two left feet

Yesterday I psyched myself up to go to my streetdance class after not going for a few weeks due to the dodgy hip; it's not what you might think, although who am I to assume. I do not spin on my head.
It's a lovely class with women of all ages, shapes and sizes, in fact sometimes a man or two as well- sometimes John, who works in the shop, sometimes Ken, whose shop it is, and sometimes one of the women's partners.
I started to go to this class, and the tapdancing class because I'd been looking for some jazz trainers for my son, and Ealing Dance Centre in Pitshanger Lane was the nearest place. now that the dance shop in Northfields had shut..what a happy day that was! Son tried on some of the jazz trainers, so did Phil and me- fantastic- made me feel lighter than air, a feat in itself-; I needed to go to a dance class asap. wonderful John, the huge (I mean tall!) hilarious Liverpudlian who works there told me about Nika's dance class on a Wednesday night - some excercise and a dance routine, just over an hour a week. Brilliant- I'd done a bit of dance in my early 20s and helped to run a disco dancing group at the Mayflower Family Centre, Canning Town when I lived there in 79/80. Enthusiasm is everything really, as I definitely had, and still have two left feet. I've been going since Feb '06 and there's been no real improvement, although I now now what certain terms mean which makes life easier, eg behind side front, and step ball change! It is such fun though, a real camaradierie between the people that go and Nika the teacher. I missed it so much when I wasn't able to go, as much for the friendship as the exilharation of the excercise and music. As for the music, who knows what we dance to week to week, I have never heard of most of it, or wouldn't choose to listen to it, although some of it I have downloaded onto i-tunes since I've danced to them, in the hope that I can remember the dances between classes. It's either a fast tune, or a slow tune! Another thing I like about it is the surprise value of telling people, what I did last night, yes, I was at my streetdance class dancing to 50 cent has good comedy value with the teenagers I work with!
Ealing Dance Centre is a wonderful place and so is Pishanger Lane; although I've lived just half an hour's bus ride from it for about 15 years now, I'd never been there; it is so village like and a great community, there always seems to be a community festival or event going on. Lovely restaurants and cafes too... there is also the Brentham Estate which I think was set up by an idealist early in the last century and probably as it's own website (will find out). The shop has everything, and the people that work there are so knowledgeable and helpful. At the moment there is a window display called 'Holy Communion' with lots of frilly white dresses for those making their first communion soon. They also have fancy dress costumes and a wide range of dance clothes and shoes. If they haven't got something they will get it- and you get a discount if you're a member of the local theatre group, Questors. What more could you ask. My son was horrified at the idea of me doing streetdancing, he was embarrassed - he said I should do something more suited to my age, like tapdancing - I agreed to do this if he came as well, which he did for a short while. WIll write about the tap after Friday - that's a whole story in itself...

Pete Cooper's bow hold

Went for my first fiddle lesson with Pete Cooper yesterday...It was quite a pilgrimage, a four hour round trip including the lesson! left Phil's work in Richmond at 5, home at 9....slow Silverlink train through Acton, Willesden, Hampstead - change at Gospel Oak, more waiting...dirty uncomfortable trains full of tired, end of the working day people...felt very different to the South West Trains Waterloo to Richmond journey. Depressing...but interesting, too - some great views across industrial wastelands to the city skyline around the Willesden area.
Have never been to Crouch Hill before, felt quite fresh and leafy- we were early for my lesson, so wandered about a bit before we went to Pete's flat, not enough time to have a drink /snack first, even though the Dairy looked really interesting, what a great building, must take the camera next time! still too early for the lesson- walked right up to the top of the hill to look at the view - beautiful, the air felt clean, lots of green; seemed like a hidden bit of London, probably just because I hadn't been there before, in fact I really don't know North London at all.
Went to Pete's flat anyway; it was fine, someone else was just at the end of their lesson- Phil got a chance to have a play with Pete and his student, that was fun- will I ever get good enough to just join in and intuitively harmonise like Phil can? I'm so used to reading music or even as a teenager writing down harmonies I've made up, will be hard to unlearn, although I've been inspired by Pete Cooper's musings on his website about playing by heart, and I'm determined, which I guess is more than half the battle.
Anyway, I was pretty nervous as while Phil has been teaching me, I can behave like a teenager/toddler when I can't do something, also am in my own space, so can stomp of to my room crying "can't do it" slam! yes, outrageous for a grown woman to be so childish...Knew this would not be an option in this arena...really until I began to play Flop Eared Mule, was still a bit anxious, but all was fine...gentle encouragement, useful tips about arm movements and so on, and then we got to the bow hold. That was almost it...I just couldn't do it, my arm and hand felt at once rigid and yet made of putty- I couldn't do what I thought I was supposed to be doing...almost a teenage moment...almost. Luckily Pete has put something on YouTube-Pete Cooper's Bow Hold- when he said it, I thought he said 'Pete Cooper's boho', in relation to his flat being warm and bohemian in a studenty, bookish way! (a scaled down version of our house!)
Reality far more prosaic and extremely useful...he showed me this bow hold clip from YouTube, which was good as it took the attention away from me for a few moments, and then we tried again- almost right, got quite frustrated at myself...then anyway onto the next tune, one I'd been practicing at home - 'O The Britches Full of Stitches' really this part was a perfect illustration of the difference between having a human teacher to show you things as opposed to learning just from a book, even if it is a really good book. We practiced the way of putting stresses on the bow to accent different notes and all too soon, the lesson was over, as a family of mandolin players arrived. The whole hour done without looking at any written music at all. Very good for my brain. Pete has assured me I will be 'Whitby ready' by mid August, which will be a miracle; we'll see.
Home again, wishing Crouch Hill was closer and that I could have a lesson every week- next one 3 weeks away.

