What we Do in Edinburgh

I just discovered that I live above an amazing chocolate shop called the Plasir du Chocolat.  This is not just your average fudge and truffle shop, but all their sweets have really intricate designs on them, and they serve 5 different kinds of hot chocolate drinks!  Not only that, but they also serve about 20 different types of Chinese teas, and in Edinburgh it is awfully hard to find a cafe that serves anything other than fruity herbal teas or standard black tea.  Kate, Kristin, and I decided to sample their hot chocolate drinks on Sunday morning.  I got a 60% coco chocolate espresso, which was essentially a thick chocolate sludge served in a tiny espresso cup.  I ate it with a leetle spoon.  Kate and Kristin both got Tanzania, which was a fruitier 70% coco drink served in a large mug.  Next time, I want to try the 100% coco drink served with chiles.  How exotic is that!?

We had an all around adventurous and fun weekend.  On Friday night, Kate and I went to go see Bombskare again, and they were great!  There were two bands playing at this ska show, and I think I had more fun this weekend than at the first show we went to back in September.  Then our friend Kristin, who is studying in Leeds, came to visit.  We hit up Avalanche, a music store nearby and we raided their 99 pence CD section.  Most of the CD’s found there are singles, but if you look hard enough (and long enough!) you can find compilations and entire albums sometimes.  I picked up “New Music from Central and Eastern Europe, Tamizdat Compilation”, “Roadtrip: Road to Nowhere”, a compilation by Petrol, “The Hazey Janes” demo CD, and “Hits of the Thirties”, which includes 20 tracks!  Oh, Kristin and I also split some Mojo magazines that included sampler CDs: a funk CD, a folk CD (The Quiet Revolution), and an old country comp.

One of the new comps I got includes a pop cover of Femme Fatale, haha.

Leeds Juggling Festival

Oh these festivals keep getting better and better. Check out the latest toy to hit the juggling gym floor:

Yes, they are skates that you can strap onto your ankles. Except they only include the back two wheels, kind of like those kids’s shoes with hidden wheels attached to the bottom. They weren’t actually that fun to use, because you had to give yourself a running start, glide for about as long as your balance held out, and then stop. I tried weaving my legs to give myself momentum, and keep the gliding going, but it was a lot of extra effort.

The fest was a lot more like a California festival, since it was only one day long and there was no overnight camping/sleeping/24 hour juggling. Which was unfortunate. I also had to leave the show early in order to catch the train. However, I saw two amazing acts in the show, both non-juggling. One was a guy who would manipulate a hoop, and he did many isolations and optical illusion type manipulations. The second guy had a staff spinning act, except he did the entire thing without using his hands! I suppose I’ve never really hung around with many staff spinners, but I found out later that contact staff is sort of old. Anyway, he spun it around his arms, wrists, shoulders, and back. Amazing!

The best part is that people at this festival remembered me from the last festival, so I actually had people to talk to, and it wasn’t so lonely. Oh, and I met a guy who rides coasters as his hobby. Really! When he found out I was from California, the first thing he asked me is if I had ever been to Six Flags Magic Mountain, and then he wanted to know what I thought about all of the roller coasters. This was before I found out he was a coaster nut, and I was thinking that this was the weirdest conversation I had had in a long time. It turns out that the furthest distance he has travelled to ride a coaster is Ohio (I think). Whichever middle state has that huge theme park.

Anyway, the next juggling festival isn’t until early February, and it is the Scottish juggling convention held in Glasgow. That is only about an hour from here, and it is 3 days long!  Guess what, the Rootberries are the special guests, hahahaha!!!  Also, there is haggis juggling, traditional scottish dancing, and Luke Barrage is in the show too!

Tomatoes vs Tomatoes

Subject: Leeds Juggling Festival, November 4th, 2006

Objective:

I was asked the question, “What are the differences between European jugglers and American jugglers?” After rigorous tests, various experimental conditions, and undercover work, I have (un)thoroughly researched this subject over the past two months. First I must clarify, however, that my research has been limited to the UK only, and not the entire continent of Europe. In addition, I have not juggled at any American east coast clubs or festivals. Therefore, I will best answer the question, “What are the differences between UK jugglers and Calfornian jugglers?”

Methods and Materials:

Materials include 3 battered Henry’s circus clubs, inflicted with peeling electrical tape and bent knobs (even though I replaced them this summer!). Note, I arrived in the UK with 4 very battered Henry’s circus clubs, though one has finally bit the dust when the entire knob flew off while I was juggling! The most popular clubs here are Henry’s circus clubs, and Beard circus clubs. Occasionally I will see the PX39. Never Renegades.

