I saw a mouse....Where?

There - on the stair, where on the stair, right there - a little mouse with clogs on......

Well at least that's what I've had going round my head for days, ever since H has been practising for the Blotschentanz - his Kindergarten were performing a clog dance at out village fest this weekend.

The third weekend in September - always good weather thankfully - is the Isenbuegel Blotschenball.  This is our village fest which starts on a Friday night with music and dancing in a marquee on the village car park - complete with beer wagon and sausage stall and culminates on Sunday morning with the 'Blotschenball' a traditional clog dance.

I could go into the history of it - this year was the 208th - but I'm not really sure of how and why it started, only that it has evolved over the last few years so that there is now no proper 'Ball' (oh yes, it was all black-tie and long-frocks once upon a time - how the clogs get in there I've no idea!) but the Kindergarten and village primary school perform a couple of dances instead and then there is a general 'tea-dance' type of affair with a local couple murdering the music - still we all go, every year!

This year, we started on the Friday evening with friends for a quick dinner then off to the Festzelt to see a Bon Jovi tribute band called Bounce - and though we missed the start - thinking foolishly that the headliners wouldn't be on at the beginning - we had a thoroughly good time - bouncing up and down to some classic numbers and shouting till we were hoarse.  Possibly a little exuberantly for the German crowd (but us Expat's now how to boogie.......!!)

The Saturday sees a children's sponsored run - we tend to give that a miss....

But the grand finale, Sunday's Blotschenball we had to attend this year.  H (no.2 son) was performing - and they've been practising for ages at Kindergarten - with the clogs too!





There are food and drink stalls, games for the children to play - and even a climbing wall (think of the health and safety hoops you'd have to jump through in the UK for that at a village fair....)  All in all, it's a lovely family afternoon, made all the more special watching your own little ones perform!  Oh and the fun of everyone else having a go in the clogs as the afternoon wears on - the climax of 'New York, New York' whilst dancing in clogs is quite something to behold - I tell you!  Roll on 2013!