today

Today, my back still hurts and I am off work for another few days. Tried to find an easy way of putting my photos on the web; seems with Picasa I can only do it one by one as I can't install the 'uploader'. Time for myself, after 2 weeks or so off work, it's been good to be able to find myself a bit again.
Later I've got my fiddle lesson with Pete Cooper...very exciting; thankfully he seems like a patient sort of guy. It's a long way to go, and the train journey will be uncomfortable, but worth it!
Lots of jobs need doing round the house in advance of builders starting in the next few weeks; luckily our holiday in Whitby will coincide with some of the turmoil. Will I be able to play the fiddle well enough to join in?!? Watch this space!

journey through folk music

My earliest memories of folk music are dancing around our sitting room when I was probably about three, to Skip to my Lou, performed by Pete and Peggy Seeger. My mother had an album of theirs, but the only other song I can remember on there was Froggy Went a Courting I wish I could remember some of the others ....as I grew older, and started buying records myself, the very first album I bought was Gather Me by Melanie Safka...I loved that record ( and still have it) In fact the one song on it I don't like so much is Brand New Key, her hit from the early 70s. I heard this album when I was in Greece with my family- my cousins, about 10 years older than me used to play it on their car 8 track cassette player as we drove to and from beaches from Athens for the day...not sure if it's exactly folk music, but what is the definition of that anyway-it had a folky feel to it. My cousins were very fashionable and cool in my eyes, I had to keep this record a bit secret from my dad, who hated pop music- we were, however, allowed to listen to stuff my mum liked and so then I began to buy Simon and Garfunkel records-wonderful, with intense, serious and clever lyrics...and beautiful voices singing lovely tunes. I was about 14 by then, and bought all of their albums...learning to play some of the melodies by ear. I still love Simon and Garfunkel-they sound fresh and relevant even 30 or so years on; I then abandoned folky sounding stuff for a few year while I listened to the Beatles, Stones and Velvets Underground, but then I found a strange way back- my friend Penny at school had an older brother Tom, who had a vast record collection- he was away at Oxford while we were 14-16, and some evenings I'd stay at Penny's and we'd go up to his room in the attic and riffle through the records...lots of 60s and 70s goodies; we tended to listen to the ones with the covers we liked, so there was Wake of the Flood -Grateful Dead, Little Feat, Genesis...we liked Lindisfarne and used to dance around the room to Fog on the Tyne-particularly Penny who used to demonstrate moves she'd learned as a child catwalk model!
A major event for local teenagers who went to St Margaret's church youth group in Putney in the 70s, was the Harvest Barn Dance- wonderful, and so much better than a disco; to do the dances properly, one had to actually touch and hold onto a member of the opposite sex and here was folk music! energetic and frantic at times...beat discos and disco music anyday. Somewhere along the line, maybe when I was about 17, I got friendly with the curate at our church- David Lee- he ran the youth group, and I helped him! He really loved the purer, more traditional folk music, and I can't remember which groups or singers in particular, but I used to go to Putney record library and borrow anything that looked serious! This music really chimed with an earlier (and abiding) love for traditional church music like plainsong, Tallis or Byrd-I found the music haunting somehow-got into my soul. This being Putney, home to the Half Moon pub, I also discovered Pentangle and Fairport Convention....Pentangle became an enduring obsession- and Bert Jansch as a solo artist- saw him again a couple of years ago at the South Bank more powerful if anything as a result of the passed years. Wierdly there was a bit of a co-incidence with him- I had a friend at primary and secondary schools, Charlotte who was born on the same day as me- our mothers had been friends back in the day- she ended up with Bert Jansch, possibly still together, who knows! Their son, who must be about 25 now, played at the South Bank gig...so if together, it's been a long time!
I also really liked American folk music; Bob Dylan, before and after the electrics, and Woody Guthrie
I am so lucky as I've always loved music, I always wanted to have a boyfriend who was in a band, and now I have a whole husband who is a musician-I remember when we were first going out, he thought I was pretending to like folk music to impress him, as he plays the fiddle... he was never as keen on folk music as me, although since Whitby we've both been learning a lot more about it-he's having occasional lessons with Pete Cooper...I'm having a lesson with him tomorrow-I'm really nervous as I'm an almost complete beginner! will post again after I've had the lesson.
Just watched Bruce Springsteen, the Seeger Sessions on DVD, he sums up various things about folk music in a way that makes sense- some of it is to do with it being people's music with none of the edges polished off as in the more anodyne offerings.

