Sunderland, Durham, and Marmite

On Monday at work Miark was chatting with Mini online and Mini asked if I would like to come to a juggling club in Sunderland with him and Tall Paul. In my quest to become a more adventurous person and to get the most out of my trip I said yes. The ride up there wasn’t very eventful, I sat in the back while Mini and Tall Paul chatted about different things. When we got there Mini pulled three clubs out of his bag and gave them to me and said “work.” So I did. The only contact I had with Mini and Tall Paul the rest of the club was the occasional correction or laughing at me when I’d hit myself upside the head with a club (which I did). Because I dropped so many clubs that night I’ve gotten much better at flicking them up with my feet and then catching them. I can do my right foot pretty consistently and am working on the left. Mini also tried to teach me this step-over-flick-the-club-behind-my-back-with-my-foot thing, but that was really hard so I didn’t get anywhere. I guess I’m getting better as far as juggling is concerned, it doesn’t feel like it, but Mini says he saw me do 8 throws once (it was more like 5). It’s still pretty shaky and hard enough for me to learn that it is pretty frustrating. But I’m still under orders to practice daily and even at this rate I am bound to get it eventually. After that we went to a pub and got drinks and sat and talked. Then Mini (and eventually Tall Paul) got into a very heated discussion (like personal insults) with some other people from the club about poi. Poi is weighted objects (like tennis balls) swung around on the ends of strings in patterns. The jugglers hate poi, they feel it is easy to learn and often used dangerously and in a boring kind of way. They also say that there is only so much you can do with them without actually letting go. And poi people don’t let go, they just swing. Mini’s claim was that poi is not a circus skill because circus skills involve catching, throwing, or balancing on something. Mini didn’t say it was skillful, but he did say it wasn’t a circus skill and questioned the amount of skill involved in doing it. This was a personal affront to the poi people (for obvious reasons) and they said some not-nice things about Mini. Anyways, although it was quite awkward to sit through it was funny to discover a long-running feud and watch people drawing lines. Tuesday I went to Durham club (remember I was there last week). It was fun, there are some people who were there who weren’t there the week before, and there’s definitely a lot of talent there. I did club juggling for a bit but gave up after a while and sat down to reply to a letter a friend of mine wrote me. We went to a pub (as per tradition) but we didn’t stay long because Roger and I were both tired so we headed out after a pint.

The Brits have thing called Marmite. It is a thick brown spread that comes in a jar. It looks a little bit like molasses (it’s that thick) but it is made from Brewer’s yeast and it has lots of vitamins in it. It is very salty/bitter tasting and very strong, and apparently I am one of the few American that actually like it. We eat a lot of toast and potatoes at work (die Atkins, die!) and Marmite is absolutely wonderful on both of them. Some people love the smell of coffee in the morning, for me it’s the fresh smell of Marmite. I am going to have to send some/bring some back home. I am seriously addicted, and now even more so that I’ve found out it’s good for me. Yay!

http://www.marmite.com/