Category: Dancing

Dancin’ – 5 April 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Dance class was in full swing this morning in Brookfield.

Lots of folk desperate to get their fix of dancing, all eager to learn, even including me. There would be no dance class for at least two weeks because the teachers were off on holiday ( or as they described it, “teaching on a cruise” ). So a holiday by another name.

A gentle intro to start with. A couple of easy sequence dances before we charged into today’s topic: Tango and all that it entailed. Bent knees, staccato movements, spin turns, half turns, reverse turns. My head was spinning and we were only halfway through the routine.

A break for a lecture then on again, this time the target was a quickstep nobody really remembered from before Covid. Isn’t it strange that so much is now described as pre-Covid and past-Covid, but nobody wants to discuss the years that were stolen by Covid itself. This dance, though was done during Covid and we were just learners then and hadn’t reached the heady heights of Quickstep. We learned a lot of it today. Even they mysterious ‘Fishtails’ that used to baffle me, but which are quite familiar territory now. Most of it I enjoyed.

We finished with another couple of sequence tracks before being sent on our way back home.

It was a beautiful day. At least, to look at, it was a beautiful day, but it was the cold wind that stole away the warmth of the sun. When we got home it was great to sit and soak up the heat coming through the windows, knowing it was really cold outside. The weather fairies say it’s going to get warmer during the coming week. I certainly hope so.

We decided to have dinner from the chip shop. Scamp settled for a Black Pudding Supper and I had the first Chicken Breast Supper I’ve had for years and years. Both were very filling but Scamp said her’s was a bit spicy.

We watched an old BBC programme about who wrote what songs back from the ‘70s until the present day or at least into the 2020s. It was a bit tedious after a while, but there was nothing else worth watching on a Saturday night. To be honest, there never is at the weekend.

PoD went to some flowering cherries or Gean as they are known in Scotland.

Tomorrow, hopefully we’ll go out for a run somewhere. Prezzies are needed for some folk.

 

Dancin’ – 3 April 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Or as my brother said “Enjoy the Jiggin’”

We drove over to Glenburn wondering if there would be big holdups on the way after a warning message on BBC about a car on fire on the M8 near Charing Cross. However we needn’t have worried because the traffic was fairly light all the way there.

The ballroom was quite quiet when we arrived, but then people started to arrive. Maybe it was our presence that gave them the courage to come. Along the lines of “Well, if they’re coming, we won’t be the worst dancers on the floor!”

We started with a waltz. Actually we started in the living room with a waltz before we set off. Just the basics of Kirsty’s waltz to make sure we knew all the moves and had most of them in the right places. The actual waltz went well and we managed a couple of tracks. Then it was the usual story of a Latin dance followed by a Sequence dance followed by another Ballroom dance. We danced a fair bit, but also spent a good bit of time just talking to folk we hadn’t met for more than a month.

We left, as usual, just after 3pm to avoid the school rush. It was the next part of the return journey where I made my mistake. I decided that as the last couple of times we’d chanced the Kingston Bridge and the traffic was light both times. It was worth another chance today. Not so. We were only just in the line when it was red tail lights everywhere and everyone ground to a halt with easily a mile and a half of stop-go traffic for the rest of the journey up over the bridge. I won’t make that mistake again … until the next time!

Went for a walk down to the shops to get fruit and nuts because we had no tangerines left in the fruit bowl. It was a cold wind that was blowing all the way to the shops. You forget how chilly it can be in April, especially with a wind blowing.

Scamp was making dinner tonight and it was a Spiced Coconut Chicken Traybake. Really quite spicy, but certainly worth another try, although it required a fair amount of preparation. The rhubarb tart and apple tart that followed it was a delight!!!

No plans for tomorrow but I’m hoping some coffee will be delivered.

The last day of March – 31 March 2025

Posted on by Zogman

We went for a walk today. The options were Glasgow Green and Drumpellier Park. Drumpellier won for the simple reasons that it was closer and there was a good chance we’d find an ice cream van waiting at the end of our round trip.

It was a pleasant walk in and out of the trees and across the fields of this lovely park, especially as the trees were now beginning to show some of their greenery. A few of the older trees had been blown down in the gales, but a surprising amount of them were still standing. Possibly the amount of trees in the park protected them. About an hour long walk in total, and yes, the ice cream van was there! I don’t think I’ve seen ice cream vans on Glasgow Green, more’s the pity! Can you believe I didn’t take one photo in that hour long walk!

Drove home and had lunch before Scamp was starting on the back garden, cutting back, planting cuttings and generally tidying things up now that fresh growth was forming after the long winter we’ve had.

