Party Rocking

Wow, well this has been a few chaotic days.... christmas eve, christmas day, boxing day, reel practise, Oban Ball!!

Wowzar... I am officially exhausted, like signed off by the magistrate as truthfully 'tired' and stamped with wax!

Christmas was great... very hectic (there was 30 of us for Christmas lunch!) and involved a lot of wrapping paper strewn across the house - I got to open double presents this year as my gran couldn't handle the sellotape and so I was very helpful and helped her open them!

Reeling is a Scottish phenomena. As my dad says, it is a ancient sport where reelers attempt to incapacitate fellow dancers in a bid to be the last standing when the music stops. The respect that you earn at this difficult feat is incredible - you are praised as a god of dancing for five minutes of respite until the next reel starts and the previous god finds that his/her previous worshipers now view him as competition and he/she finds themself spinning headfirst into the very hard wall within the first few beats of the next reel.

We are fast, furious and deadly - any opportunity to spin a partner into another solid fellow is seized and exploited - we battle fierce motion sickness as we spin spin spin down the line, the girls flirting innocently before, seemingly accidentally,  kneeing the man in his sporran area before skipping away to rejoin their partner where the battle of arm strength continues..... the man struggling under the Scottish women grasp as their arms are squeezed and their blood begins to boil before luckily the said women skips away to flirt with the next man before, if she is talented enough, performing a sly kick in the groin. These few minutes of freedom should be wonderful for the man but unfortunately traditional reeling rules require him to dance with a free female leaving him open to attacks from said woman in his private parts..... who ever said Scotland wasn't a feminist country....

If you ever see a reeler, especially female, they will be bedecked in kilts for the men and full ballgowns for the ladies but DO NOT be fooled. The women attach pins and knives to their thighs... the men hide daggers in their socks, these people are armed to their sparkling teeth ready to attack any unfortunate man who feels that these 'posh poncy' people are ripe for the mugging.

To me Scottish reeling is an art but to others, I suppose, it is a deadly sport where you are unlikely to leave the hall not sporting an injury of kind, the number of people I saw nursing a bruised arm, or limping slowly out the door was incredible!

Love
Tabs!

X