Monday 3 January 2011

02/01/2011 Bottle Alley Ukulele Stroll Number 10.

As usual, the sky brightened at ten minutes to four and did wonderful things over toward Beachy Head. I got to Warrior Square in good time and spent a few minutes looking out over the low tide, starlings over the pier, the sandy beach with the dog walkers and fishermen catching lugworm, goat ledge, the gulls and turnstones.
I wasn't sure if anyone would turn up, or what I would do if they did. Eleven of us did the stroll and I wasn't quite sure what to do. All of my confidence after last week disappeared and I really didn't know what I was doing. I hadn't prepared, and I need to. I should have a plan for each contingency; it's not really my personal journey if I invite others along: that gives me an obligation.
At each stroll we have to negotiate, unsure of what is expected of each other. But we create something different every time we do it.
Except we sing the same songs! This week we sang Iko Iko, What Shall We Do With The Drunken Sailor, Oh I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside and YMCA. Everyone joined in and, despite the lack of Kazoos (must always bring some in future), we had a nice time. I wish I'd introduced myself to everyone: I assumed everybody knew each other, which turned out not to be the case.
There's a few good lessons to learn for me about how to conduct the next 42 strolls.
As a footnote; after the stroll I spoke with an accordionist friend who lives above bottle alley. He told me that people have been asking about the strange 'musical noises' emanating from the alley on Sunday afternoons; are they the ghosts of old mariners or vaudevillians?
No, it's just the Bottle Alley Ukulele Stroll.

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