Fun Further Afield
- John Burkinshaw
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
This last couple of weeks have been a bit of a slog. I've been trying to fight off a bug that is insisting on hanging around. I don't get ill very often so it's really annoying, but not bad enough to take any time off work. Despite this I had a packed weekend this week.
Saturday morning was rowing as usual, but in the reduced visibility of light drizzle giving the landscape a wonderfully subdued and atmospheric look and feel. It did nothing to dampen our spirits, the conversation or the coffee and cakes. We rowed round to the Maids of Bute, which was a first for me. The Maids are two large rocks on the north side of the island that have been painted to look like two women. No-one seems to know for sure who paints them each year.
We tucked the skiff into a tiny, rocky alcove, just the right size to fit us in snuggly and shelter us from the shifting water while we sat in the boat to have our break. We decided against walking up to the Maids as it would be muddy and slippery, but perhaps another time.
Sunday morning I was up early for a quick start over the water to Greenock to a book festival at Beacon Arts Centre. I had no idea this place even existed so it was interesting to see that they do lots of events here, like live music and workshops. I had signed up to a poetry writing workshop with poet Laurie Donaldson.
Once that one woman finally turned up with her coffee, 15 minutes late, we got started. There were eight of us and he ran through some of the fundamentals of good poetry writing and gave us all a few exercises to see what we could come up with. It was an interesting mix of people and everyone came up with something worth listening to. There were even one or two really beautiful pieces. It was an ejoyable morning but I didn't learn anything new. It just reaffirmed that my poetry is basic and I don't work hard enough at it, preferring to wing it if it sounds ok.
Saturday night was the big Scottish Country Dance meet in Kilmun that I'd been looking forward to for several weeks. I was ridiculously nervous in case I messed up the dance steps, but so glad I went. There were people from clubs in Kilmun, Dunoon and Strachur, amongst others - about 40 people in all. We had a live two man band with accordion and drums and a dance list that would last from 7pm until 10.30pm, with a break for an amazing buffet at 8pm. I danced with lots of people, including several men in kilts, who looked smashing. I was amused by the fact that once upon a time people would go to dances like this to meet potential future partners, and yet we were all just big, damp, dishevelled messes by half time. I had a brillaint night. Our teacher had done a great job prepping us for the dances on the list, although I had a very lovely young French man lead me through the last two, which I had never done before. Can't wait for the next one, hopefully in the summer. Below are a couple of videos so you can see what it's like. I sat out the quick one as I've only scraped through it correctly the once. The slower one is called a Strathspey step...so that I can get it wrong in slow motion!!
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