It was so much fun! There were 16 of us in the end, parking was fine, the rain stopped as we started to set up, and the runners loved it.
All the prep was worth it...
We kept it a surprise - the race organisers knew of course, but the runners didn't. Their faces were so fun to watch as they came around the bend and saw a 16-piece brass band cheering them on. It was great.
People were really helpful too - I emailed the man who owned the orchard - my friend from knitting knew him - and he answered - and I mean that wasn't exactly your typical email, to say the least. Even the National Fruit Farm were happy to let us use their parking lot. It makes you realise how much people will let you do if you just ask!
Didn't change the locks, didn't make me leave a key and here I am. Self-identifying with the villain in a song about women's empowerment. Nice. Classy.
So I couldn't get on with wordpress. I thought moving to a more open platform would encourage me to do more - design more, make more of an effort, but it turns out, I guess, I just want to write-and-run (a crime under any rational statute book). It also turns out that although it's easy to convert your blog from blogger to wordpress, it's really hard to convert it back. So. Whatever. There will be missing years. Quite apt, really.
It's Wednesday. I'm drinking a glass of wine and listening to this which is brilliant and I love it. I think this is the first all-woman jazz band I've ever heard. That I know of. And it matters. What is the phrase, you can't be what you can't see? Or something to that effect. When I first saw the video I felt a jolt of - OH - there's a woman! and anther one! and anther one! BLIMEY it's the whole band!!!! Neal asks me does it matter? And from the music end of things, no - of course not - but from the socio-political end of things, oh it matters, all right.
In other news I am trying my own hand at musician-wrangling this Sunday. It's the Faversham 10k running race, a race I have run a few times, and volunteered as a marshal last year. I was stationed at the bottom of Brogdale Hill, a rather steep hill almost 8km in, and the runners would see it around the bend and audibly groan. I started to think, wouldn't it be great to have a brass band down here to cheer them on? And here's the bit where I can really see what people mean when they say that your friends have a huge influence on your behaviour. Because when I mentioned this completely crazy un-thought-out idea , they said, duh - yes - that's great - you can, and should totally do that. Because many of them are music directors, band leaders, musicians, organisers, etc - it didn't sound at all crazy to them. So - I thought - how hard can it be? I mean it's probably hard to do it well, for sure. But I just want to make runners laugh, which lowers the bar somewhat.