Why I like Whitby

I exercise my mind with this now and again...

What is it that appeals to me so much? I think it starts with the fact that it is very remote and small, but that it's pretty self contained with regard to shops, a clinic, entertainment of all sorts and history in abundance. Also if you're coming from London, and by public transport it takes ages. The first bit's ok, as you go from Kings Cross to York, but then you need to get the Coastliner bus/coach service which takes two hours. A very long and winding road indeed, although it's really picturesque, and the holiday feeling truly starts as soon as you see the moors...the difficulty is probably a good thing in that it addds to the feeling of being somewhere really special that is a challenge to get to! Having said that, there are now three families I know from my immediate neighbourood that go, and one of them we met by chance the first time we went to Whitby when they walked into the tiny restaurant we were in; they were hoping to get a table too, and they saw us! How unlikely was that to happen?

I like the way that there is always something to do, whatever the weather...possibly the very best thing, even if cold and rainy is towalk along the clifftop and look out at the sea...if it's raining a lot, you can go into the pavilion complex and have a coffee and stare out to sea in comfort. There are so many places that you can just go to have a drink, a snack or a complete blowout. All tastes seem to be catered for, and if you are in self-catering accommodation,which is how we like it, then there are so many places to get fresh good quality ingredients, almost on your doorstep! This summer we'll definitely get fresh fish from the Whitby Catch; even their website makes me drool, in fact if they deliver to London, I may order some to get a Whitby fix before then.
I like the fact that Whitby has several eras of magnificent history that can be easily explored when you're there. I really like to visit the Abbey; the views are tremendous, everything is so quiet up there, and if you hire one of the commentary things from the desk when you go in, you can get a real sense of what life would have been like at various points in the Abbey's history, you can walk up past the Abbey and kind of round the back of its boundary where there is a farmhouse....more views and exposure to raw elements,
I like the history to do with shipping and fishing- I love looking at the old photographs of Whitby- many places are almost unchanged.

the Captain Cook museum is another place to while away a couple of hours-good when it's raining, or too hot! The narrow streets and unusual old buildings around the museum spark off the imagination you can look out of some windows of the Captain Cook museum and know that you are looking at the same views that he would have had.
I like the way that people are friendly and say hello, and enjoy talking about where they live. I like the way that there always seems to be something going on- admittedly, I don't know if there's something for every week of the year, but it seems to be a busy place, particularly for music festivals!

I like the way that you can walk around Whitby and there is always something you haven't noticed before, a street, a shop or the style of a building. I like looking at some of the really magnificent buildings on the West side of Whitby and imagining living in them-many are being renovated; how I'd love to see inside!
I like plotting how me and my husband might support ourselves if we came to live in Whitby...could we make the break from London? Who knows.

