JD's Home Page at VIFA, Victoria's Freenet

Greetings Netizens, Welcome to JD's info page. I first posted this page in 1997 or 1998. It didn't go through a lot of changes over the years. Here's the latest version. Mostly a laundry list of Stuff I Do or Like.

I enjoy and take part in:

• Morris dancing with the Quicksbottom Morris a Border Morris side. This was Victoria Border Morris for a whole year and before that was the Island Thyme Morris - Men's Side (aka IT Not-For-Joes), one half of a Joint side (different from being a Mixed side.) We took our new name of Quicksbottom in Jan 2007. What was the Island Thyme Morris - Women's Side perpetuates the name of ITM. All rather simple actually.
  
  
• English Country Dance, or "Playford" as the Brits call it is delightful. The people, music and movement make it magical. Think of some of dancing you may have seen in movies of Jane Austen's stories. As well as dancing I've been leading, or Calling as we describe it, from quite shortly after becoming involved with the Victoria ECD Society in 2007 That is, instructing the dance then prompting it the while.
  
  
• Some folks think ECD is not as energetic as Contra dance which I participate in as well, however quite possibly ECD has more variety and may be more challenging. Contra does have more partner swings in it, or swings in general, and is great fun to blow off steam with. Good evenings of it also involve some Traditional Square dances. I've been calling for Contra since about 2010 in Victoria, Vancouver and throughout the islands.
  
  
• Dance calling now includes many forms of country and/or folk dance. Most are related, all are great fun. The names put to them are simply those used by various groupings of people to own, recognise or categorise them, mostly for themselves I suspect. Catch me with a local or visiting band at any of a Barn dance, Community dance, Ceilidh, English Ceilidh, Scottish Ceilidh, . . .
  
  
• I also used to be quite active with Scottish Country Dance. Once, when asked how long I'd participated in that, I heard myself reply that it was about 6 or 7 years. That wasn't possible, so thinking about it I realised it might have amounted to it, however was about 3. Getting out four evenings a week for it might have had something to do with that impression.
  
  
• For three years I was very active, both on call and doing crew scheduling with Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary - Unit 35(Victoria) / Victoria Marine Rescue Society. This is volunteer marine rescue and the regional west coast and BC interior group is now styled the Royal Canadian Marine Search & Rescue. [2nd site]
  
  
• Earlier, while living in snowier climes, I spent a combined seven years volunteering with the CSPS, the Canadian Ski Patrol System, now named the Canadian Ski Patrol. Five years in the Superior Zone when in Thunder Bay where I was a Nordic Patroller (cross country) and later two years in the Calgary Zone where I was a dual Patroller, Nordic and Alpine. The latter in the near city areas, i.e. no Mountain Rating for toboggan handling or skiing. The Nordic patrolling there was what some might call "wicked", working with the Ranger Service in Kananaskis Country, also messing about with avalanche awareness. Through this time I worked as Patroller (always), Nordic Training Officer, Zone VP Nordic, First Aid instructor/examiner, CPR instructor, nordic training workshop co-ordinator and so on. I created early nordic workshops, created or changed protocols, locally at the Zone level and also at Divisional and National levels, and instituted a public education component beyond simple PR.
  
  
• Amateur Radio is a staple that changes flavour and intensity as time allows.
  
  
• Folk music of many kinds, including most Celtic("Keltic") and especially in sea shanties and sea songs with the Victoria Nautical Song Circle.
  performing for a couple of years as part of a quartette called Fisherman's Friends, with Nancy, Harry, Mike, Mike and Braden. I know, that's more than four people.
  
  
• With the folk music also came 'organising' folk music', including helping start Island Folk a Vancouver Island (and neighbouring islands) folk music e-mail listserve, participating in an ad hoc folk club steering committee, later the program committee and co-ordinating the hosting/MCs for a year and a half.
  
  
• There's a weekly (Tuesday) traditional music and song session at the home of friends. I attend, play audience in a seat one can't fit a real musician in, enjoy my pint, sing a song and occasionally scare the crap out of myself by attempting to play my Anglo concertina. It's an open session, so feel free to ask me about where it is.
  
  
• In 2010 I started a dance enthusiast information site and mailing list for Country and Folk dance on the southern islands of BC called Island Dance.
  
  
• Sailing of all kinds, including crewing for about a third of the year over four years on board the schooner MAPLE LEAF, built in Vancouver in 1904. I mostly acted as Mate for some eco-tourism trips and most of the youth sail training activity. ("Torturing teenagers with a boat" as my friends Ben and Tyson call it.)
  
  I crewed in the LADY WASHINGTON, HAWAIIAN CHIEFTAIN and in R. TUCKER THOMPSON for a trip from Hawaii to Victoria in 2005 arriving to the first Victoria Tall Ship festival.
  
  
• Many kinds of outdoor activities.
  
  
• I hosted a Folk Music show for about three years, from Dec 1997 to Oct 2000, called "Coastal Ceilidh"("Kay-lee", Scot's Gaelic ("Gal-ick") for party) on CFUV in Victoria, BC. This is the campus/community station of UVic, the University of Victoria.
  
  It was heard Friday mornings 0800-1000 over a fairly large area, west to Sooke, north up the Saanich Penninsula and farther on Vancouver Island, on the Gulf and San Juan Islands and on the Olympic Penninsula on 101.9 MHz, also all over Vancouver Island, the Sunshine Coast and parts of the Fraser Valley on TV cable systems. I had a listener in Wichita, Kansas and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. CFUV now has folk shows M-Th & Sa from 8 to 10 a.m. and a great Hawaiian show, "Aloha From Victoria", on Thursday following the folk music show.
  

I finally broke (down?) and started a LiveJournal blog. Though I've not written much I'm tempted to try another blog with Tumblr, here on this Victoria Freenet server if it's allowed.

May I recommend to you The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard. It's worth the time spent both downloading and viewing it (20:40). I recommend one proceed to the Downloads page for it. ~52 MB, is a .mov file, and is inside a .zip. I easily viewed it in VLC and MPC-HC

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John D. Erskine "JD"

Discerning people may reach me at
sailargh@AUNTIESPAMvictoria.tc.ca

Updated 2015.12.11

What American accent do you have? Your Result: North Central   "North Central" is what professional linguists call the Minnesota accent. If you saw "Fargo" you probably didn't think the characters sounded very out of the ordinary. Outsiders probably mistake you for a Canadian, a lot.
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Boston
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What American accent do you have?

I thought that was funny, eh.

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