Amazing Day!!!!

Blackpool Comp was amazing - the venue was the Tower Ballroom - which is like the mecca of ballroom dancing here.



The day was the usual mix of waiting around and frantic activity - but with plenty of great company and lots of lovely dances to be had - the waiting around wasn't so bad :)

It was great to see friends from all over the country side and put more faces to forumite names.

CJ & I both entered Lucky Dip & Advanced. I had fun in Lucky Dip but didn't make it past the first heat - CJ however was blessed by the gods of dancing with the divine Miss Yuko as his partner and made it all the way through to the Finals and placing 3rd a fabulous achievement!!!



Unfortunately we didn't do so well in Advanced - didn't make it passed our heat - but we were happy with how we danced and most importantly we didn't fall over. We got some lovely compliments on both our dancing and our costumes. To be honest the music for our heat was rather odd compared to the other Advanced heats - and no couple from our heat went through to the next round which really surprised me as there were some impressive couples in our heat.

Despite being rather ill I held up fairly well until we had a fire drill - in which we evacuated the building in record time - but the standing around outside didn't do me any favours and once we were allowed back inside there was only time for a few dances before it was time for presentations - by the time that was all over - well i was done in and headed home early - which was a shame - but with an early start on the Sunday well it was all for the best.

Photos @ Kodak

As long as I don't fall over

Well the past few weeks have been pretty busy. Since agreeing to do the Blackpool comps with CJ at southport have been busy practising with him when he's been down this way - he lives near Edinburgh which is about an 8-9 hour drive away from Reading. So it's it tends to be very packed weekends.

It has been great to working on my dancing again with some focus and CJ is a fabulous partner to work with - pushing me to extend myself and giving me the safe space to do so.

And there have been all the other comp prep things to go through costumes - with the added twist in this case that CJ only wears kilts, accomodation, transport, entries and so on.

And now it's all only a few days away and I'm terrified and excited - although mostly terrified but I just keep reminding myself

"As long as I don't fall over it's all good"

5 minutes in a day

It’s amazing the difference 5 minutes can make to a working day.

The bus I catch to work is being delayed by roadworks so is arriving at work 10-15 minutes later than it would otherwise arrive – so rather that getting in between 5 & 15 minutes before the guys I work for I arrive at the same time as them – this means that they are firing things at me while I’m getting my coat off, computer on and trying to check the calendar/to do list for the day. Needless to say those 3 things often don’t happen until much later in the morning

The Cold Has Arrived

Ok I am SO not a fan of this cold malarki!!! 0 degrees is standard overnight low - with - degrees not uncommon.

Getting dressed to go out doors is a mission - there is a coat and a scarf and gloves and a hat - well I don't have a hat yet but mum's making me one.

this many layered michilen man impression is fine until you enter any building and then it is a frantic strip so as not to expire from heat exhastion

Southport - 2nd time around

After my final Scottish Adventure it was time to indulge in a weekend of non stop – well near to dancing at Southport Dance Weekender – which as an absolute blast – had a much better time than in June – for 2 main reasons – knew a bunch more people and my feet kept it together and didn’t fall apart on me every few hours.

I arrived about 4pm and had my hug & dance before I even got to my room – thank you Pretzelmeister!!!

Saturday I had an early nap and managed to dance through the night until 9am Sunday morning – I don’t think there is a better place in the world to be than on a dance floor with nice people, smooth tunes and plenty of space. Thanks to CJ & Dave H for some absolutely fab dances.

Sunday morning – I managed to sleep for a few hours – but not as many as I would have liked before heading back to the blues room around 1pm – and that was pretty much where I stayed until 7am Monday morning when the music stopped – well done to Trampy for keeping the music going until then. The Highlights of Sunday Night/Monday Morning were chatting with Drathzel, new discovery’s jiveaddicted and a couple others who’s name I can’t recall or maybe didn’t get *opps* and lots of lovely dances with people I got to know at the last Southport and with my lovely friends from Scotland including my final dance of the weekend with Pretzelmeister *hugg*

And a big thank you to my lift home – got to leave at the very civilized time of 10am which enabled me to dance through to music’s end and enjoy breakfast (thanks to the organisers for that) with those still standing after all night dancing and helping Rachel & Marc pack up.

Sunday was a little sad as this was time for me to say good bye to many of my Scottish friends but Scotland isn’t all the far away for now at least.

Having a chalet to myself had it’s upsides and it’s downside – it was nice not having to worry about what mess I made or how much noise I made when I came back, or about being woken up by someone else returning – but it was also a slightly surreal and isolating experience – so in Feb I have convinced the lovely Jo to share with me.

Really looking forward to the next one in Feb – hope my chalet is close to the main building *brrrrr* :)

Only a few photos to busy dancing to take photos ;)

The Engagement Party

Arriving back at E&P’s flat it was the usual chaos of 5/6 people getting ready to go out with only one bathroom. E decided to straighten my hair and took to it with Angela’s hair straighter my hair and took it from almost curly to straight in around 20 minutes something which it normally takes me an hour or more to do. I am SO getting myself one of them.