The good weather and sun from the morning was disappearing in the middle of the afternoon, so I wore my orange RAB jacket for a walk over to St Mo’s. On the way I bumped into our new next-door neighbours. Two women and maybe three girls. I’d bumped into them Thursday or Friday of last week and they were asking about the house and I told them I’d never been in it, but that it was almost exactly a mirror image of ours. They seem fine. Just wanting to get schools sorted out for the girls and eager to get furniture in. Scamp had bumped into them too while I was over in St Mo’s, and of course she found out names and a lot more than I did. I completely forget everyone’s names … except mine, or only sometimes does that happen.

Today’s PoD came from St Mo’s and was a shot of a dandelion. I had to scramble down a slippery banking to get that photo. Ended up muddier than I’d intended, but I got the shot.

Off to Kirsty’s Dance class for a lesson on Tina Tango. I can’t believe I’ve been dancing that sequence dance for years and only today I discovered I’d been doing bits of it wrong all along! Simple steps that I should have known, but didn’t. Anyway, I was dancing, not with Scamp who was dancing with Kirsty, but with Nicola who has been dancing since she was knee high I’m told, but she too was making a few mistakes … and I admit I trod on her toes, just like I do with Scamp. Scamp introduced Kirsty to Ed Sheeran’s Shivers. So much better than the old fashioned tango music she was playing. Next week it’s to be Melody Foxtrot to the tune of Go Gentle by Robbie Williams. That might be fun!

Possibly meeting Isobel for coffee tomorrow. Who will be the April Fool?

Dancin’ and Flowers – 29 March 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Today we drove over to Brookfield for the first dance class in ages.

The road was busier than normal but we made good time despite that drawback. Busy carpark at Brookfield too. Something to do with a committee meeting … on a Saturday morning? Have these people no other plans on a Saturday?

We started with a couple of sequence dances both Melody Foxtrots to ease us into the routine. I was quite pleased that I managed to tie my shoes, far less dance! Then it was in to the lesson proper with a new-to-us Cha-Cha. Most of it we’d seen before, but some of the steps were new, also the teachers were adding some very technical bits and pieces we definitely hadn’t seen before. I’ll admit it, I was lost for a while.
I don’t know who had been in the hall before us, but the floor was treacherous. Even the teachers were slipping and sliding at times. However, we survived it.

Next up was a Tango. Again, we knew some of it, but not all. Hopefully the short videos I’d taken will make things clearer, as will the short one-to-one lessons we both got from Jane.

We finished with a couple of Tina Tangos the first one being to Shivers by Ed Sheeran, of course.

We left the dance class and faced a gathering storm with driving rain that followed us all the way home. Again the roads were busy although most of the traffic seemed to he heading for Braehead.

A surprise parcel was waiting for us on the steps of the house. It was a bouquet of flowers from John & Marion. Then another parcel arrived about an hour later. A posy of flowers in a glass jar. That made PoD.

I walked down to the shops to get a take-away dinner. The rain had paused and it looked safe to go. Wrong again. When I came out of M&S the wind and rain had redoubled. A day of bad choices, all in

The rain and wind is still with us at almost 11pm. Hoping for a better day tomorrow. Hoping to meet Shona for coffee in the town centre.

 

It feels like Spring (White Rabbits x3) – 1 March 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Well, it didn’t feel like Spring when we were driving through a drizzle all the way to Brookfield for today’s dance class.

Thankfully when we came out again, the rain had gone and the sun was attempting to shine.

In between, we had a Midnight Jive to heat us up, because the Brookfield Politburo apparently thought 3ºc was warm enough for anyone!

Sufficiently warmed up, we were into the annoying October Waltz, even though it wasn’t October. I find it the worst waltz I’ve had the misfortune to attempt. It just seems so … “Clunky” is the only word I can use. It just doesn’t seem to flow and I was happier once it had gone back into its box, until the next time one of the teachers says “Oh, we haven’t done the October Waltz for a while.” There’s a reason for that I’d say.

Next was Tango and we struggled with that for a while, but it did get better after we got help from Jane. I think I could manage that one, given some effort on my part. Scamp helped by pulling me in the right direction and whispering the instructions in my ear.

We did Mambo Marina to finish with, but two fairly new dancers were left standing in the corner of the room looking bewildered while the teachers danced with a couple of ladies who knew the dance. That doesn’t seem like a dance class to me. Just a little bit of help would have put them on the right track. We had attempted to help the pair just over a week ago when they came to a Tea Dance we go to, but the teachers really need to TEACH. That’s what they are getting nearly twenty quid for every week!

After that we were allowed to go home. To go home with half a dozen eggs from one of the dance class who seem to be bringing eggs ever week or so. It’s very nice of them, the eggs come from a neighbour of theirs, and being free range, they do taste good.