When experimenting on a juggler/s, I always study the subject before I approach him/her. I will not usually ask a solo juggler to juggle, unless we are having a conversation first. Here, it is easy to begin a conversation, since most people usually start with, “Where are you from?” I always forget that I am the one with the accent. Once the subject and I are discussing juggling, I will ask if they would like to pass clubs.

Next, standard procedure dictates that we begin the experiment with a simple 4 count. Depending on the stability of the pattern, I would next ask if juggling partner would like to pass 3 count. Then, we usually run through the usual 3 count variations, and move on to 7 clubs. At this point either another person will join in, or one of us will decide we are tired and rest a bit.

Methods differ with group juggling. First, I observe the group of club passers that I wish to join. If they are juggling 4 count, or a simple 3 count pattern, then I will introduce myself when they drop clubs, and ask if I can join in. Next comes the lull in juggling when everybody sort of ponders what type of pattern to juggle once a new juggler has been let into the group. To rectify this pause, I try to prepare some patterns to suggest before I interrupt the group. My favorite is a star with 3 jugglers, and the Y with 4 jugglers. Then, once everybody is comfortable with the new number of jugglers, we see how adventerous our passing can get.

Data:

* 22 evenings spent at various juggling clubs including Edinburgh Juggling Society, Red Door Juggling Club, and Tollcross Juggling Club.

* 2 juggling festivals held in Durham, England and Leeds, England.

*1 observation of a juggling street performer.

Tables and Figures:

Results:

The juggling I have observed in the UK is 80 percent similar to the juggling I have observed on the west coast.  The only difference come down to……….practice! Passing clubs depends on the skill of the jugglers, and the passing knowledge the two (or more) people possess.  I have not noticed any sort of “high and lofty type passes”, or (much!)  legos, rolling clubs around on the floor, or arranging them in experimental shapes.  Nope, I guess you have to go to Helsinki for that…

Conclusions:

This experiment is by no means complete, as two months is not a lot time to collect data.  In addition, my own style of juggling is not a very good control factor, because my own passes have been described as “high and lofty”.  Perhaps that is why I have not noticed many differences between my passing style and the jugglers I have met over here.  In the future, I would pick a different American juggler the next time the experiment is repeated.

Apologies

Hello Jug and Lers and Miscellaneous Readers,

I am sorry for not posting in a while.  I have gotten lazy and often opt not to trudge out of my neighborhood to use the free wireless at the cafes that are…….not in my neighborhood.  Anyway, I have several things to post, so I will separate them into different subjects.

scummy places to go because it’s too shiny here

I am planning a trip to Leeds and Newcastle this weekend, and I’ve been doing some internet reasearch to find some neat things to do. Besides the obvious tourist attractions, here are some interesting websites I dug up:

• The Knowhere Guide

What?

Info for over 2000 places in the UK covering Hook-up Spots, Skateboard Shops, Skateboard Spots, Record Shops, Musical Instrument Shops, Clothes Shops, Clubs (Dance Music), Music Venues, Cinemas, Arts Crafts & Head Shops, Games Shops, Bike Shops, Magazine and Comic Shops, Newsagents, Food, Pubs, Buskers, Street Entertainers, Cringing Cult of Celebrity (Famous residents and ex-residents.), Favourite Building, Demolish It Now Building, Cafes and coffee shops, The Best Things, The Worst Things, The Stuff We Can’t Fit In Somewhere Else, Related Links, Sports Clubs and Facilities. And it has all been contributed by users of the Knowhere Guide. So it’s all true, right?

• Cops and Robbers

And of course, everybody’s favorite:

• 43 places

These Pants Have Tramp Stamp Written all over them

I am the proud new owner of the ugliest pants in the world. Well, maybe in my closet at least. The Forest Cafe has a Free Store tucked away in the corner, and last week I came across an entire outfit amid the dirty shoes, wrinkled shirts, and other outlandishly patterned clothes. Think of it as a Salvation Army for hippies, only better since the clothes are free!

So, these pants, erm trousers, are like caramel syrup. Yup, that’s how sweet they are. Not only that, they are the same color as caramel, which is actually kind of a gross shade of brown, in my opinion, especially for pants. The ugly appeal skyrockets.

Not only are they puke-brown, but they had been hemmed for a shorter person to wear. Luckily, the material had been left intact, so I just had to rip out the loose stitching and, voila, two more inches of pant leg! However, the fold line is still present – it can’t be ironed out. Twenty more points for the ugly scale!

So, these pants are ugly, but not outlandish. They are awarded the tramp-stamp because they are made of stretchy cordouroy. I haven’t had too many stretchy pants, and I must say they are mighty comfortable. That is why they are currently my favorite pants. Sticky sweet caramel pants……..oh, did I mention that they are complete with bleach stains?

