Sunglasses

Most of today was spent with E at her nominally final 'dance out' with Gog Magog Molly. The occasion was the Ouse Washes Molly "Mark Jones Day of Dance", a gathering of Molly sides from around the country, though mainly from East Anglia where the tradition has it's roots.

The tour started in Ely, then on to Little Downham where this was taken, and finally out to the pub "Five Miles From Anywhere" (which is about right) in Upware.

The weather didn't really warrant sunglasses but perhaps this musician had been forewarned of the Gog's costume style, glowing gently here in the background. That said, the weather was kind to us - the promised rain never materialised (nor the overnight "5 to 10 cm of snow"). Indeed, the sun shone for the morning, not that it melted much ice - it was all a bit nippy.

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One particular pleasure for me was the presence of the Seven Champions Molly and one dance in particular. The Champ's are distinctive in dancing (mostly) not to musicians but to a pair of unaccompanied singers. Twenty-six years ago E and I made our engagement known to friends at an event in Derby called Dancing England - a showcase of many styles of dance, from tap to molly.

The display that has stayed with me ever since was the Seven Champions, filling the large dance area, dancing in silent precision to the singing of a lone voice singing the traditional song about coal miners, Byker Hill.

They sang it again today, which was perfect.

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On our return we found the boys had been experimenting, S with cooking Indian dishes from scratch (bhajis and dal - and very nice they were too), J with making Panetoni in the bread maker. The latter was more 'interesting' him having switched, accidentally, between recipes mid preparation.