Electric blue

A girl dances with an illuminated hula-hoop outside Stroud's Sub rooms. It is 8pm and the Morris dancers have moved on. Inside, the Goodwill craft fair is in full swing, but this forecourt is deserted. Only a weary traveller passing the estate agent's pauses for a moment to take in the kaleidoscope-dance.

Stroud doesn't have regular late night shopping, so once a year the majority of high street stores, particularly the independents, of which we still have many, stay open late and serve mince pies and festive treats to all comers. There are stalls in the street and fairground attractions in a separate area (see CleanSteve's blip for lurid colour and screaming!), and a procession of children and parents bearing home made lanterns. The church is lined with Christmas trees decorated by small businesses, schools, playgroups, charities, political parties, and so on. Morris dancers with their faces blacked (it's a border Morris tradition, not a racist custom) perform in various locations, and even the Ukelele orchestra joins in the merriment!

!We were late getting down because I had a massage client who needed extra support, so I missed the procession. I took scores of photos, but mostly they were too dark, or too light because the auto-flash came on! I've chosen this one because, just for once, the slow shutter speed caught the hula hoop in all its spinning wonderment.

CleanSteve and his Neighbourhood Development Plan colleagues were running a stall, and after the pavements began to roll up, I joined them in no.23, a tapas bar, for a birthday celebration for Camilla, a close friend and co-worker of Steve's. We had a most interesting conversation about Karma: I must get back to her on that!