September 2008
Hello hello,
Are you sitting comfortably? Then we shall begin. Once upon a time, there was a magical machine called the bicycle….
Turn On Turn Off
Bicycle Burlesque Bicycle Snatchers
Cycle Tour Saga
Yup, it's been the wettest August since 1912 (or something like that), which has gone down like a lead balloon with the Wild West tour. But they shall not be swayed. They're tough, this lot.
This week we've cycled 220 miles through beautiful countryside from Kettering via Leicester, Coventry, Warwick, and Worcester to Daisy's grandmother Mary's house in Abbey Dore at the Welsh border. We've had many an adventure and met wonderful people on the way! With four successful shows under our belt, the "Morning Choices" play is becoming more and more familiar and is constantly developing. We're having so much fun with the play, swapping characters and performing!
If you want to keep in the Wild West loop and hear more of their adventures, sign up here!
Bicycle Polo
One of our Wild West tour members, Sarah, hails from Canada where she played bike polo. This prompted us to do some of our own research about what's going on in the UK, and if you live in London and fancy malleting someone on a bicycle (and you're not an angry car driver), you're in luck. Bike polo players meet in Brick Lane, Vauxhall, Peckham and Dalston through the week. Check out this site for more info.
Don't live in London? You can still enjoy the instructions on how to build your own bike polo mallet out of ski poles. Really.
Bicycle Burlesque
Check out our bicycle burlesque turn-on, a film created by the Canadian B:C:Clettes, a bicycle dance troupe. Yes, you read that right, a bicycle dance troupe. Not only is the concept and execution fabulous, one of the B:C:Clettes founders is a past Otesha Canada tour member! Yay!
There is also a bicycle dance troupe here in the UK, in Manchester, called The Spokes. They did a call-out for new members recently, so if you want to ride that bicycle and shake that booty at the same time, have a looky here. And since we have an undercover burlesque dancer here at Otesha (we're not going to tell you who), there may be a London troupe coming to you very soon...
Changing the world one burlesque number at a time.
Cycle Chic
Would love to cycle but aren't partial to the snap of lycra? Then fear no more, as www.cyclechic.co.uk has come to your rescue (and ours - we have seen enough lycra-clad bums this summer at Otesha, we can tell you). There are loads of tips on the site about buying a bike, road safety, how to stay fresh as a daisy when cycling and of course, how to do it all in style. They have a v.cute online shop, so if you don't have all the accessories you need already, check it out. Hanna is on the waiting list for a cranberry-coloured helmet. So ladylike. If she could ride her bike side-saddle, she would.
Sumptuous Seasonality
Of course, it's not always about bicycles over here at Otesha- sometimes it's also about food. We recently got together with a group of amazing young people from Tower Hamlets Summer Uni to hold a week-long course called Change the World in a Week. The project they created? To learn about seasonal, local eating and (the best bit) cook a seasonal, organic meal - nay, feast - for themselves and their loved ones, sharing all they learnt along the way about food and sustainability.
Needless to say, it was fantastic. And now they're asking you to get involved in the seasonal food movement - share your recipes online here, or maybe find some new ones to try out. Or, if organic is more your thing, you can print and post a letter to your MP asking to make organic food more affordable for everyone.
And in honour of Organic Food Fortnight, which runs from September 6-21 all across Britain, why not take a pledge to eat only local, organic, wild and plastic-free foods for a week? 106 people have already agreed to take the Eat the Change challenge - add your name here to take part.
And finally...
This month we have mostly been creating The Great Otesha Punabase, a database full of cycle-based puns. We have some wheeley good ones. Do you?
With bike grease and delicious feasts,
Jo, Hanna & Liz
The Otesha Project UK
www.otesha.org.uk