Bungay Balls Up 16

Orinoco - 2015-05-25 15:26:17 UTC #

Bungay Balls Up 16

I wrote down quite a bit in my book but I'm afraid you'll still have to excuse the gaping holes…

Saturday

I arrived on site late Saturday morning & immediately I made the usual mistake of sitting down with Kat, Fak & Abbi for a natter before putting up my tent (I should know by now). Turns out Abbi is one of many people who have become a fan of the chickpea & chorizo curry! I eventually did pitch my tent (& found my mallet in the middle of it, win!) in a mildly troublesome wind over by the far hedge where all the people who hate children go. I used the afternoon to slip into the Bungay spirit, the phone went off not to be turned on again until I was to return home. There were a lot of hugs & hellos with the Bungay regulars. I spent most of the afternoon chatting with Paul & his wife Mary, but also did a little reading.

Not sure exactly how but I ended up doing some planking with Sarah Biskup & her personal trainer Andy. Sarah was struggling to do 10 seconds at a time, but I said I'd have a go at 3 straight minutes which fortunately I was able to do pretty easily. Hooray for handstands! In a fit of enthusiasm the three of us then played gladiators for a bit. I hit Andy's hand which he would remind me about throughout the festival.

Early in the evening we watched a pair of majestic barn owls scanning the buttercups for something to eat.

Lazy Juggler once again provided a games player's paradise with a vast library of board & card games available to play. My first game of the festival was Camel Up with Ron, Glyn, Andy, Helen, Earnest, Dominique & Richard. Play revolves around betting on a race of 4 camels that is governed by the rolls of dice but influenced by players placing tokens on the track. It is a very well designed game as right up until the last round it was still possible for the last camel to win so it was very hard to make predictions. At least that's my excuse for being thoroughly trounced. We then played a game of Dixit, a charming game of matching stories or phrases to some beautifully drawn picture cards that requires a lot of empathy. My little grey rabbit was a runaway winner, which was a shame because it meant the game was over relatively quickly.

While passing through the big top on my way to bed I stopped & had my first play with a Salerno ring. Jamie Fletcher had built a selection of these props by connecting two juggling rings using barrel bolts then bolting the pair of rings to an aluminium mop handle. He had 3 different models, a small single ring, a larger single ring & a small double ring with the rings mounted one above the other. Jamie was starting the double ring directly from a balance by gently bouncing up & down to start the balls moving then giving a big bounce at the right time to force the balls into the full circular orbit. I'm not sure how but he was able to consistently get the balls spinning in opposite directions. He taught me an easier starting method for the single rings where you swing the ring up & stop at the vertical then go straight into the up & down motion with your hand to maintain the ball's progress around the ring. I found this method pretty easy but getting the whole lot onto your chin was pretty tricky. Early attempts at trying to synchronise bouncing my body in time with my hand that was bouncing the ring proved inelegant to say the least. I did manage a couple of attempts where I was able to spin the ball around the ring several times before losing the balance. I also managed to jump the pole into my eye socket which was mightily painful!

Sunday

After a good night's sleep & stuffing myself full of eggy bread for breakfast I warmed up with half an hour of club juggling before having a more concerted effort with the Salerno ring. I quickly learnt how to pick up the dropped ball by scooping it up with the ring. Having an efficient method for picking up after a drop greatly increases the efficiency of a practice session! I was able to get much faster & consistent at performing the start but I still found maintaining the balance while bouncing very hard. I also tried juggling at the same time but could only get 3 catches.

Sarah challenged me to some more one on one combat. I was denied my first successful yoink to a 4 club fountain owing to crashing through & falling over a nearby chair.

I had a big dinner followed by a big sleep, then I played Kubb with Andy, Sandra, Mark, Jason & Will, which saw the ever enjoyable arguing the toss over every minutiae of the game. We also played with a surprisingly powerful toy archery set. We took turns at launching an arrow vertically into the air then trying to catch it before it hit the ground. I was very pleased to pull off this trick on my third attempt with minimal running back & forth like a bad silent movie actor underneath it.

Back into the games tent I played with a beautifully crafted & very satisfying interlinking key puzzle before joining Guy, Kat, Lizzie, & Void for another game of Camel Up where I managed to equal my previous performance & come last. I then sat down with Void for a game of Khet, a chess like game where you move & rotate mirrored pieces to redirect a laser around a chequered board to hit your opponent's pharaoh piece. We first felt the need to congratulate ourselves for setting up the board correctly! I thought I was getting to grips with the game by the third match as I had managed to remove 4 of my opponent's pieces from the board. Then Void turned his laser & carved a path through everything to win again. Doh!

