A Wet Weekend in Wales

[pensnest]

It always starts at the crack of dawn with a trip through Darkest Norfolk to the place where we get on the coach (a little village with no streetlights). I managed to remember my neck rest, and snoozed for the first few miles, but by about 7.15am there was enough light about that I could and did cast on a hat. Which I'd finished, all but twining in the final yarn end, by the time we got to Cardiff. My Yearbook, and the 1977-84 book which I had also brought along, went over well.

We reached our hotel early in the afternoon to find that many of the rooms were not yet ready, and various chorus members had to mill about for an hour or so, but I was one of the lucky ones, so my roomie and I hauled the Treasure Chest up to our room and unpacked. The weather was miserable, constant rain, but we needed a walk after the long coach ride, and pootled about in the town for a bit. I allowed myself to be tempted by a few glittery objects in charity shops and the craft supplies store—well, I am me, after all. Magpie in a previous life.

There were quite a few promising local cafés, but they all seemed to have large parties booked for early evening - other choruses, I expect - so many of us ended up in Wetherspoons. I have an aversion to eating in there because the UberBoss of Wetherspoons is a Brexiteer and (inevitably) a Douche, but it was that or starve, by then. Then went along to the Convention Centre to watch the quartet finals and the evening Show. (I think. Maybe the quartet finals were before we ate? Hard to remember!)

One of our chorus members, who used to work in the West End theatre world, always works backstage when she isn't actually on the stage with us, and she'd managed to negotiate a holding spot for the Treasure Chest, so we hauled it along in a taxi first thing on Saturday. I saw the first set of chorus competitors, then went to the hotel where we were due for our pre-competition rehearsal... only to find that someone, somehow, had cocked up the booking. Our poor Convention Organiser was so cross, given that she had on her phone a confirmation email that we had the room booked, but the hotel were nonetheless giving it to another chorus. Fortunately, our MD has Connections, and got us a room at the Centre. And, the sun came out! And, better yet, our rehearsal room now had a huge window facing the sea, so we could look out at the horizon (and wind farm) as we got ready. I think it really cheered everybody up. Then we were chased out after an hour for the next Fringe event.

So we had a bit of unexpected free time. I had found myself getting oddly nervous with every chorus I watched in the morning, so did not go back in to see more of them, just knitted (and bought a skein of merino/yak/silk for a bargain £13, though why there was a stall selling such things... I guess lots of women means lots of potential customers) the next hat.

Convention is organised To The Minute during the day - you are told when you may go into the dressing room (1027, or 1142, or 1609), so we accumulated in there and donned our piratical gear. I was a little nervous, not having had the chance to practice my little stunt with the Treasure Chest, but we were in good voice and all eager to strut our stuff. The performance in general went well—at least, it is a bit of a blur to me, since the most memorable things were (a) that it took me a little extra time to raise the treasure from the chest, and (b) when I sang the second song, *all* I could hear was my own voice, feebly, which was really disconcerting and uncomfortable. We had been warned that our spot on stage was a 'dead spot', but it was horrid. However, leaving the auditorium was kinda fun as we were still in character, warning off the spectators who were interested in our Treasure. If you'd like to see our performance, it is here. Do watch it in a large view! I am the striped-socks person on the right hand side of the screen, near the Treasure Chest!

We normally have a chorus meal organised for the gap between Results and The Saturday Show, but it hadn't been possible this time. However, my roomie and I had found us a place to eat, and let the chorus know that if they fancied a group meal, this was the place. I phoned them at lunchtime to ask them to set up about a dozen places. In the end there were 16-18 of us, and Forté's Café did us proud. Made individual bills for everyone without even having to be asked, fantastic and friendly service, very good food, and they were so delighted when we sang to them afterwards!

The evening show was very entertaining. For the first time since 2003, The White Rosettes had been beaten into second place, and winners Amersham Acappella showed us why, with a really awesome recap of their competition numbers plus a couple of extras, one of which involved sign language and the other some very impressive rhythm stuff. The OC Times, the star guests, are very charming, and very good indeed, although as it happens I don't really like the music they like to sing. Too much twang.

There was, briefly, an attempt to sing when we were back at the hotel, but I was well worn out by then and didn't stay for long—though long enough to see one of our chorus make a spirited attempt to inveigle a wandering karaoke singer into joining his local chorus when he got home. Wonder if we'll see him again. The Cottontown Chorus will probably win next year's BABS competition, so they'll be invited to our next Convention.

There was a final show on Sunday which was also a lot of fun - the second and third placing choruses did *such* a great job with being emotional, that's definitely something for our lot to aim at. Then we loaded onto the coach at 1pm and set off, with singing. We congregated under a convenient dome when we stopped at the services and sang the new polecat, and another chorus happened to be there too and so joined in. This is always fun!

Beast collected me - and the Treasure Chest - at 8pm, by which time I'd finished a second hat and my cold had settled firmly into my head.



Came back to discover that our energy provided, Bloody Toto, has gone bust. Can't say I'm surprised.

Comments

[watervole]

Change to Ecotricity.
They're the greenest electricity company out there, and they also,provide biogas.
I've been with them for several years.

[watervole]

Change to Ecotricity.
They're the greenest electricity company out there, and they also,provide biogas.
I've been with them for several years.

[pensnest]

Thanks for the recommendation. We're definitely interested in getting a green supplier, we will take a look.

[watervole]

I've always loved Riding on the crest of a wave, and that was a beautiful rendition of Old Cape Cod.

[pensnest]

Thank you!

[turps]

I enjoyed watching you all sing. And seeing the treasure chest. That really is a mighty chest!

[pensnest]

It has been quite the odyssey getting the treasure chest to look good!

[frausorge]

It sounds like a fun if intense day! And you all sound really lovely, especially in the held-out closing notes of the songs.

[pensnest]

Thank you! The day was a rather odd shape, and I'm inclined to think that being one of the first to perform gives an overall better Convention experience, as you're then free to do more of it.