Last Night

Thanks to everyone last night for getting on with some lovely Ta Lu and Wabu whilst waiting for us to arrive. Due to heavy thunder and lightning at both Aberdeen and Heathrow airports, we arrived 5 hours late. We even spent 1hr 40mins trapped on the tarmac in the aeroplane before take off. All-in-all not a good day's travel. However, It was great to walk in to see a bunch of folks in various tea drinking and T'ai Chi postures and I am looking forward to this afternoon. Shortly I will be going down to the hall to do a bit of housework and spruce it up. Thanks to Davina for making the dining area look so lovely already. I can be reached on my mobile all week, although reception is patchy at Fetternear Hall. Mark is hopefully now well rested and we should have a great week. For those joining us on Sunday andmonday, I hope your journey goes better than ours.

Thursday Long Form class: next 10-week session

The next "term" for the Thursday Long Form class will run 7:30-10pm, 6th August to 8th October. The price will be £15 for the term, or £2 if paying week-by-week. The rota will be confirmed after the weeklong workshop.

We are scheduled to be at the Masonic Hall each week: of course that is subject to change if there are any further building works there ;-)

Warmup for the Weeklong

A Talu / Wabu / Dance session will be held at Fetternear Hall from 7-10pm on Friday 24th July. All are welcome. Cost £15 / £10. Jasmine tea - and perhaps cake?! - will be provided.

Weeklong Intensive

So far there are 24 of us booked to come along over the course of the week, it should be a wonderful time. If any of the Aberdeenshire instructors have students coming along, even for a day, please do let me know, if only so I can print up a bigger register if needed. Chris P, Duncan, Hamid, Mary & Chris and Linda T were not able to come this time, but hope to come to the 4 day workshop in October / November.

121s in Aberdeenshire next week

I have a few spaces left for 121s in Aberdeenshire next week, for mornings at Paolo and Davina's place. Let me know if you'd like one. If there is some aspect of any of the Forms that you would like to look at in detail, weapons, partnerwork, or to catch up on something you feel you have missed, do get in touch.

Nettle, willow, ash, knife.

I had the most excellent time at Anam Cara, met good people and learned a shed load of prehistoric, yet totally modern, skills. I'll bring a bunch of my things up with me when I come to the workshop on Friday. If folks like the look of it, we could organise a workshop for ourselves with Willow Lohr, the wilderness skills teacher I was with all weekend. Her love of nature and clear humour-full teaching was a delight, and I shall be happy studying bushcraft with her for years.

Location for 4th Annual Weeklong workshop

It's less than a week to go to the week long workshop at Fetternear Hall. For those of you not familiar with the area, there's a map available here (click on the green placemarker).

If you're expecting to arrive during one of the sessions, taking a taxi is probably the best option to get to the hall. I've typed up directions to the hall from Aberdeen and Inverurie. Let me know if you need a copy. It may be handy to give to your driver at the station or airport, or for sat-nav the postcode AB51 5JX should get you very close.

I can pick up folks arriving in Aberdeen about 5-5:30pm on the Saturday and Sunday. If you'd like a lift, please get in touch - you can get my email address by clicking on my name in the "Contributors" list on the right of the page.

Bushcraft

I am away from tomorrow to Anam Cara in Inverness-shire for 4 days, studying bushcraft with Willow Lohr. I have not had a chance to upload my drawings from TCCaledonia or photos from Weapons Days here, I will do when I return.

Here's one of my feather sticks and fish hooks from the weekend.

Weapons Day

...will take place this Sunday 1pm-7pm at st Mary Magdalene Church Hall, Trinity Road.

Taichi Caledonia

I had an excellent time. However, I appear to have taken only about 5 photos, all of ducks. I will get a few pics from the ones my friends post soon. So much to tell, but it'll have to wait until I have had a rest. The bed in the chalet was so uncomfortable that I need a massage and a good night's sleep in my (very firm) bed.