Monday

We had quite a bit of rain overnight & throughout the morning. I spent much of the morning dealing with a minor water ingress issue in my tent thanks to stupidly leaving my camp chair up against one side wall. I then made myself a big breakfast which always puts me in a better mood, then I went to the big top & lazed in the sofas & read for a bit. I joined Andy, Sandra, Jason & Will for a leisurely game of volleyclub. Sandra had a spectacular mid air collision, ducked out of the way & covered her head, then she moved her hands out of the way at precisely the wrong moment before taking a club to the head with a loud clonk. Play resumed sometime later once we had all finished laughing.

I practiced a bit more with a Salerno ring but my chin was feeling bruised so didn't do much. I also did some 7 ball runs & some handstands.

I joined Void, Lynne & Paul for a game of croquet. As usual I was able to get my ball through any hoop backwards seemingly at will, but struggled getting it through the correct way when required. Void was romping forth but I managed to stop him with a fairly respectable mid range posting. I then managed to make it through to hoop 11 surviving a couple of attempted postings by Lynne & Paul before I made the mistake of announcing, "I'll be impressed if you make this shot" to Void who inevitably managed to hit my ball from all the way over in one corner of the court passed a hoop & the post, allowing him to send me back to the start with a relatively easy short range posting. There was a brief interlude while we were interrupted by a bit of a downpour then we all tied to gang up on Paul but was unable to stop his progress to eventually win the game.

I then joined in another game of Kubb which involved pretty much everyone that was passing the far end of the field. Ewan somehow ended up playing for both teams. Later in the evening I ended up playing Blokus against Lynne, Andy & Ewan while simultaneously playing Lizzie at chess. I completely screwed up on the Blokus board, but managed to win the chess despite Lizzie sneaking an extra queen onto the board while I was concentrating on the other game.

Tuesday

It was a chilly morning so I had an early practice session with the Salerno ring which is a great way to warm up. I tried the larger ring which I found slower & easier to manage. I discovered it was better to take that little bit longer to place the pole on my chin to ensure it was positioned dead centre. Did quite a bit more juggling today in between reading & nattering to people. I spent the early evening around the wood burner with lots of people all working through the collection of linking things puzzles, I managed to solve all except the infuriating multi coloured plastic cube thingy (did anyone solve it?). I also played Logi at chess, I made an awful mistake early on but managed to win it back in the end game to take a step up the BBU cheese ladder.

I joined Ron, Andy & Katie to play Elysium. It was a first for all of us but despite initially looking quite complicated was pretty easy to pick up, despite Ron insisting on pronouncing 'Elysium' as 'asylum'. The game required lots of very simple to understand but very hard to make decisions about what cards to pick up. My opponents seemed to focus on the higher level cards which allowed me to assemble a perfect level quest of all 5 level 1 gatherer cards which I think is the equivalent of a royal flush which granted me an enormous number of points to win the game.

Wednesday

Another morning practice with the Salerno ring. I successfully managed to throw & catch a ball through the ring while maintaining the orbit. This was much easier with the ring orientated to face sideways rather than forwards so that I didn't have to reach backwards to make the catch. I did lots of club juggling & some handstands too.

I joined Abbi in the games tent & helped put a few pieces into a jigsaw puzzle which took me on a pleasant trip back to my childhood. We had a lovely long chat about everything which was fantastic.

Later I found Dominique & Ernest puzzling over a problem given to them by Ben Beever. What is the next line of the following sequence?:

A
1A
111A
311A
13211A

(no Googling!)

They were really struggling with it (I later found out Ben hadn't worked it out either), but I spotted the answer in about 30 seconds. Ernest then convincingly beat me at chess which may or may not give an indication of the type of intelligence required to solve the puzzle.

Ron, Andy, Scooby & I then got together for our seemingly annual game of Power Grid. Ron helpfully blocked me into one corner of the map very early on so I struggled to build any cities. Scooby was raking in the money but Andy managed to coordinate his city building & fuel his power plants in one turn to win the game.