Finally everyone was appropriately gussyed up and we departed for The Lazy Vine, which thankfully was a mere 5 min walk from E&P’s. They had booked out the garden and were having a very casual BBQ – which made for a very relaxing evening with people coming and going and merriment until the witching hour. And so finally the in-laws met with and with Bellini's (a divine champagne and white peach cocktail) lubricating the proceedings all went smoothly

Photos @ Kodak

Human Pin Cushion

After lunch I headed off to my first ever acupuncture session! The acupuncturist didn’t speak much English so much of the history/explanation of why I was there was done a translator which was an interesting experience – but strangely enough it didn’t freak me out that this person with whom I could only communicate with in a minimal way was going to fill me full of long pointy needles.

After establishing that I was there to have the tightness in my neck worked on – I was shown to a small room where I was asked to strip down to my underwear and lay on massage table with towel over me.

When the Needle lady returned she started gentley poking around my neck and then tapped me sharply with a single finger and wa la the first needle was in – I was really surprise at the fact that I didn’t feel a thing as they went in – when she was manipulating them I could feel them but it wasn’t painful more like a heavy weight pushing into my neck. In short order she had 8 needles in me – 6 in my neck and on in each side of my rib cage. After this I was left under a head lamp for a period time I’m guessing about 45 min as the entire appointment took near to 1.5 hours.

After I had been baked for a suitable length of time the Needle lady appeared and removed the needles (this stung a little but not much) and finished me off with a massage.

The massage was different to any other massage/physical manipulation I have ever had which I think is in part due to the acupuncture before hand and just a general difference in technique – the oddest bit was when she smack the heels of me feet…

So far the best treatment I have had for my neck since arriving in the UK and will be having more sessions with the inscrutable Needle Lady next time I am in need when I am down London way

Trip to London Town

Celebrations for my Sisters Engagement took me on a trip to London. So I jumped a train from Dundee to London - which while longer than a plane trip is easier straight of the train to the underground and then a short walk to E&P's flat. I arrived at the flat at about 11pm Friday night - just intime to meet P's Sisters husband A and A&B who were also staying at the flat - it was a rather cosy weekend.

Saturday morning E&P and P's siblings headed out to visit around london. I started a bit earlier than them which breakfast with Mum and Dad who were staying in a near by hotel for the weekend. After breakfast Dad & I headed into London where I was going to 1st Contact and after that we wandered rather confusedly around for a bit before heading back to Hammersmith and lunch with Mum.

My Adventures in WCS

Finally got to try WCS!! Robert & Deborah taught 1 beginner and 2 improvers workshops over the course of Southport – the improvers classes built very smoothly on to what was taught in the previous classes with out excluding those that hadn’t attended them.

Robert & Deborah’s teach style is clear, fun & funky and you had better behave or Deb will “go all New York on You”

The biggest issue I encountered with WCS was/is anchoring properly and not stepping forward until lead forward.

In class many of the guys would just expect the ladies to step forward as the move was being called out by the teachers. So when I attempted to actually dance WCS I wasn’t anchoring properly & in coming forward threw the poor guys timing.

I’m sure Sheepman was much relieved when with a wail of “I official suck @ WCS” I returned us to the Modern Jive fold and left WCS for another day & victim.

And thanks to Paul – from somewhere south of Dundee for going over the WCS stuff

Acts of Dance Bravery

Aka dance stalking
I committed 2 acts of dance bravery over the weekend

First – Asking Robert Cordoba to dance after only 2 hours of WCS lessons!!
Robert was a very gracious lead – he lead and just let me follow as I would and I had an absolutely lovely dance – and even managed proper WCS when he lead a sugar push.

My second act of dancing bravery (which required all my stalking talents) was to ask Viktor to dance. Viktor is such a sweetie, who made me giggle when he hummed along with the music and asked for a second dance so sweetly I thought I would melt.

Sunday Bliss @ Southport

Sunday arrived sunny & fine and I headed to the Latin Quarter for my 3rd instalment of WCS and was pleasantly surprised at the difference in the atmosphere – it was much more relaxed, casual & mellow vibe than previously – there were also less people around – which one would think would be a bad thing but it wasm’t well at least it wasn’t for me - what it meant was that there was room to move and see what was going on around the place rather than just a seething mass of people.

As to where the people had gone, some had to go home Sunday afternoon and others were still asleep (20 sturdy and compulsive souls had danced through the night to 9am.

Sunday afternoon in the blues room was the absolute highlight of my weekend.

I finally found my groove, the weather was delightful warm enough to not need a jacket and cool enough not to get over heated dancing.
And some highlights within my Sunday afternoon were

• First convincing Isabella to ask Paul F to dance and then chatting with her after


• Being introduced to yet more forumites by the darling MsFab


• Watching the dancing

And

• Dancing of course (wink)

And in amongst all this social activity I even made it to a couple more workshops – Viktor’s - Jive Masters Secrets & Nigel & Nina’s – Advanced Jive

Lovely day for a drive!

