I took a little break from this blog because I wasn’t
entirely sure what to do with it.
I certainly haven’t stopped investigating and researching
folklore. A couple of articles have been published since I last posted here.
I’ve also managed to carry on giving talks, papers and lectures in various
different arenas. I’ve revisited cannibalism at sea for SELFS, I gave a
lunchtime talk on ghosts at the Museum of English Rural Life, I went back to
class readings of folksong for a Folklore Society conference, and I gave two
guest lectures on ghost belief at the University of Tartu.
On reflection, I’m still not entirely sure what to do with
the blog, but that may be about the problems of being a folklore scholar in
England rather than my scholarly or folkloristic pursuits. So when better than
May Day to announce that I’m going to bumble on? (The picture was taken on May Day last year in Lyric Square, Hammersmith).
I’ll continue to use this as a forum for airing the
beginnings of ideas and snippets of collectanea, part of my working notebook
towards more realised work in journals and lectures.
In that spirit I’ll note here a rhyme I overheard from two children
(c.7) on a train from Waterloo heading to the Folklore Society conference
(11/04/14). I remembered the first part of the rhyme from my own childhood, but
don’t recall having heard the second part:
Made you look, made you stare
Made you lose your underwear.
Underwear, I don’t care
I can buy another pair.
