woolymonkey | Aug. 19th, 2010

Lots of good stuff lately so why do I feel so anxious? So much, in fact, that I haven't had time to post.

Sidmouth Folk Week was great--sunshine, seafood, music, monkeys playing music...

They ended up playing guitar and trumpet in various combos with the 14-18 yr old folkies at "Jack's Bar". The showcase on Thursday was impressive--so many talented kids!

This is the moment when the monkey boys realised they were standing in a choir, about to sing a song they'd never even heard, and--Spider says this was the worst part--it was going to be about fish.

I didn't take pics of non-monkey performers, but we saw and heard lots of good ones. Brass Monkey (with excellent but terror-struck last-minute replacement trumpet player) were great. Spider and Musique liked Cordelia's Dad. Squirrel and I weren't so sure. Jon Boden was great, both his new stuff and with Bellowhead. (I'll always be proud that I introduced Jon to folk by giving him his first Martin Carthy tape when he was in 6th form. He may now be wishing I hadn't, but I'm still proud.) Fay Hield was my favourite new discovery--beautiful voice, and exceptionally sensitive arrangements of trad songs. But the ones we all enjoyed most were Belshazzar's Feast. Not sure how they come over on CD, but they're amazing live.

Best of all, Spider, who started the week still feeling poorly, got better and better and now seems to be back to his usual self--although thinner than ever. He's on doctor's orders to eat lots, especially beef and broccoli to boost his flagging iron levels. He still needs another blood test and a kidney scan, but it's so good to see him happy and healthy again.

Meanwhile, the student house next door is empty and blissfully silent, giving my sore ears a chance to recover before the next batch arrive in September.

musique_monkey had extra time at home using up holiday from his old job before starting a new, shiny job at Parasolid. So we have a shelf and tiles in the downstairs toilet--now I just need to repair the damage from the shower leak upstairs and patch up the paintwork.

And the kittens are busy turning into cats