A little bit more about the Forest. It is one of my favorite hang outs in Edinburgh. It has the open space/ free thinkers/ creative / play a game/ stop for a cuppa’ / use our wireless/ find a piano tuna (no joke – true flyer) / rideshare/ general mischief and mayhem kind of atmosphere. The entire place is run by volunteers, so opening hours vary depending on whomever feels like volunteering that day. And in true hippie fashion (or did somebody say jugglers?), they are not open any time before 11 am.

The Rest of the Durham Trip

I was compelled to split the Durham trip into two posts, since the last one is specifically about juggling, and this one is the touristy aspect of the trip.

Durham is a small town near the Scottish/English border, so there is ancient castle in the middle of it for defense purposes. There is also an amazing cathedral right next to it with beautiful stained glass windows, architecture, etc. The train/bus combo only took about 3 hours, and I arrived very early in the morning. There is also a river cutting through the town, and I walked along the nature path for a while and then headed up the hill to the cathedral for a quick look inside.

Next, I found out that the festival was acutally held in Framwellgate Moor, which is a small village on the outskirts of Durham, so I caught a city bus to the venue center. Framwellgate Moor was similar to a suburb, except there was just one main street with food vendors, pubs, and a grocery store. I walked around the neighborhoods the second day early in the morning, since there was no juggling before 11 am.

When the festival ended, I caught a ride back into the city center, and then took a tour of the castle. It made me never want to take another castle tour again. The tour guide just sort of rattled off dates and numbers and pretty soon I was just gazing about the halls wondering how everything had been used back in ……well geez of course I don’t know the date because I wasn’t paying attention. Anyway, the guide didn’t really put the surroundings into context with the lifestyle of the people that used to live there. He mainly focused on the architects and dates of the masonry/carvings. The best part was the abandoned chapel in the ‘basement’ of the castle, and there were lots of intriguing depictions of mermaids, forest sprites, and leopards carved into the pillars. Yeah, kind of bizarre for a Catholic chapel.

Another thing about the castle, is that part of it has been converted into student accomodations. While we were inside, students would pass us and use the spiral staircases as shortcuts to get to their dorms!!! How cool is that! The castle seemed pretty atypical. It was basically a hodgepodge of different building styles, architects, and random additions whenever the bishops would feel like changing it. At one point, the tour guide pointed out a massive wooden table that had been used in the kitchens, but now it was being utilized as a place to put student mail. Yeah, they didn’t seem to keen on preservation. At one point, he admitted that everything we were looking at was basically junk left behind after the previous occupants had moved out.

If you ever go to Durham, I would advise taking the cathedral tour maybe, and skip the castle tour.

Durham Juggling Convention 2006

I went to my first UK juggling convention this weekend in Durham, England.

Oh, wow. Oh, wow.

It was random, silly, and absolutely fantastic. The festival was two days long, and despite not knowing a single person there, I still felt welcome; and it was easy to talk to people. It was held in an elementary school, and there were two large halls open for juggling, and two smaller rooms for workshops/sleeping quarters. Yes, you could sleep at the venue!!! And of course, that allows for 36 hour juggling craziness that I’ve only gotten to experience at Lodi (now defunct) or IJA.

And wasn’t I surprised to find an entire gym devoted to unicycles!!! There was an amazing unicyclist (Connie Cotter) there from Twin Cities. She could ride a kangaroo with an off-center axle, a two-wheel stacked unicycle (the sort that you have to ride backwards in order to travel forwards), and she performed in the public show and did some pretty spins (which I’m a sucker for) and stand-up wheel-walk, and hand wheel-walk. Oh, there was also a coasting unicycle. I shall attempt to explain it. It was only possible to ride forwards, but not backwards. Therefore, it had some kind of mechanism to allow it to coast, and the cranks/pedals could stay in one postion. It was super hard to mount, and you had to use the hand brake to stop the wheel in order to sit on it. Once you got going on it, you had to continually lean forwards and ride fast, or the unicycle would shoot out from behind you. I tried sitting on the kangaroo too, but it was very difficult since the axle part was off-centered and at one point the pedals were almost too far for my feet to reach, and at other times my knees were up to my stomach. Bizarre!

The best part about the unicycle group though, was that they were really into unicycle hockey! And some of the unicyclists could play really well. Since we were in a gym, they corned off a section to make a closed arena, and they played with a ball. They utilized such strategies as scooping the ball up off the ground to chuck it across the rink, slamming the ball into the walls to make it ricochet off, and around, opposing players, and using the actual unicycle to block shots into the goal.

Oh, wow. Oh, wow.

