Rejuvenated by a forest with woodsmoke...
Well, the weekend down in Derbyshire and Nottingham was a good one - except the evening was not as good as I thought it would be - I was just plain tired. Firstly, the day time dancing was great - we were in Shardlow, a village on the edge of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, and we met two other sides - the Black Pigs (from Notthingham) and Bakanalia (from Leicester), two other border Morris Teams. It was quite a party - all we did was a dance, then the two other teams did a dance, and then us again, and it went on like that, all done in the car park of the Navigation pub. Then we all walked down to the next pub, the New Inn by the canal. There we seemed to spend more of the day, dancing till the sun was ready to set - we even did a mass dance with all the teams - two long rows of people! It was great - and the group photo at the end was grand!
All of us Magpies followed Mike (Shamus) in cars to Long Eaton, and then to the Nottingham Yacht Club at Cranfleet Lock. Some of us went to get tea, and when we got back, most of the Magpies had left. SJ and her family stayed behind, and 6 of us did a fire dance - instead of usual Morris sticks we used torches - the effect was quite good.
For the rest of the night, those who were left there - Christopher, Terry, Chris, and I were tired - Ang was too but still wanted to dance to the band. When us 4 realised that the pub (where we were sleeping) would not clear out coz they kept serving beer, we, at about 2am and 3am finally went to bed, sleeping on the stage where the band had played earlier that night. We got to shut the stage curtains but the drunks kept loudly talking. Eventually they went to bed and the pub closed. It was an uncomfortable bed and I couldn’t sleep for ages - eventually did.
Thought I would feel tired and crap the next day but must have got sufficient sleep and it was so warm and sunny outside, I couldn’t be mad about the evening. We went out for breakfast without Ang, and when we got back, we got ready to leave
The drive home was the most relaxing part of the day for me - and what topped it all off was the visit to Wolfstone Hill. Chris had mentioned that there was a hill we were passing where an old barrow was discovered - it might have been a location for a hillfort of some sort many, many years ago. We got out of the car and walked up to it, then visited the small pine woodland next to it - such a calm place! Ang and I felt a bit rejuvenated after visiting that forest, the birdsong was lovely and there was wood smoke drifting through it, making it smell divine. The warm sun was certainly making us feel alive again. I want to come here for a ritual. We even heard an owl.
The winter that just passed really was like hibernating. I really noticed the difference between a winter here and a winter in Australia - back home, winters don’t seem so sleepy, but you still notice spring arriving. Even the wood pigeons and collared doves are quiet in the winter, and their cooing gets almost unbearably annoying in the summer, but you only hear their cooing in the spring and summer - so the difference in seasons is extremely noticeable here. I barely saw any pigeons let alone heard them in winter. More birds sing in the summer here, so it seems more alive in summer.
I’m still yet to find a more permanent place here in Marsden. I am at Vic’s house at the moment, but I could be moving out any time (with notice of course). I’d love to stay, coz it’s my favourite lodging so far, but I hope to find something similar that is more permanent.
I’m still looking for work, and meeting some great people and done a lot of great things, and I feel it’s all going to work well for me - I feel settled, abundant with friends who are like family, and feel it in my gut that I could even stay here for years if I chose to. I finally feel I’ve made the connection.
I have not heard from my closest friends much - I know Facebook is the last place you expect to be a good communication tool, but I’ve not had any emails, not many ‘likes’ or comments or ANYTHING. I got sick of facebook the other week - I was sending out messages, comments, all sort, but not getting response. Been thinking about just using this LJ more, like I did in 2006 when I opened this account. Back then, it was my only form of contact with home, and people used to leave comments then - it was a grand time! Now, all the LJ comments I get are spam that I disable or block, so I set it up for ‘no comments’. I’m sure my friends are pretty busy though, and in reality, what is there to tell?? Facebook tells everyone what you are doing without ever having to talk to people. Can’t decide whether that’s good or actually fucking awful. Maybe when timeline comes in I’ll back off a bit. I’ll see how it handles.
My Easter weekend is free! What am I going to do for it???