
Have fun.
Permalink
28 Jul 2009
Posted in Juggling, Travel at 12:24 pm by alby
This is awfy early but I’ve an idea that I want to put out there.
I want to go to Finland’s EJC next year. That’s not the idea btw.
I want to drive there. I reckon it’ll take me a couple of days going at full speed and not seeing anything. So stuff that.
I want to take a week getting there going through Germany, Poland, the Baltic states before getting a ferry to Helsinki and then up to the site.
After the EJC the idea is to take a further week to drive through Finland, Sweden and Norway before coming home to the UK via the Bergen-Newcastle ferry.
So a 3 week trip then.
If I decide to go for this then I’d like companions to come along for the craic.
I’d expect it to be one set of 3 passengers there and another set of 3 back, maybe.
If you know of anyone who might be up for that sort of hols then let me know. First come, first served!
Have fun.
Permalink
24 Jun 2009
Posted in Juggling, Travel at 9:08 pm by alby
This weekend just gone was another juggly event. Every year there’s a gathering of northern folk (in the main) at Ambleside in the Lake District.
Beautiful place and the gateway to an awful lot of other utterly gorgeous places. And if you’re a fan of hill walking there are few better places.
Me, P and C headed up late after work on Thursday arriving at around 11pm. No-one at the site at first so we set off putting our tents up in the dark with no help.
Now I’m no practical person so I’m right chuffed that I got that tent up perfectly first time. I even checked it in the morning, planning to tweak it a bit so it would stand up to the weather better, but it needed no adjustments.
And a damn good job because it rained all bleedin’ night.
On the Friday there weren’t very many folk around and not a lot got done. I was itching for a walk so headed off up the nearest hill above the site (Loughrigg it’s called). An easy walk with ace views and proper Lakes weather.
Food at Ambles again (we went last year). The highlight this year was Mini’s response to the price of a drink in a proper restaurant. Top food as expected.
There were a few more folk around when we got back to the site (after a pub visit naturally) so hellos and chatting ensued.
Saturday was more energetic. Me and ^Tom both fancied a decent walk. No-one else did so we headed off up Wans Fell. We were away for a couple of hours with great stressy climbs and amazing views and being above the cloud line. Loved it. I really do need to do more of this sort of thing.
Once back the mood was mellow and the company wonderful. Many of us headed into town for chinese food and discussions about English language pedantry. After that there was a jazz club on but most didn’t really want to come along. Ah well, it ended up with just me and Dr Helen watching a pretty decent singer singing annoyingly down-beat jazz and ballads. Grrr. I’d have much preferred some decent up-tempo stuff. We left before the last song and headed to the site to sit around with what was by now a large group of folk around a roaring fire.
Beer and chat later and off to bed.
Sunday was bye to all and a long drive home.
Sad to be leaving. It does give me pause to reflect on quite why I’m in Leicester. A dull city with no visual flair and no great walking (no proper hills) nearby, when there are lovely places to live. I do wonder if they could do with another private physio there.
I’ll look into it.
Oh and you may have noticed the lack of anything whatsoever to do any juggling in this review. There’s a reason for this.
Anyway photos here.
Permalink
Posted in Juggling, Reviews at 8:42 pm by alby
I have been remiss in my reviewage of recent events so here’s a catch-up for you.
A week and a bit ago was L2! The second Lestival.
It’s still a great venue with oodles of space, even more so this year as the weather was pretty good (compared to last year’s wash out).
Sadly then the biggest downer for the day was the turnout. Just not very full. A shame considering that there have been so few events this year. I’d expected more folk gagging for a good event. Ah well.
The day was pretty full with doing trips to shops and putting signs up and running a workshop.
The workshop was excellent. I did my gym ball exercises thing again which I think might have to be a returner for future years. Fun was had by all. At least that’s what came across on the day.
After chips came the show.
Highlights were the Germans. Two acts one was Felix doing clubs and a book. A strange little wotsit but with plenty of ideas and skill. Die Fussballartisten were the headliners and they ran loads of lovely little football tricks incorporating handbalancing and the like. Sadly the lady of the piece (Miriam) didn’t do a foot to foot ball roll when handstanding in a splits position (mind you if it worked it’d count as a major cool trick).