Back to the juggling. I had a hard time finding some people to pass clubs with. There was just one group working on some technical looking complicated patterns. I asked them what they were juggling, but since they were doing their own thing, I totally understood about not being able to join in right away. So, Saturday was kind of lonley, and it made me miss the festivals in California so much! I really miss all the California juggling crowd, and if only I could have my juggling cake crowd and eat it too.

After the public show though, which featured some diabolo acts, a nice hat and cane routine, a street-performish bed-of-nails sort of act, some fantastic younger jugglers, and the unicyclist, I started meeting more people. I attribute this to the fact that half of the festival-goers were tipsy because they serve alcohol at the show! No matter – I met people at least! That’s when the weird fun stuff starts happening anyway.

This was my first proper introduction to the SNAKEBOARD.

Apparently, the snakeboard is popular among British jugglers, and there must have been about 7 of them lying about the floorspace. The two decks swivel back and forth, and you have to twist your upper body to create momentum to make the thing go. Y0u also have to simultaneously pivot your feet in and out and eventually your entire body and line of travel is flowing in an “S” shape. I played with for about an hour, and could only just barely make it across the hall. It is definately not something to easily pick up in one go. The funny thing was, is that practically everyone would hop onto one, and take a quick ride around the halls and weave in and out of people so effortlessly! And everyone meaning EVERYONE – older, younger, male, female, dog, cat – it didn’t matter.

Wow.

I also partook in origami making, of which we did silly things with involving exploding water creations, and I even tried playing the musical saw ! It was so cool! There was a man who brought along 5 or 6 of them and he gave lessons.

On Sunday, I got to pass clubs with the people who had been working on those time-consuming patterns I had seen the day before. I learned some really neat ones – and wrote them down so I could practice them with jugglers here in Edinburgh. We did such things as ultimate patterns, and a quirky 5 club pattern meant for two people in which all the spins are half spins. That one was my favorite, and they had a few variations on that pattern.

Oh, I am so excited for the next festival. It is in Leeds in a few weeks.

Chocolate Soup

I think I was hired on a whim. Seriously, my manager has dramatic mood swings and depending on how she feels on a particular day, anything could happen. Her name is Geovana, and she is quite a character. She loves being the boss, and is quite good at bossing everybody around. But she doesn’t do it in a snooty way, just a “I love this job and I’m good at doing it” sort of way. She alternates between having coffee with her friends in the corner of the cafe, having a coffee and a smoke with other employees outside, or whirling around behind the counter barking out orders and tagging a “Dah-ling” onto every command. “Please wash the soup counter, dah-ling!”, “Please go downstairs and get some more napkins, dah-ling”, “Doll, do you know where the Pound Stretcher is? Good, go down there and get some more tea lights, okay?”. She is absolutely hilarious when she is in a normal mood, but I get the feeling she definately has her darker moments, which I haven’t seen yet. Sometimes one of the other baristas starts her shifts and asks me, “How is Geovana today?”

Let me clarify where I work. I work at a cafe right up the street called “Chocolate Soup”. The basic idea is to turn a hot chocolate into a treat something like an ice cream sundae. There is an entire menu devoted to hot chocolates with whipped cream, flavor shots, sprinkles, candies, chocolate dust, chocolate syrup, and other confectionary delights. It is rather disgusting when you make so many sweet treats in a row, and then think about consuming all of them at once. Otherwise, it’s a pretty nice place to chill out and have a nice ordinary hot chocolate, or a coffee drink. They also serve hot soups, sandwiches, muffins, and pastries. I always thought being a barista would be quite fun, and it is in a way. Since it is now the off-season here, the atmosphere is pretty relaxed and we never have to really rush and feel stressed out. I like it 10 times better than the Italian cafe, because I don’t have to keep track of people’s orders, check up on them, and be so stiff and polished all the time. I also like being able to meet all sorts of people; I actually met a couple from Berkeley last week!

Back to my comment about my observations about being hired on a whim. Well, there was a sign in the window of this cafe, and I walked right in and told the barista I was looking for full time work, I was available immediately, and I handed her my CV. It turned out this woman was Geovana, and she told me to come back at 3 pm that same day! Now, I’ve been in training for about a week, and the sign in still in the window because she needs another staff member. At least 10 people come into the cafe every day and drop off a resume, and sometimes she grills them about coffee experience, etc. I basically knew squat about making coffees, and sometimes she turns the applicants away for whatever reason seems to strike her wrong. Yesterday though, I made a few of the hot chocolate sundaes in front of her, and I was able to make cappuchinos correctly, and she called them “Beautiful!”, so I think I am in like skin for now.

Pictures on Flickr

I have posted many new pictures on flickr (www.flickr.com/photos/britree) including pictures of our new flat, adventures at the graffiti wall, and one of Kate at the mosque in which she kindly revealed her masticated food to the camera.