The 21st
May 2016 found us at our second new venue of the season, and a first for the
Vikings - Knotty Ash – but alas, not a single Diddyman in sight!
We had a
slightly soggy start and were in fear of the whole day being a complete wash
out, but the Ya Raqs girls are ever optimistic! We managed to put up our little
tent and had it looking warm and inviting in no time at all. The weather may have prevented us from performing
at our allotted time in the program – but it didn’t dampen our spirits, despite
now being almost ankle deep in water! After a mug of hot tea and a bacon butty
we were raring to go!
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| Still slightly wet underfoot, but if it's good enough for the Vikings.... |
At one
point we thought we were going to have to do our performances in our little
home from home, but hey presto, all of a sudden the rain stopped and the sun
actually appeared. So we wrung out our
very wet floor coverings and jingly belt, threw them over the bushes behind us
to dry; got the music box going and started doing what we do best, performing
for our adoring fans. There was a slow but steady stream of people now
venturing out and making their way through the muddy gate.
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| Naima, Meroe and Phoenece - a bit soggy but still dancing! |
We had a
couple of extra dancers – the first was a lovely Viking lady, who we had met
before at other festivals, the second was a young dancer enjoyed getting
dressed up and had all the moves in her jingly belt.
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| Our new recruits |
Our
neighbour was Cartoonist George Brooks and Naima thought it would be
lovely to have her portrait taken. It wasn’t quite what she had in mind, but oh
how we laughed! It was a very good
‘likeness’ you must admit. It is amazing how in just a few minutes he could capture
your likeness even down to the curls in the hair and – dare I say it – the double
chin! A very talented man.
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| Naima with her new portrait and artist, George |
It is amazing
how we always manage to find cake, even in the middle of a muddy field. Knotty
Ash was no exception and we found a stall with a wonderful array of cakes and
pastries for a hungry dancer to choose from. We’ve met the lady who runs this stall
before - I am sure she follows us around – but they were just what we needed.
As the
sun shooed the clouds away and more people came to see what all the noise was
about, we performed our next set of dances. And we still managed to fit in some
beautiful glitter tattoos in between our performances.
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| Meroe doing glitter tattoos |
As always
there were plenty of photo opportunities and today was no exception. One
interesting character was a very important looking man from vikingasaga.co.uk
and his body guard Toki Miklasson (aka Shaun) from Travellers Through Time, who
took the time out to talk to us.
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| Naima and Kebi with Viking Saga (aka Ian Uzzell) and Toki Milasson (aka Shaun) |
All too
soon another fantastic day was over. But, just when we thought we would be able
to pack away our tent in the dry, it started to rain again. The joys of the
great British Summer – but what is a little bit of water? We all had a brilliant time and the rain
didn’t manage to dampen our enthusiasm for entertaining. We even had a very nice compliment
from one of the stall holders, saying that we had brightened what could have
been a very dull day. Everything
will soon dry and we’ll be ready for our next event before you know it.
Thank
you Knotty Ash Viking Medieval Market for having us. See you all very soon.
