News from Nowhere

After days of we will never be ready in time!, we got away and we are now in Ravenglass on the Cumbrian coast, where the Esk flows into the sea. I can see the estuary from my window.

On Tuesday we Zoomed a LTYLR gig with Will Finn and Rosie Calvert. If I had known that they had been touring In Person, and had had an actual gig in Newcastle the previous night, I would probably have made a big effort to get there. They are one of the more successful acts at conveying their live performance through the internet, but a live gig would have been lovely. Oh, well. Anyway, I liked their version of the Swimming Song, so here it is:



Yesterday was all about finishing off one last work task, and a bonus visit to the doctor to have a second try at giving a blood sample (successful, hooray!), and ironing and washing up and packing... I wasn't sure until the last minute that we would have time to go to the pub quiz, but we managed it: we didn't get there early to reserve a table, but outside term time this isn't so necessary. I'm glad we went, because the team was very much on form: after two successive weeks in which we failed to win the tie-breaker for third place, we came first with a good score, and were very pleased with ourselves.

This morning we were away by midday. I had hoped for earlier - I always do - but it was fine. We lunched at the tea rooms (and ice cream parlour) in the shadow of Brough castle: unicorn ice cream is strawberries and cream, apparently, while dinosaur is blue (but it's vanilla). Elderberry-and-ginger was pleasant, but didn't taste strongly of either of those things.

durham_rambler had programmed the satnav to bring us through the Lake District, which sounded pleasant. He may need to have a word with the satnav. We skirted Windermere, with pretty views of the lake, glimpses of gardens (all daffodils and magnolia) and intensive tourist development, but then things got wilder, and we found ourselves driving narrow winding roads, admiring the fluffy sheep in tasteful shades of designer grey. The road got narrower and steeper, and it became evident that we were heading through Wrynose and Hardknott passes, and we were in for some serious stunt driving. We should have known this. Great fun, if that's what you're looking for, but wasn't durham_rambler supposed to be taking things easy?

We stopped at the parking space for Hardknott Roman Fort, and completely failed to spot any sign of the fort itself. It was damp and blowy, and we didn't know where to look, and then it started to rain. We got back in the car, and drove down the Esk valley to Ravenglass. Tomorrow we will retrace the last part of the journey in a steam train.

Having omitted to hear any music when we were in Whitby, we made an effort not to miss the Sedgefield Folk Festival completely - though this only amounted to going to one concert, on Saturday evening. Four acts at the Parish Hall (one of them the Teacups, of whom I have been a fan since they were students on the Folk Music degree course), no bar but bring your own (and I packed a picnic as well). Allocated seats at long tables, which placed us close to the front but far enough over to one side that we couldn't see all the performers: convenient to have a table, but these were large and made the hall uncomfortably crowded.

The opening act was / were Gilded Thieves, but I'm glad I hadn't seen this video before the event:



Because I would have been disappointed. The live performance was all verve and enthusiasm: they had gained a bass guitarist and a percussionist, and singer Laura had acquired a tambourine. The delicate charm of the video was lost in all this percussion (and from where we were sitting, the fiddler was too far left to be visible, though let's not overstate this, she was still audible). I caught myself thinking - and this is the opposite of my usual reaction - that their songs seemed quite interesting, and what they needed was a band who would do a more varied, less thrashy arrangement, in which it would be possible to hear the words. The people who made the video might just be that band.

Next up were the Teacups - or at least, three of them. Alex, it seems, is now living in the US (Boston area, apparently, that's all I know) with a wife and child: he returns each year for three months, into which the band contrive to arrange as many gigs as possible. They would not normally have agreed to perform as a trio, but had had a good time at Sedgefield in the past, and didnh't want to say no. So this time, have the trailer for their album, to hear what they can do when they are all present and correct:



But I was glad to have caught up with them, and to buy my copy of that album. How can you not love a group who, realising them that everyone in the fdolk world is preparing material on a First World War theme, devises a close harmony version of Hanging on the Old Barbed Wire?

After the break we had Alterego, a fun and lively ceilidh band. On stage, they were a bit overpowering, but they'd have been good to dance to.

Finally, after another break (and the inevitable raffle) the star of the show - Kieran Goss. I should have heard of him, I think. His name was vaguely familiar, but then, so many names are. He's clearly very big in Ireland - and indeed in Sedgefield: pleasant country-tinged songs and good chat, but just not my music.

I always hope that I'm going to be blown away by someone I haven't heard before, and sometimes it does happen. Not this time, though.