Wednesday Short Form classes through the summer

Short Form classes will run on demand through the summer at 7pm on Wednesdays at Paolo & Davina's place near Monymusk, starting tomorrow 8th July. There will no class on the 29th July as we will be at Mark's summer workshop.
This is aimed primarily at the folk learning Short Form at the beginners classes, but any Great River students are welcome to come along. We'll do warmups & partnerwork as well as form. Price TBC.

Please contact us by Wednesday each week to let us know if you'll be coming. As the lightning killed our internet connection yesterday we won't have regular access to email for a few days, so please phone or text - I'll email our numbers to the students I have addresses for.

For students in the north of Aberdeenshire, Ev may run a class at Gartly, near Huntly, subject to demand. Please contact her direct ( mailto:ev@greatrivertaichi.co.uk ) if you are interested.

Thursday Long Form class ...

... is at the Friendship room, Kemnay Hall this week (9th July).

T'ai Chi Finzean

Those of us that couldn't make it to T'ai Chi Caledonia made the most of the beautiful weather with an impromptu 5-element workshop at "T'ai Chi Finzean"! What a lovely way to spend a day: bare feet sinking into the Earth while we practised staff (Wood), sabre & sword (Metal).

Pic by Scott
Then a refreshing swim in the Feugh

and a bonfire in the garden.


Many thanks to Anneke and Neil for their great hospitality.

White crane spreads its wings

Slow Down

My old friend Claudia Zeiske (in the hi vis vest to the right of the picture) of Deveron Arts recently organised a great festival in Huntly called 'Slow Down' and Scott took some T'ai Chi in the Square. From the photo it looks like folk are following along nicely. Ev runs regular T'ai Chi classes in the Huntly area, as well as in Elgin.

Peng An

I saw this local south London Chinese take away from the bus and it really is called 'Peng An' or 'ward-off, push' as we like to say in T'ai Chi.

Woodpecker Wooliams

My dear friend Gemma makes wonderul music, and I have been rehearsing and playing live with her recently. She has some CDs out with small independent record labels and some great tracks on her Myspace page, if you'd like a listen. We'll be playing a festival in Cumbria in September but before that there'll be a London gig on 14th August organised by the Resonance FM guys, Dexter Bentley. All are welcome... more details when I get them, or go to Myspace.co.uk and search for Woodpecker Wooliams...

Taichi Caledonia

I am off to TCC tonight but I am having a quiet day at home rather than training as I have been haring around too much this week, lots of teaching and studying in the humid hot weather. I will be on the train until nearly midnight... Have a peaceful and productive week.
Caro x

Bad Customer Service

Here's a bit of my hidden shallows... I don't usually blog about anything so mundane as shopping, but I so rarely shop anywhere other than charity shops for clothes that I thought I would. I bought a great looking pair of jeans from FCUK, French Connection, wore them about 8 times, and washed them twice. They split at the bum and the knees, and no I haven't put weight on! I took them back with the receipt after less than 2 months of having them, as unfit for use. Customer services have just sent them back to me with no refund saying it was not their fault and was due to wear and tear. I don't remember having done any open-cast mining or pavement-laying wearing them... I went on a boat and hung out with mates at a gig: hardly hard use.

So, buyer beware, FCUK are pants, their customer service sucks, let's start the boycott here!

I guess I'll write one more time, but what can I do? I can't prove I didn't cause the wear and tear, so they don't have to replace them on the 'fit for use' statutory rights issue. Any ideas, let me know. I am £70 worse off and jeans-less. I think I will go back to schlepping round the charity shops until I find a pair that fit. Ho hum.

Aberdeenshire Sunday Class - 5th July

This Sunday's class is at Neil & Anneke's in Finzean.
We would like to invite you all for something to eat after Taichi this Sunday and if you like stay for some dancing, bonfire or swim/dip in the Feugh, depending on the weather! 2pm onwards for a 2.30pm start.