Another Thursday, Another Practise

It has to be said, I love Morris Dancing. Stone the Crows very kindly held an extra practise for the beginners of the group yesterday, this time at the Railway Pub in Leyland - the school was being used as a polling station. When I got to the pub, I saw that the majority of the clientele were what I would refer to as Chavs. I have nothing against Chavs. Well, actually I have because they are rude to my emo/scene daughters. I saw them through the window and walked into the pub armed with only a bottle of water and my handbag. Inside were two of the Team and one, a true gentleman, bought me a drink. Morris is thirsty work after all. I was introduced to the other Team member and as the others drifted in, reducing the Chav:Border Morris ratio somewhat, we went to a room in the back and made room by pushing some of the chairs and tables out of the way.

After a warm up, we danced Tinners, which, fortunately, I had not completely forgotten. Then we went through a number of the "moves" that make up the dances. I'm sure there is a word other than "move" but I tend to be a bit excited at Morris practises and many of the words I hear go right out of my head afterwards. What I do know is, I learnt/practised the Hay in some of its various guises and others, whose names I have completely forgotten now, although I think I remember how to dance them.

I also learnt a new dance - White Ladies (quite complicated and great fun) and had another go at Ash Pole, also quite complicated but I'd done it once before. The amount of energy I expended is evidenced by the amount of water I drank - nearly a litre. Usually, I'm a bit of a camel and don't drink for days.

Afterwards, we repaired to the pub (this is getting a bit of a habit now), where I was starstruck by the presence of a well known northern comedian. I didn't have to go through the pickled egg ceremony, even though I had admitted to my deceit in my previous blog and then invited the whole group to read it!

Our Father Christmas lookalike told the same joke for the third week in a row (I remember it from last week):

A scouse is coming out of Asda with a piece of meat under his coat.
"What are you doing with that?" says the security guard.
"Oh, some potatoes, carrots, peas..."

I told this one:

Did you hear about the man who lived in a tyre?
He moved out when he got a flat.

BOOM BOOM!!!!!

Next week, I get the opportunity to dance in public. They are going to lend me a rag coat for the occasion. I'm really looking forward to it.