I spent much of the evening around the wood stove breaking into some beautifully made but infuriating puzzle boxes. Then I went out to investigate the hot tub which had been superheated passed the optimal operating temperature. Abbi & I worked to cool it down a bit. Ben quickly abandoned an attempt to get in. Behir climbed in a bit later to prove it wasn't too hot, but I think he was putting a brave face on it because he didn't stay in very long! I stayed & chatted with him for a while to make sure he was ok before wandering off for a bit. By the time the tub was down to operating temperature it was too full of people so I went to bed :(

Thursday

I enjoyed a nice long lie in. One of the best things about Bungay for me is you can sleep when you are tired & eat when you are hungry. You don't have to worry about anyone else's schedule which is something I don't get to enjoy in real life. In the big top I played a bit more with the Salerno ring, by this time I was finding maintaining the balance much more comfortable but throwing a ball through the middle was still very hit & miss. I managed to land the throw into the ring several times which would have been great if that was what I was aiming for. I also did some passing with Dominique who wanted to work on PSSPSPPS, she was saying the sequence out loud correctly but often throwing the opposite of what she was saying which I found amusing. She also has the best concentration face ever. It starts off as a perfectly neutral expression but ever so slowly, little by little breaks into a massive grin the longer the pattern continues.

I whiled away the evening with more puzzle boxes, a game of Qwirkle with Andy, Guy, Susannah & Kat then chatting around the wood stove.

Friday

More juggling in the morning. I really shouldn't let real life get in the way of practicing. I did some more passing with Dominique, more PSSPSPPS practice, we also passed ultimates, I taught her Jim's 3 count & we worked out a Why Not? pattern together. At this point Farmer Paul burst in to grab a ladder to tackle a swarm of bees which sounded exciting so a load of us followed after him. A nearby hive had swarmed & taken up residence in the farmhouse chimney, fortunately Paul noticed & managed to light the fire in time to smoke them out before they could get settled which evicted them to the hedge next to the chicken run which was a marginal improvement. Fortunately the lady down the road is an experienced beekeeper & was called in to help move the swarm into a hive that could be moved. Paul & the beekeeper tried to maneuvre the ladder into position but partly due to the confines of the chicken run & partly due to a large mass of swarming bees this turned into a bit of a Laurel & Hardy skit. I've always been fascinated by bees & beekeeping but I've only ever seen it done in controlled circumstances at country fayres so it was interesting to see it done in the wild. It turns out that moving a swarm is a case of attacking it armed with a cardboard box & a stick. From the safe distance where we were watching from we could only see a handful of bees buzzing around so it was a real surprise when the beekeeper knocked the swarm concealed deep inside the hedge & there was a loud thud as the unseen mass of bees anded in the box followed by a loud & angry sounding roar of buzzing. The swarm was safely re-homed in a hive to be transported to a more useful place later on.

Saturday

Morning practice again (& somebody caught me at it). Ewan was teaching Adam some new passing rhythms, Sensei Andy was assisting too. I taught Nick how to run a hand feast & we did some seven club passing too. Then Nick & I joined Ewan & Adam for a Tera feed, which was throwing poor Adam as the feeder in at the deep end a little considering that he hasn't done much passing before (or so he says). He managed admirably though & managed to get through 3 sweeps, despite 3 idiots maniacally staring at him.

The evening show was compèred by Phil Blackmore who also juggled axes while balancing a sledge hammer on his chin. We had a couple of aerial acts from Cambridge Community Circus (sadly names escape me). Ben & Libby played tunes on their violins. Lots of people threw hula hoops at Simeon. Susannah did a great combo trick running 2 diabolos in one hand while spinning a ring on the same arm while spinning a bal on the other hand. Show dictator Kat managed to convince three poor newbies that you had to be in the show if it was your first attendance of a Bungay festival. Alex clowned around with lots of balls & finished with an endearing heartfelt thank you for everyone at the festival. Wobbly Ben hula hooped & juggled while balancing on the back 2 legs of a chair. Adam did some lovely technical 3 ball juggling with lots of behind the neck throws & half turns as well as some 5 ball siteswaps, plus 6 & 7 balls too. Finishing off was Ben Beever with lots of monstrous 5, 6 & 7 ball siteswap patterns strung together. The show was closed with Monte, Charlie & Ron attempting the traditional Bungay trick. Well done to Ron for deliberately delaying his start so he could get the most out of the final applause! From the point of view of the kids all of these acts were blown out of the water by Cat's bubble blowing kit & a very impressive moth.

After the show Susannah, Guy & I got together & just about managed to run a continuous take out steals on a 3 club runaround which was an interesting pattern. Guy & Susannah then patiently taught me how to do a roundabout again. One day it will sink in. Then it was back to more puzzle boxes & a game of Machi Koro with Andy, Ben & Helen to finish off the evening.

& so it was to Sunday morning. A quick tear down, lots of hugs then home. The week went all too quickly. Thanks to Farmer Paul for the field, thanks to Ron for all the games, the ones we played together & the ones we didn't, thanks to Ben for the puzzles, thanks to Jamie for the Salerno rings, but mostly thanks to everyone simply for your company. I'm sad to be returning to the other world.

#BBU16