Cycling review of 2011

This shouldn’t take long.

I started a new job in May. It has weekend working and a variable schedule which made it difficult to keep to training plans and made weekend racing tricky to programme. So I slowed down then stopped the racing. And then slowed down and then stopped the cycling. I haven’t been on the bike since August.

But it’s not about the job of course. the job was just the excuse pushing at an open door. The racing was getting difficult because I was going slower. Motivation is a problem when there is no incentive. The house move in March meant that I had lost my support network.

Support network sounds grand doesn’t it. What I mean is those people who get after you if you start taking it easy: the Willesden CC, the Minet Ladies CC, the veterans at the Hillingdon Cycle Circuit, the Imperial Winter Series and so on. Living in a new place means you have to be a self-starter until you find the local networks. I did this for a while… and then stopped doing it.

Will I ride a bike again? I’ve got a hell of a lot invested in kit. That’s probably not enough of an incentive to tempt me out on a day like today (cold, wet and windy).

The one thing that might persuade me back onto the road again is that I’ve started putting on weight. The new job, with its outdoor work and requirement for nervous energy, has kept the pounds off during the season. Since November I’m working less and the pounds are creeping back on. I hate being fat.

If I do race next year I think I’ll stick to club races. There’s a really good calendar of evening events in East Sussex. I do like riding opens, but down here the weekend events always start early in the morning (in most areas the Saturday races are in the afternoon). Two early starts (3-5am say) in a row are no fun, especially if you’re riding like a slug.

I don’t think I can afford to set targets for next year. They get me down and, in the end, become counter productive.

Some statistics for the year:

Fastest 10 miles TT – 25:52 on 9th May on the G10/87 course (compared to a PB of 23:37)

Fastest 25 miles TT – 1:05:33 on 8th May on the Q25/8 course (compared to a PB of 59:07)

16 races ridden. This compares to 48 in 2010.

2,615 miles in training (so far). This compares to 6,786 miles in 2010. I’ve never exceeded 10,000 miles in a year.

633 miles in January was the most miles in a month this year. The disruption of the house move and then new job kicked in around March.

Playwrighting course

** UPDATE ** This course has been postponed until Autumn 2012 **
I’m running a playwriting course for New Writing South  in Brighton from Tuesday 7th February next year. The copy says:

This new ten session course offers a supportive atmosphere in which to explore elements of craft, including characterisation, plot, dialogue, and voice. Aimed at both those new to playwrighting and those with some experience wanting a refresher course the emphasis is on discovery, technique, and experimentation.  Building on regular class exercises and individual work, and guided by constructive feedback and discussion, you will work on producing a short drama script.  Some work created by the group will be presented by professional actors in a rehearsed reading at the end of the course which all participants can attend.

If you’ve got any questions, please do get in touch.

Alfriston and Pevensey Castle.

The village sign

We’re New in Town so we can still play the tourist near to home. Today we headed to Alfriston to see the Clergy House. It’s a small but beautiful medieval building – an example of a Wealden Hall. I am (professionally) very envious of their bread oven and fine collection of baker’s peels. It has nice gardens as well.

The village is lovely, so we stayed for a while. We walked along the river, visited a tea room, bought some bits and pieces at the award-winning Much Ado Bookshop and had lunch at the Ye Olde Smugglers Inne. Most places in South Sussex have a Smugglers Inn – tax evasion having been a popular pastime in these parts for centuries.

Alfriston Clergy House (L) next to the church. Seen from across the mighty Cuckmere River.

Pat spotted a small, simple model boat she liked in an antique shop’s window. The label was discretely turned over so we went in to check out how much it was. If it was, say, £50 I might have considered buying it as a Christmas present. It was £650. Pat revived me and we headed back to the car.

On the way back we visited Pevensey Castle. It’s odd that we haven’t been there already. It’s 5 miles from home and I’m supposed to know about castles and all that old stuff.