But the star of the show was Jon Peat. Stunning series of utterly ludicrous 3 ball tricks. Zippy music, some drops (but nowhere near as many as on previous occasions) and some level of personality. Top notch.
So a great little convention. A shame it wasn’t a great medium convention.
Maybe next year.
Photos here.
Permalink
17 Mar 2009
Posted in Juggling at 12:28 am by alby
Here.
Permalink
16 Mar 2009
Posted in Juggling, Reviews at 9:08 pm by alby
Well it’s a bit late but frankly I had no wish to type after a long drive yesterday.
Sunday started late. Me and Rebecca stayed in for a while before packing up and driving into the city to have lovely food. This was followed by driving to the convention site and then driving to the coach station and then driving back to the site and then driving home.
Once home I sort of just fell into bed and worried about the noise that my car is now making post-journey.
There wasn’t much in the way of juggling. We got to the site pretty much around the time that the games were starting. We left during them and returned to find them still ongoing. And then me and Mats left.
Apart from the distance involved the event was act wasn’t actually too bad.
The site was too small, it’s a good job the orgs didn’t sell it well as any more folk would have been too many.
The ceilings weren’t too high either. But never mind. The amount of high stuff I wanted to do was minimal.
Show: Hmm. They also didn’t have a stage. I don’t like this, you know that. The lights were non-existant so acts performed with the house lights on.
Games? Meh. The people who like games seemed to like them though. And the “how many haggis can you balance on a single person” game looked quite gigglesome.
Worth the trip and major thanks to Rosie and Tom for lending me and Rebecca their flat for the weekend. A shame we didn’t have them around to spend more time with.
Have fun.
Permalink
15 Mar 2009
Posted in Juggling, Reviews at 9:23 am by alby
Day 2 in the Scottish Juggling House.
Slow start as expected of hanging around and getting hair cut and eating a bit.
Rebecca decided to hang round some more so I headed off of my own. The only odd bit of the walk was when I wandered past some bloke who told me to fuck off as we passed. Nice. Friendly people up here.
I’m being harsh, obviously. The locals at the event seem pretty friendly. Is this another example of the superiority of jugglers?
Any road. Got there to meet a few more people including Parit and Dr Alice. Spent some time passing and then sitting and drinking. Main problem with this was that the rugby was on in the bar. This meant that the clientele were loud, obnoxious and boisterous. Basically subsuming their homoerotic tendencies by hiding them behind a bluff and overtly laddish exterior. And after yesterday I am more convinced of that now.
More sitting and chatting at the site and then they kicked out for an apparent parade whilst the show was being set up. I stayed at the gym and helped set-up and sat and watched the tech stuff.
Show:
- Canadian Duncan came on with his ludicrous diabolo skillz. Smooth and he seemed to be enjoying himself somewhat. Nicely done.
- Matt DS was up next. He didn’t know he was in the show until the night before so turned in a last minute not fully rehearsed effort but his devilstick schtick has been honed to be able to manage pretty well despite the lack of expectation to perform.
- Acro duo. (sorry I don’t have their names). Acrobalancey goodness.
- Mats with his balls. Actually looked like he was enjoying himself – hurrah! Up to 7 balls with some very nice tricks and that.
- Donald Grant with his diabolo routine. Well it’s Donald Grant with his diabolo routine.
- ?Keith. Dreadlocky poi-monger. Not my bag but went down well with the locals.
- Sarah! Sarah! Sarah! [just thinking about Bungay...sigh] Baws and rings done with style, tricky stuff too.
- Donald Grant 2 with his short act (as seen as Chocfest). He’s a funny chap.
- Colin E. Bless him! He arrived on Saturday for a day at a convention and ends up as the headline act. No real rehearsal but never mind. Excellent club stuff with ball bouncing thrown in. Very sweet stuff.
Well done to Sarah for getting anything together at all. It was a short show but considering the hassles she had to get it together I reckon the quality was high enough to be proper impressed rather than simply sympathetic impressed. Cool job teh Biskupz.
The comperes are worth noting. I didn’t get their names (something like tea and biscuit) though. Comedy material with audience included. They made us laugh and got on with the show when they needed to. What else could you ask for from a compere?
And then home via food.
Permalink
« Previous Page — « Previous entries « Previous Page · Next Page » Next entries » — Next Page »