Not many people came out to see the dry stone wall demonstration at Kingsmere yesterday. It was too wet. Most of the visitors who did come to the park walked right past, hardly glancing over to see what was going on. I think people felt awkward watching someone working with heavy dirty rocks on a holiday, and chose to politely look the other way as they passed.I still think of walling as not just a mundane work activity but a bit of a spectator sport, especially in a setting like this where it is supposed to be a walling demonstration. I think of it as something of a performance, as if I were playing an instrument.
For those few people who do stop to ask questions, I always take a break from working (playing?) and give them a full rundown on what dry stone walling is all about and explain what I am doing. I have got it down to a pretty good 'spiel' now. I call it my 'Rockinspiel'.