By Pevensey_Castle_aerial_view.jpg: Lieven Smits derivative work: Hchc2009 (Pevensey_Castle_aerial_view.jpg), via Wikimedia Commons

The Roman Fortress, built around 290AD,  is impressive in its scale and completeness. It’s supposed to be the site of the 1066 Norman invasion, but some, controversially, disagree.

There’s a charge to see inside the medieval castle within the fortress, but it’s worth a visit. The keep is mystifying in its construction – with seven different towers in a small area. There’s a small exhibition in the North tower which includes artefacts found on site. Much of the interior would have been timber built, but there are plenty of clues in the curtain wall to how the place worked.

We walked around the outside as well – it’s very intimidating from what would have been the shoreline 900 years ago.

After a brief reinforcement at the time of the Armada (1588), the castle ceased to be militarily significant for hundreds of years. Remarkably it was reinforced and garrisoned in 1940 when there was a real threat of a German invasion. Machine guns posts and pill boxes were built into the Roman and medieval walls, disguised with flint to blend in with the original stonework. Two of the towers were lined with brick and had floors added to serve as barracks for the troops. These twentieth century upgrades have been left in place – part of the site’s long and continuing history.

Storytelling

The Saturday Storylines event at the Hastings Storytelling Festival went well in the end.

There were four of us storytellers, all with differing levels of experience. We had the morning and afternoon to hone the pieces with the help of Chrissie, a writer / theatre director, and Jamie, a professional storyteller.

My piece – a ten minute story about a father and son (no surprise there) – went through several iterations. I didn’t write down the piece beforehand: I know that storytelling is an oral tradition and wanted to honour that. It also took me out of my comfort zone, which pleased the masochist in me.

I hadn’t realised that traditional storytelling is quite reserved and subtle. My ‘style’ is fairly histrionic (it’s harder to hit a moving target). I did manage to pull it back through the day, but it was still quite dynamic in performance.

The venues for the promenade evening performance were superb. A Second World War sea mine on the street, an atmospheric artist’s studio, the Shipwreck museum and, for me, the Fishermen’s museum.

I’d loved to have seen Joe, Dave and Roisin perform their pieces to an audience but I was busy giving four performances of my piece to the promenaders. The audience and I were on the deck of a fishing boat in the museum hall. It was pretty well received I think.

Thanks to the venues, MSL Projects, Margaret Sheehy, Jamie Crawford, Christine Harmar-Brown, Jane Bruce, Kate Francis, Nikki Tomsett, Hilary Lane and Suzan Aral for a great day.

Baker’s peel

I’ve managed to locate and buy a baker’s peel in a local antique shop. I’ll be using it in the story of the paindemain loaf at the castle.

At last, a prop I can really lean on.

Metal detecting – recent finds

A selection of buckles

I’ve not been out detecting much recently. This lot came from inland – it’s nice to get away from the beach occasionally.

Buckles seem to be quite a common find. These are all some sort of copper alloy so they’re quite well preserved.

The barrel-tap key is a throwback to a different way of life. The key offered some security when barrels of beer or cider were taken out into the field.

I did find one coin – an 1861 penny. This is the oldest coin I’ve found so far (and possibly the oldest item).

A Barrel-tap key - probably 19C

Barrel-tap key - a view of the end

A cigarette lighter - not working yet

Perhaps the security door off a secure mouse hole?

Everyone wants to find a ring. Not necessarily giant iron rings though.

Victoria penny 1861 - the oldest coin I've found so far

...and the tail side

Storylines, Hastings

I’m going to be performing at the Hastings Storytelling Festival on the evening of Saturday 12th November.

I applied for a workshop and I got in. It’s a bit of a surprise but I’m hoping that my interpretation work at the castle will help me get through it. It’ll be a 10 minute story which people will see as part of a promenade around venues on the Stade. Should be fun.

Festival schedule

Bodiam Castle – Season 1

Bodiam Castle, The Gatehouse

Sunday marked the end of my first ‘season’ as a costumed interpreter at Bodiam Castle. I’ll still be working there through the Winter but much less frequently.

