EJC2002 - Review (Steve)

Having secured enough funding for Andy, George, Euan, Lee, Steve Dobinson and myself to go to Bremen, we all met up at Off The Record (a youth resource place in Stirling) with all our gear, and George's sister Fiona gave three of us a lift to Rosyth. As Fiona was on her way back to pick up the remaining three, the guys phoned to say that although we had been told by phone that there were plenty of seats available on the Ferry, they were actually sold out. We were gutted, but there was nothing we could do about it. We would have to wait till the same time (5pm) the following day to travel. Fiona offered the 6 of us a place to stay in Kirkcaldy so that we could at least get out of Stirling.

I got to watch some of her Bagpuss video's and relive my youth, then we watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail (a timeless classic), and the guys played with her kids star wars light sabre!

We all woke with plenty of time to get to Rosyth from Kirkcaldy. Fiona offered to drive us there in two trips. Euan and I went in the first carload with all the gear. On the way, we got caught up in heavy traffic due to a bad car crash. Fiona dropped us off, and headed back to get the others with 2 hours before the Ferry was due to leave.

Waiting for them…

Still waiting for them…

4.30pm, Euan and I make the decision that if the others do not make it to the ferry on time, that we would go without them, as the tickets would be non-refundable. We manage to convince the staff at Rosyth (lovely people) to give us 15 more minutes before we had to go. 14.5 minutes later, Fiona's car came screeching round the corner, and we were rushed through with our passports and bags scanned etc! WHEW!!

The Ferry journey lasted 17 hours. We spent most of the time in the Colours Panoramic Lounge, or out at the side of the Superfast Ferry, or practicing juggling.

On arrival in Zebrugge, we caught the bus to Brugge, then George and I had a walk round the City Centre, before we caught the train to Koln (5.5 hours) and then another train to Bremen (3 hours). Then we caught a tram (not been on one of these since I was a child), to Wilhelm Kaisen Brucke, and walked for 50 minutes to finally arrive at about 10pm exhausted.

Steven and I immediately set up our tents in the camping area. We had to go away to the back of the campsite to find 2 spaces beside each other. He had to give me a hand with my tent (which I bought a couple of weeks previous). We then stayed up for ages in the beer tent and relaxed. The other guys all stayed in the 24 hour hall for the week. I wouldn't have liked to do this as the midges were crawling over everyone, and the place was right beside the toilets!!

I got up and went for a shower. Not used to sharing with naked women, but I don't mind either! Steven had to go to the first aid tent and get his feet bandaged up. Lee and I decided to go and get food for everyone at the supermarket, so we followed the map we had been given on arrival, and walked past the beach along the side of the river and over the bridge, only to find that the supermarket was shut because it is a Sunday!

We decided to have an ice cream and drink at a café, then to try finding the other two supermarkets in the City Centre. This meant going all the way back towards the camp, and then walking for 50 minutes into town. It was a very hot day, and we didn't mind the walk as both of us were keen to see Bremen. We looked round the very few shops that were open, Lee had a pizza and I found a bakery, then we went to a park and watched a German group sign James Brown's "I feel good"! Both other supermarkets were closed, so we found the boat and made the short trip across the river back to the camp.

I had a walk round the trader's stalls with Steven who was feeling better, and we met Lee and Andy down the beach. Lee and I went for a swim, but the others were too scared of the cold water to jump in! I then went for some chips (chip van on site)! I headed off by myself and went to see the Der Gerschwindel show in the renegade tent (awesome).

I found Aidan (Glasgow Juggling Club) in the Games Room and we played a game with others called Redirect Robot, which was very tricky! I then found out that there was 3 Club Gladiator games happening in the 24 hour hall, so I went there and managed to win 4 games out of 30! I got back to my tent and realised that I had left my roof hatch slightly open, so there was a puddle on my sleeping bag.

The workshops that I attended were mostly taught in English, so it was easy to cope with this convention without knowing much German other than "Thank you" and "Good morning"! I would have liked to learn Quidditch Juggle, but that workshop was in German. Here is a list of workshops I attended throughout the week:

• Devil Stick - learned how to do overhand throws.
• Principles of Juggling - learned about the 12 principles such as staging and anticipation from a fantastic 3 ball juggler called Phillip Meyhofer
• 5 Ball Juggling workshop - This French guy taught us the 3 and 4 ball tricks we should practice in order to work our way up to juggling a 5 ball cascade.
• 3 Ball Movement - Some cool moves that you can do while juggling 3 balls.
• Mudsliding Workshop - There was so much mud after several nights of thunder and lighting, that it was decided to have a mudsliding competition. I captured some of it on my digital camera!

• EJC Museum - hosted in a Caravan on the campsite. I got to see what all the previous passes looked like, and see where each event had been held on a big map.
• Beach - Where Lee, Steven, Andy and I spent a lot of time. We mainly swam and set adrift in the raft or sunbathed or practiced our juggling by the water side.
• Juggling - I didn't actually do a lot of juggling at this convention. I enjoyed exploring Bremen, and soaking up the sun. I did improve on my 4 ring and 4 ball juggling, as well as 3 club doubles.
• Camera Battery - I forgot to buy a European Plug Adaptor for my battery charger, so I couldn't take as many photographs as I would have liked to!
• CD's - On the Wednesday, I went for a big walk into Bremen City Centre, and found a second hand CD shop and purchased loads of CD's which are far cheaper than back home!
• Burning EJC2002 - Flammable material in the shape of the phrase "EJC2002" was attached to railings and burnt in a wonderful fire display which lasted for a good 30 minutes.
• Games - Gladiator was played most nights in the 24 hour hall. Descriptions of the games played on the final day have been added to the Juggling Games page which is in the tricks section.