Still carrying on my October rainbow till the end of the week, shy Serafina hides behind her pink bag - picture more reflective of the day in extras. http://365project.org/boxplayer/extras/2012-11-03
A nice lie-in after the late night, and a breakfast of croissants and fruit. Then left Sophie and Dave in the house off to the Ralph Allen school for the day's activities. A morning workshop first on diatonic accordion (melodeon, what I play) with Marjorie Stephany from Vent de Galarne, working on a 3/8 bourree, Toute les Dames (French dance tune). She's a fantastic player, fast, nimble and rhythmic. Lunch was a very tasty spinach and feta filo thing. Then Anna and I decided to go for a walk as we didn't fancy any of the next workshops. Belinda had told us about a great viewpoint a little way down the road, part of the Bath Skyline walk. So we headed off using the directions she'd given us. Unfortunately we weren't really dressed for a muddy walk and Anna soon found her (eyewateringly expensive) boots covered in mud. The view of Bath was worth it though and Anna gamely soldiered on so that we ended up doing a 2-mile circuit, ramblers and dog walkers politely pretending not to notice our non-walking-in-mud get-up.
We managed to get back just in time for the last workshop with French accordion master Frederic Paris, gorgeous musician and writer of some of the best tunes ever. Quite taxing, but very inspiring and informative.
We then rushed back to the house to try and wash and eat before the evening's bal (dance). A quick pasta and shower before throwing on my glad rags - we just about managed to leave on time. Back at the school for the dance - a fantastic evening of music and dancing with Vent de Galarne doing central French dance music and Ti Jaz doing really funky Breton. Danced a lot and hurt my legs on the hard gym floor but worth it. Especially as, with the walk included, I managed to do nearly 30,000 steps - more than enough to offset the industrial quantities of cheese and chocolate I ate once back at the house.