Drove home through the normal tangle of cars and I chose the slow lane today. I really should have done the M74/M73 route which is longer, but faster overall.

I took a couple of lenses with the A7iii over to St Mo’s in the afternoon, once the sun was shining brightly and got a couple of photos. PoD went to a cloudscape with the setting sun just visible. I came home via Golden Bowl with Chicken Chop Suey and Fried Rice for Scamp and a Special Chow Mein for me. Nice to be walking home in the last of the day’s sun.

I almost forgot to mention, we thought the house was being torn apart in the morning or maybe broken into, but it was just the NLC house clearing mob tearing out everything they could find from the house next door. It seemed that Angela, who lived there after Betty (if you pair remember her) had done a ’moonlight’ without telling anyone. Strange woman. Now we wonder who we’ll get in her place.

Tomorrow we may go for a walk if the weather plays nice.

 

 

Clive – 24 February 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Today was a sad day.

It was Clive’s funeral which made it sad, but it was a day for remembering what a kind, gentle man he was and for celebration too. We only knew him for a few years, before his way and ours went in different directions, but I know Scamp and I both enjoyed his company and I hope he enjoyed ours. Lots of stories told and lots of tears shed, but that’s life, and he enjoyed his share of it. Goodbye Clive. You were a lovely man.

Scamp insisted we go out for a coffee and a cake once the service was over. We just drove to halfway to Glasgow to a Costa, and the place was full to bursting on a cold day. After our coffee and a cake, we went for a look at a new ‘pop-up’ furniture shop in a line of similar shops. Unlike the rest, this one had a ‘sale’ on with prices slashed all round the store. Although there were a few folk in the big empty barn of a shop, nobody was buying. Mainly because the price being asked for the articles was exorbitant. Cheap quality and high prices never make many sales, and this one was no exception. We left and drove home.

I went for a walk, because it was still a lovely day. Just a wander around St Mo’s with no thought about what I wanted to photograph. PoD eventually went to a child’s see-saw in a swing park. Mono seemed to suit the subject and the PoD was nailed.

We drove to Kirsty’s dance class when I got home. Tonight was Quickstep. It wasn’t really all that quick. I think she spent too long going over a simple routine and some people were becoming bored with going over the same steps time and time again. Too much talk and too little action, I think. Maybe I’m wrong, I have been before … many times.

After such a lovely day it was a shame to be driving through heavy rain on the way home, but at least we got parked when we did arrive at the house.

Tomorrow we may go out somewhere if the weather plays nice!

Dancin’ – 20 February 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Out shopping in the morning and dancing in the afternoon’

Sometimes, life is one big whirl!

Out in the morning to get my meds for the next couple of months and then I did some light shopping for lunch today and tomorrow. By the time I got back it was time to get ready for the Tea Dance.

Long, long tailbacks on the M77 which looked like it had been turned into a giant carpark for the day, and it was raining! It had been blue skies when we left the house, but the weather has been very changeable for the last few days. By the time we were taking the slip road off to Paisley, the congestion was easing an it looked like there had been a crash just a few hundred metres from our turn off. The rest of the journey to Glenburn was without incident and we were just a few minutes late.

Usual mix of waltz, jive and rumba with a few sequence dances to lighten the day. Then S&J announced that we were getting a short waltz lesson, the New Vogue Waltz. It wasn’t totally new to us, but it was a long time since we first learned it (November 2021 I’m told) at Perth. We we were almost total newbies, then. It wasn’t too bad and danced as a sequence dance you usually have someone in front of you to act as a guide to the steps. I’d say it was danceable, and certainly better than the overly complicated “October Waltz”. I think we might be introduced to the New Vogue Waltz on Saturday if all is well.

We left just after 3pm to avoid the school runs and I made a few bad decisions like taking the Kingston Bridge rather than the longer but less congested M74/M73 route. You win some and lose some. Torrential rain showers on the way home didn’t help much either.

I suggested we get some chicken thighs and make a Chicken & Pea Traybake for dinner and the suggestion was accepted. I waited until the rain had almost disappeared before I walked over to M&S. By the time I got there the sun was shining brightly and I cursed my stupidity to not bring a camera.

The traybake takes a while to cook, but as the oven is doing all the heavy lifting, it’s not a great hardship. It turned out just as good as every other time I’ve made it, and there are not a lot of recipes I can say that about.

Because I’d left the camera at home, I had nothing for PoD until I spied a pretty spray of pink carnations on the piano. A box and a paint can balanced on a stool provided a support for a jar of pencils and the carnations stood a decent distance away from an A2 drawing sheet pinned to the wall. Camera on a tripod and the PoD photo was taken. I quite like the result. Not perfect, but worth another try some time.