Folk Week part 2

Folk week was a new experience for us, as Whitby, or anywhere- it was almost as though the whole town became a folk festival, but you could still be in Whitby and not be involved...what was good was that there were displays of all styles of regional dances, just dotted about the town at various times of day- the one I felt particularlymoved by was at the whalebones on the first day...dances I had never seen before, performed on a cliff edge, backed by the sea. There were some teenage Irish dancers accompanied by a boy on a guitar, and mollydancers. There was also a troupe of rather sinister dancers with their faces covered in dark material-they had a very odd name that I can't quite remember, maybe the Clack or something; they were stern and powerful...different parts of the British Isles had a different style of the same type of dance, as with morris dancing, and there seemed to be male and female morris dancers...I quite got into the idea of Morris dancing as rooted in a kind of ancient ritual rather than something to laugh at on a hot cider soaked day on a village green...
Something that really impressed me was the behaviour of teenagers involved in the festival...and I must say teenagers generally in Whitby don't seem to create the same problems as some of them do in London...maybe it's just the scale of everything is so much smaller..., or maybe it's because I'm not at work when I'm there, so don't think so much about the problems caused and faced by teenagers...
At the dances and the sessions, teenagers seemed to enter the spirit of things...joining at social events in big friendly groups, and they all looked like your average trendy teenagers...not like the stereotype of quiet thoughtful types I had in my mind of young people obsessed with folk music, however, I know there has been a resurgence of interest in folk music in the past two or three years, with some acts bringing it bang up to date and creating new music, rather than just doing 'cover versions' of old tunes. Phil and I were also very grateful to a few teens who helped us out of a spot in a dance at a ceilidh when we had gone hopelessly wrong, and seemed to have a more relaxed attitude to slip ups than some of their elders!

First time at Whitby Folk Week

By happenstance Folk Week was on while we were in Whitby...we bought a copy of the programme from a Musicport a hippyish/world music/faitrade crafts type shop on Skinner Street, and tried to plan an activity for each day- I must say, I was a bit keener than my husband or son, in fact there was a distinct lack of enthusiasm from them.

I was drawn to the idea of mollydancing- from the programme it sounded outrageous- On the first day of the festival, I walked along to a free dance display by the whalebones, and watched the Ouse Wash mollydancers - fantastic anarchic stuff, loud and lusty, banging pots and pans, their costumes made of any old anything, the dance moves looked manageable compared to some of the more intricate moves, say of morris dancing...looks proved to be deceptive. Out of a huge range of workshops on offer and a confusing programme, I decided to go for mollydancing, and fiddle for absolute beginners. It was brilliant at Folk Week as we could just pay for individual things as we went along, and didn't have to have booked way in advance for the whole week.
Went along to the first mollydancing workshop-it was great and the routine was manageable; I should point out here that although I really love music and dancing, I have no co-ordination and two left feet...felt good , the music, although simple has a haunting, melancholy quality. Things got a bit harder the second one I went to, and I was in a group/set with a rather sour faced grumpy woman who got annoyed when I couldn't work out what I should be doing...must be annoying for other people I suppose, as it messes the dance up but it was supposed to be a workshop for people new to mollydancing - I am a slow learner in that I need time to absorb information and maybe have things shown or told to me several times before they sink in...I didn't go again, but got stuck into the fiddle playing workshop instead.
Someone called Emily Ball was running this, very bravely indeed as the room was packed with wannabee fiddlers, all utterly and absolutely beginners....Emily is in a group that were playing at Folk Week called 422.
There was a lady called Geraldine Stephenson, Emily's mother in law at the workshop, she had a second hand violin stall at the festival, and kindly lent me a violin for the week...the noise I made was truly awful, but luckily everyone in the workshop was doing the same. By the end of the week I could just about play You are my Sunshine...I felt determined to carry on with the violin and my husband Phil is a musican, and guitar and violin teacher and he agreed to attempt to teach me more when we got back to London, To anyone reading this who is thinking af trying the violin....it is very, very difficult but if you have a good and patient teacher and practice a few times a week, you do find you get somewhere with it...I only started in August, but now I can play simple tunes like hymns in church, yes, in public! and some jigs - slowly! Phil has the patience of a saint...I work with challenging teenagers during the day, and I feel that when I go home, and particularly during my lessons with Phil, am 'channelling' some of the more unruly young ladies, uncanny. I have felt like giving up, but Phil bought me a bow for my birthday, which showed he had some faith in my ability, and so I persevered!
I wanted Phil to have a go at playing in one of the many sessions on offer; we went to one led by 422, but was so fast- Phil mainly plays folk type stuff with rock and folk rock bands at the moment The Bitter Springs and the Talismen but hadn't played in a session before - we asked Geraldine on the violin stall for advice on a teacher for folk fiddle to give Phil some pointers and straightaway she said Pete Cooper! Phil's had several lessons with Pete and I am going for my first lesson with him next week under strict instructions from Phil not to sulk and stamp my feet like I normally do when I 'can't do it'. Hopefully I'll be ready to join in a tiny bit on the fiddle this summer, we have booked in to do Folk Week properly this time and can't wait.

