One-off Challenge 15: Try Fire Spinning

This challenge is courtesy of…

Jackie Burrel, who the entire 40 by Forty thing is courtesy of.

The challenge

Try fire spinning. 
 
Fire spinning, for those not in the know, is not just spinning flaming things around your head.  Oh no.  It's much more complex than that.  It's... err.. hang on, I had something for this...
 
Ahh yes! It's spinning flaming stuff around your head without setting fire to yourself!
 
I'm sure nothing could possibly go wrong with this challenge, right?
 
Because I didn't feel like an impromptu trip to the hospital, I teamed up with Jackie and the flaming hippies from the Monday Meadows Fire Club. This had the twin advantages of letting me borrow equipment and also providing some tuition/supervision/someone to laugh at me when I set myself on fire.  The Monday Meadows Fire Club meets at 9pm on Mondays (not a great surprise).  I got there at 8:55pm, because I'm a civil servant.  The flaming hippies shambled in between 9:20 and 10pm, because hippies operate with roughly the same level of time keeping as islanders and plumbers. Fortunately, Jackie was one of the first to arrive and the extra time gave me a chance to go for a wee in the Earl of Marchmont.

(As an aside, the Earl of Marchmont has changed a lot since I was last in there. TWENTY FUCKING YEARS AGO!  Jesus Christ, I'm old.)

We started with fire staffs.  These are pretty much a long stick with a flaming torch on each end.  Jackie showed me some basic moves (figure of eight, doubled up figure of eight, rotaty-spinny-thing) then demonstrated how it's meant to be done.
 

 
Then, it was my turn to spin!
 
 
Now, I will fully acknowledge that the video thumbnail makes me look fucking awesome.  Just don't, you know, watch the actual video or anything.
 
Five things occurred to me as I did it.
  1. I am holding a stick that is on fire. This is not normal.
  2. It is surprisingly hot. I suppose this shouldn't be surprising, but it was.
  3. The stick is on fire!
  4. The noise is remarkable. For anyone who's ever read any fantasy novel, it sounds exactly like you would imagine a fireball spell would sound.
  5. THE STICK IS ON FIRE!
Still, no flaming civil servant action, so it was on to the fire pois. These are bundles of absorbent, wicking material on the end of chains. You twirl them around in the air, attempting not to smack yourself in any sensitive parts with a ball of flame.

We spent a bit of time practising with the pois unlit. This was a good choice, as pretty much the first thing I did was smack myself upsides the head with a poi.  The second thing I did was smack myself square in the face. The third thing was to nail myself in the junk.

Turns out this is harder than you might expect. But we don't have all night, so here's Jackie showing me how it should be done.

And here's me, not losing any important pieces of my anatomy.


You'll just have to take my word that it's me. Turns out it's quite hard to film in the pitch dark.

Challenge complete!

Will I do it again?

Yes. Despite my civil servant nature, I've actually always enjoyed circus skills like this. I'd quite happily spend some time getting better at this.

Long-term updates

French words "learned" (according to the memrise app):790 - back to making some progress.
Daily photos taken? Yes.
Swordfighting learnt: Fire spinning clashed with swordfighting. (Which seems like a shame. I feel there's a fair overlap in the target demographics.)
I am currently reading: Daggerspell. Still.
"Cheat" days on food since last week: Two. We've had the cold and snacks make us feel better.
"Cheat" days on exercise: I plead the cold.
My favourite drawing: This one is proving difficult to pick back up.
Most pull ups in a row: Down to 8 with the plague.

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