My cycling season reviews can fixate on times and numbers. This is less easy to do with interpretation. I did, however, give over 160 presentations and 14 school tours in my 83 days at the castle.

I have enjoyed the historical and social research. This has been formal (books, research visits etc.) and informal (conversations with visitors and colleagues). Developing a new expertise is always fun. I’ve been tested a few times, but I’m happy to learn from people.

Getting back into being a performer was a trial but, in the end, I’ve enjoyed working with an audience again. I always tell my student writers that it’s important to understand the relationship between performer and audience.  I’m learning that lesson again myself.

Writing the presentations has been hard work. It’s not enough to download information for people. The piece has to have structure. It has to engage with the reason (many reasons) that people are there. It has to make a link between the audience member, the building, its social functions and its history. I wish I’d discovered Tilden’s principles earlier, particularly point 4.

‘Writing’ isn’t conventional scriptwriting of course. It’s a more dynamic process. The presentation can be very different depending on the constitution of the audience, size of the audience, weather, other activities in the castle, etc.. I did write something on paper at the beginning, but I didn’t learn my lines. I learnt structure, principles and escape routes.

The next few months…? Catching up with other areas of my life, driving KHOROSS forward, my other jobs, writing etc.. I’ll also be developing a new ‘character’ to run in parallel with Benet Whitbread the Baker for next season.

Almost a writer

I’ve not written a lot recently. Not much for the last ten years now I think about it. I’d slipped into a chronic grump and it had an impact on the quality and quantity of my work.

But the move South, the passage of time and new initiatives have conspired to de-grump me somewhat. I need to write again. I have deadlines. And there needs to be a day one.

In fact, I’ve been writing – stolen moments writing – for some time. But I need there to be a moment when I re-orientate and call myself a writer again. And today is the arbitrary day that I have chosen.

I’m a great believer that each writing project finds its own way of working: a short story written on beermats in a bar, a haiku written on the top deck of a bus or a round the world travel guide written in crayon on stolen Izal sheets in a prison cell. There’s no routine that suits every piece.

I’m trying to create pieces with vision, so I head for the sea front – let’s work under big skies with distant horizons.

My first stop is the Two Maggots cafe. I load up with an intravenous espresso and a packet of high tar Gauloises to help me feel writerly. Charged, I begin to write. I want a hard edge to this piece, so I consider chipping the words into blocks of flint. I may be taking these metaphors too far. The ballpoint and the yellow pad will have to do.

I write. I move to a new bench. I write again. A new cafe, another page. This rhythm continues for maybe three hours. By the end of this I have several A4 pages of stuff that didn’t exist yesterday. I’ve rewritten a couple of monologues from memory – they might end up on Khoross, they might not. I’ve written some throwaway junk – that doesn’t matter. Today was the day.

Of course the best bit is still to come. The reward is typing it all up. I’m glad it didn’t start on a screen though. Writing in the rough while on the move and in the world is a fantastic feeling.

Hastings Bonfire

Bonfires are different down South. I’d heard tales of the Lewes festivities, but there’s nothing like being there to get the full experience.

People in prisoners arrows carry torches in the parade

Last Saturday was Hastings’ bonfire night. Thousands of people packed the front to see the parade consisting of torch carrying zombies, pirates, prisoners, skull-headed drummers, Normans, Tommies and the like. A carnival of the night which conjured up resonances with the Mexican day of the dead. Not at all like Diwali or the Guy Fawkes nights of my childhood.

Matelots?

The bonfire (labelled with ‘Bankers’ and ‘Politicians’) was enormous and terrifying. The firework display was spectacular.

Every year they blow up an effigy of somebody demonised in the news. This year they chose Hoodies who they associated with the rioters (not a 1:1 match there, guys). They certainly blew it to kingdom come.

The camera phone fails to capture the terrifying intensity (and size) of the fire