Summer 2006

This was the best time in Whitby so far, arriving for the regatta, and staying for a further week which happened to be Folk Week; we hadn't known about the folk week, but it really was a happy co-incidence. Now that we know Whitby a little better, it hardly takes any time to settle in...we had booked a cottage with Ingrid Flute again and found it easily...it was very convenient and comfortable, in a new development nestled into Silver Street. we had our first night's meal at our favourite, the Khyber Cafe and made vague plans for the two weeks that stretched out luxuriously ahead of us. There was the obligatory crabbing of course, the celebrations of the regatta and the amazing firework display...such a warm feeling in the crowd for that, it's really special...lots of strangers bonding for half an hour or so over the sight of magical fireworks set off against the ancient and timeless view...it reminded me a bit of the emotions at the Green Gathering, a lovely ecofriendly hippy trippy festival in the south, but with a completely different sort of crowd and is special because you realise that most people respond to beauty, history and positive shared experiences....whatever they are like and where they're from.
After the regatta had passed, my husband and son bought a kite, and we decided to walk along the beach to Sandsend...this started well, although the boy had started to complain of a sore throat...hopefully the op is going to sort that out soon. Lovely walk although longer than it looks, we had a snack at the cafe at Sandsend and then got the bus back to Whitby...that night the sore throat developed into feverish tonsilitis and we had to see a doctor the next day...poor boy. A very good system at the health centre near to Pannet Park, we were seen by a 'nurse practitioner' never heard of that before, but she was excellent and gave him a longer course of antibiotics than usual, and he hasn't needed them since, although he still gets odd days of tonsil problems. Whitby cured him - magical Whitby...also very medicinal was the ice cream we discovered after we'd been at the clinic at a new place in Flowergate called Sherlock's; honestly, my son's recovery so aided by this luscious confection - an enormous goblet of rich sweet comforting cream, he was feeling much better towards the end of our first week. It's a very interesting old building, and apparently used to be a butchers! They do lovely homemade snacks and lunches, too...hope it's still there this Summer, the people running Sherlock's said that they had owned the shop for some time, but they had run it as a gift shop until last year. Better this way by far...

Getting to Know You

The lovely people at Ingrid Flute agency had told us it would be regatta week at Whitby; all we knew was that it would mean competitions and races involving boats - we were pleasantly surprised to learn that it was much more than that- stalls, sideshows, stunts, aerobatics, music, a funfair, thronging crowds of people from everywhere, and a finale of an amazing firework display all in this tiny and very remote corner of England.
My son continued to indulge his obsession with crabbing on the little jetty that seems made for the purpose and I went for walks to explore the backstreets. At the tourist office, I bought Whitby Town Trail booklets for the east and west side and dedicated a day to each while my husband and son crabbed and went sea fishing.
Whitby is so interesting to walk around- you notice something different every time you walk down a street- you discover different streets, too.
I walked round the West side first, that was where we were staying in our comfortable and interesting cottage; I particularly like Skinner Street and Silver Street - Silver Street has the best, and definitely the cheapest takeaway fish and chips, although I'm prepared to be proved wrong in this!
The "new" part of the West side, developed by railway king Hudson is fabulous - it's so spacious, particularly when you are up at Skinner Street and beyond-Skinner Street has amazing shopfronts, many of the shops selling unusual things, but some just plain useful...what I also like about Skinner Street is you walk along it past the amazing buidings and then you can see the sea ahead of you; bliss! I love Cliff Street too, and it's fascinating street structure- my favourite building is probable the one on the corner of Paddock Steps with the fossils in the walls...then again, there a remany buildings to choose from - I like to imagine living in Whitby - what would be my favourite street- which house? an impossible decision to make...would have to have views of the sea or the harbour...how would I manage, how would we support ourselves. All unknown and a big step to make...
Explored the East side on a different day...it was really hectic ...I bought a local paper and went and had a coffee in I think it was the Shepherd's Purse, or near to it, just to catch my breath after the relative quiet of the West side, the East side was almost too much.
Walked along Church Street through the crowds towards the abbey...loads of holiday makers with icecreams, and then as I got nearer to the abbey steps, there was calm again- very strange- there is an incredible stillness, particularly as you go past the steps and further up Henrietta Street and the smokehouse...beautiful views across Whitby from high up on the East Cliff and time to clear my head. Walked back down into town and to the other end of Church street - also interesting for the old pubs and the seaman's hospital.
The market place is great, particularly on a market day...there are great shops on the East side, too, I think of the fishmongers, the bakery and the fudge and chocolate shops - all extremely crowded though...
We ate at at various restaurants, but the ones we have returned to are the tapas place in Grape Lane, -will post the name when I remember it!- the Khyber Cafe for honest simple food and unbeatable views, and the Magpie, always best to visit the Magpie on spec; if you go past when there's no queue and you're hungry...I don't think it's worth queueing for long, there's too much else to do, and lots of other restaurants, but really, we have gone to Khyber cafe a lot as your imagination goes wild with the view.