IT was a merry band of 3 – Little Monkey – the most cheerful of ladies, Trampy & myself that departed Dundee on a fine June morning & with the assistance of TomTom we made our way to Potins Southport (a holiday camp very English tradition it would seem) where we banded together with numerous other groups of dedicated dancers to participate in the phenomenon that was “Jiving Away”

The journey was filled with chatter and chuckles and chocolate cake and all things good and car trippy. Including the required chants of are we there yet and how much longer.

Southport

Well I survived my first Southport! And much to my surprise I am planning to register for the Feb 2007.

Southport takes place at Potins – a holiday camp and is approx 6hr drive from Dundee, this one specifically took place 2-5 June 2006.

The basic stats of Southport are

• 1500 dancers


• 3 rooms of freestyle


• All day/night dancing in the blues room


• 3 rooms of workshops


• 26 teachers


• 12? DJ's to keep the music going all weekend

I found the evening freestyles on Friday and Saturday night rather overwhelming – rooms so full, hot, hyped, that if you had asked me at 3.30am on Sunday morning as I gave up and took my sore foot and weary head to bed I would have said it’s been interesting and all but wouldn’t bother with another; But then Sunday happened and made the whole weekend worthwhile.

Travel to Dundee

Emma had the day off work for study so she helped me and my luggage make the trip across town to Kings Cross Station – which was very helpful as very view tube stations have lifts/wheel chair access.

As a morning tea indulgence we had Cornish Pasties – from the Cornwall Pastie stand – which were very tasty and then it was time to get me on the train.
I was very lucky and had 2 seats to myself for the bulk of the trip.

Trampy – with whom I’m staying – picked me up from the train station – then it was time to have dinner, change and head off to my first Scottish Ceroc class in Perth.

Perth has a lovely venue and very nice people it was lovely to meet Lorna and watch her dance – she’s a great teacher to boot.

The oddity

I can purchase most any meal premade from a supermarket but I can’t get a zip-lock bag?!

The Theatre

Tonight Emma & I went to see We Will Rock You!

We indulged in pre-show and interval drinks – they Domain Theatre as a system where you order and prepay for your interval drinks and they have them ready and waiting for you at interval at a special counter.

The very odd thing for me was that you could buy pop-corn and lollies and ice-cream to take into the theatre like we do at the movies?!?!?

And the Show was GREAT by the way – a lot fun and well worth seeing if you get the chance

Here I go again

Headed out to London again – this time I started at Covent Garden – mostly as I wanted to visit the Bloch shop – which is supposed to be a “flag ship” store – it was sadly disappointing not really much range products as I was expecting. From there I wandered a bit – and found the Masonic House – a striking piece of architecture.

walked along to Leicester Square where I undertook my days mission of purchasing cheap tickets to a show tonight my first choice was Movin’ Out a dance show that I had being hearing about – but sadly as it was Tuesday that theatre was dark – so second choice was the Queen Music We Will Rock You!

My mission accomplished I resumed my wanderings and found myself in Berwick Street – which has all sorts of stalls from fruit & vegie to socks in addition to the stalls there are also regular shops including best of all 3 fabric shops!

Meandering a long Berwick St I found my self at Oxford St – The mecca of London shopping was shops shops and more shops and home to the iconic Selfridges – shopping in Selfridges is similar to Harrods – with the food halls really being the most amazing thing!

Next stop Harrods!

A short tube ride from Piccadilly Circus and I was at Harrods where I managed to while away the remainder of the afternoon.

At Harrods I discovered a new addiction – tried rose & violet cream chocolates – and while violet cream is an acquired taste for me – rose creams are divine!!

The food halls at Harrods are quite mind boggling – with pretty much any speciality food you could think of available to take home as well as numerous “bars” to eat at – my favourite was the ice cream bar – not that I had one of their sundaes – they were huge and I doubted my ability to consume the entire thing.

I did however indulge in a crepe suzette on the 4th floor to sustain me in my explorations of this institution.

Amongst the china, clothes & furniture some of the more striking items you can purchase are fossils – yes really and not just little ones – suspect you would need to ensure that your walls were structurally sound before hanging this item and old maps-some of these are lovely much more artistic than maps these days.


Photos @ Kodak

Out and about on my own

Went into see Buckingham palace – and managed to time it just in time for the changing of the guards – which goes for much longer than I thought – got some nice pictures though

From there I wandered through James? gardens –which are amazing even if they were past their prime.

Once through the gardens I made my way to Piccadilly Circus the big digital screens there are really that big! On my way to Piccadilly Circus came across this building – not sure what it is but found the blue decorative band very striking.

Photos @ Kodak

Pengiuns

having heard english friends raving about penguins when I saw them in the shop I figured I would try them. ICK!!! they are a very poor cousin to Tim Tams - they do however have verybright & colourful packaging