Hornpipe practice

At 5.10pm last night I was in the ladies toilet at work, grappling with a sports bra. The single most unattractive item of clothing ever invented by mankind. The reason for all of this was that I was determined to get another practice in this week - I'd done two hours Sunday, ceili on Monday, swimming on Tuesday, and then had to rest my calves on Wednesday.

However, the hall I can use for free hosts bingo on a Thursday, and the Ring and Ride arrives promptly at 7pm. So I knew that in order to get a meaningful hour of practice in, I'd have to change at work.

At 5.25pm last night I was massaging ibuprofen gel into my arches while sitting at my desk discussing hand injuries with the cleaner.

I managed to make it to the hall just before 6pm, didn't bother rearranging the furniture, and did a quick warm up while listening to the radio. Then it was straight onto hornpipe sets and, similar to Sunday, I decided to start with trad sets. Blackbird fine, I like this one. Job I learnt from a video and I wasn't entirely sure which foot I was meant to be on at various points in the set, but I've figured it out I think.

White Blankets, fine. The treble-toe-cut sequence thing that flummoxed me last time was working fine, and I came up with a fix for a toe-over-toe-over-toe bit that I still can't get. It's now toe-over-toe and toes 234.

Blue Eyed, fine. Need faster feet at the end.

Piper, woeful. Basically the steps don't really work so I need to start afresh. Annoying, but I can keep some of it and at least it's short.

At this point my feet were burning and the G&T crew were beginning to arrive so I stomped off home in the rain.

I guess it's a lesson that not every practice session is going to be amazing - Sunday was SO GOOD, I enjoyed every minute of it and I made some really good progress, with the only real damage being some sock-friction on the balls of my feet. Yesterday I was tired, slightly grumpy, sore of foot, and pressed for time.

Workshop this weekend. I'll be rectifying Garden of Daisies, learning some hornpipe rhythms to fit into Piper and Rodney's, and basically dancing in front of people which I hate, but need to get over quickly.

I can't believe Atlanta is in progress already. I can't believe I'm in the next exam. Christ.