How I discovered and fell in love with Whitby

I went to a NAPO (probation union) conference in Scarborough a few years ago, and really liked Scarborough - the conference centre was quite special having a terrace with black and white tiled floor and a grand piano with views out towards the wild sea. It also had a long sandy beach and various restaurants, a funfair and other attractions and thought this would be a good place to visit with family, sometime when we are next in York visiting my friend Donna and her family....
When I got back to London, phoned Donna to enthuse about Scarborough, and she said "well if you liked Scarborough, you'd love Whitby", and went on to describe it well enough that I decided to book a week's holiday there almost as soon as we finished talking about it. I liked the idea of a stony rock pool type beach and a sandy beach, the history and the views.
Started looking at ads for cottages and found Ingrid Flute agency through the Guardian travel section- booked our first week in Whitby; it was so exciting to discover somewhere new and far away, yet in this country. Started to plan how we would get there...with the help of someone at Ingrid Flute agency who told us about the Coastliner bus...
We would go to Kings Cross station, get a train to York, and then stay overnight with Donna and family..the next day, get the Coastliner bus from York to Whitby a two hour journey across the moors....
we spent the few months leading up to our holiday wondering what the bus journey would be like, and what Whitby itself would be like!
The months at work passed slowly...eventually the time came...this was the year I left probation as well, so momentous!
After the usual fun in York with Donna and family they took us to the station in the morning to see us off on the bus; when the bus arrived, it was already packed; hard to know where to put our cases, but we just added them to the aready overflowing heap at the front. and found somewhere to sit near the back of the bus...the first 40 minutes or so quite boring straight route, but after that - the moors, how spectacular - beautiful steep curving hills, many colours, diferent animals, tightly winding narrow roads, picturesque villages. The second part of the journey was quick and we were soon in Whitby, unceremoniousy deposited near the bottom of Baxtergate. A quick fumble for the map sent by Ingrid Flute; struggling to see the street names of all the tiny roads, a quick look at the harbour and off to Flowergate and our cottage in Waterloo Place. First thoughts of Whitby - scruffy, (the tiny bit we saw) smelling of fish and chips, a supermarket and some normal useful shops (a relief!) and THE SEA! Hooray!! We loved it!

Took our cases to the tiny dark cottage and went out to explore. First stop fish and chips at a cafe on the corner of a very steep hill going up into Flowergate; delicious and cheap to us southerners. Second stop a phone call to Donna telling her we were already in love with Whitby and how brilliant she was to suggest it. We went on a short boat ride out of the harbour and took in the two distinct characters of the East and West cliffs...those were the eraly stirrings of my love affair with Whitby.

The Naked Man in the Tree

Today my friend Donna suggested I start a blog-

I met Donna when we were in the first year of secondary school; we didn't really speak to each other for a few weeks; all that changed one memorable day in our first autumn term. We had endured one week or so of going to hockey at Barn Elms playing fields. I decided never again and when double field came up on the timetable the following Thursday, I developed a mysterious illness and went to lie down in the medical room. Someone else had already had the same idea- yes, it was Donna. We both lay there pretending to be far too ill to be sent to Barn Elms, and then I said " I can see a naked man in the tree"; I meant the shape of the branches must have resembled something like a naked man although how I knew that at age 12 I'm not sure.... I can't remember much else of what we talked about that morning, apart from both admitting we were avoiding hockey; but we were firm friends from that day on, making a specialism of PE avoidance together with Katy and Penny.