Tomorrow Scamp is intending going to FitSteps and I’m hoping to work out why the iPhone won’t accept one of my most used email addresses.

Snow and an Anniversary – 17 February 2025

Posted on by Zogman

In the morning there was snow, but it didn’t lie for long before the snow turned to rain.

It was one of those days when the weather couldn’t decide what to do for the best. First it decided that today was to be a snowy day with fairly thick flakes coming down. Then it chose to change its mind and make the snow disappear, before thinking again and returning to the snowy theme. On and off, it went all morning until eventually snow was cancelled and just plain dull was the choice for the day. Then it rained, of course.

We didn’t do much today. We drove over to Tesco to get Scamp’s meds and a few bits and pieces for lunch and dinner.

After some discussion we decided that we’d go dancing in the early evening and spent a fairly useful hour trying to work out how we were going to dance the Foxtrot. Would we choose style 1 where we would do part one and then repeat that pattern.
Or would we choose style 2 where we would start with part one and then add on part two before returning to part one and repeating the entire routine.

To be honest, I was completely lost. Style 1 I could understand and I could almost manage style 2, but neither of them seemed to allow us to move round the dance floor and it looked to me as if we were simply dancing a routine on the same area of the floor all the time. I was confused … Dot Com. I don’t think this was one of Kirsty’s more thought out routines.

We drove home after the class and had Giovanni Rana pasta with some fancy out of date mushrooms on the side. Neither of us liked the mushrooms very much and they more or less stayed ‘on the side’.

We did scoff a couple of half bottles of wine while we watched Mastermind and University Challenge, shouting out the occasional answer now and again.

It was our 52nd wedding anniversary today and we were allowed to do those things without fear or favour.

PoD was a picture of a Christmas Rose from the garden, looking a bit battered and bruised by the wild weather, but still flowering nicely.

Tomorrow I’m hoping to meet Charlie and maybe another couple of folk I haven’t seen for about forty years! Perhaps I should wear a red carnation!

Dancin’ and a Black Monkey – 15 February 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Drove to Brookfield and a hundred people we there for dancing class.

Not really a hundred, but lots more than normal. I don’t know why that might be. Maybe it’s because the S&J fan club are going to somewhere in Spain soon and some folk needed a couple of refresher courses and had a Saturday morning free. Or maybe it was our scintillating dancing skills that were drawing them in, but I don’t think so. Still, it was a big class.

The first dance was the October Waltz. I don’t know who invented it, but I firmly believe they had their head up their backside when they made it up. It just doesn’t flow as a waltz should. I find it clumsy and badly written. Too many forward and back moves. If you danced it as just one couple and not a sequence dance, you’d be crashing into the dancers behind you and causing mayhem. I put up with it for the requisite amount of time and hoped that whatever was coming next would be better.

The next dance was a Jive and it was marginally better. I could understand the steps and the order they were being danced in. That’s when a Black Monkey waltzed (pun intended) onto the floor. After that I couldn’t put a foot right. Everything was being analysed by Scamp and found wanting. “Lift your knee when you do the Hip Bump” I’d just done that, but apparently it was a different knee I should have been using. After we’d attempted all the different steps and worked out the sequence they should be danced in, I still wasn’t getting it right. Jive is a routing, like Salsa, but without the joy that salsa has.

The last unit was a Rumba. A very short one. We had learned a longer version a few years ago and I felt this new one wasn’t anywhere as good nor as elegant as that old dance.

We finished with Scamp’s favourite sequence dance, the Tina Tango danced to Ed Sheehan’s Shivers. Scamp’s best favourite dance, and mine now too. It’s just joyful, especially compared to today lesson.

I was speaking to a fellow dancer when we were leaving and asked him if he’d enjoyed the morning class. He replied that he’d rather have *“paid the twenty quid to watch Partick Thistle being beaten again.” That more or less summed up my feelings.

We drove home through heavy traffic which turned out to be Celtic supporters travelling to their home game against Dundee United. Apparently none of the supporters wanted a black monkey which still clung to me.

By the time we got home my replies to Scamp were becoming monosyllabic and it wasn’t until I decide to go out in the rain to get tonight’s dinner that the black monkey left me. I don’t know where it went, I was just happy that it was gone from me and despite the weather, I felt so much better.

PoD was a couple of Pansies that have survived the winter so far and seem happy in their spot on the garden fence.

My apologies to you S. I know you were just trying to help and you did help. I was the one at fault.

Tomorrow we should go out for a stroll, if the weather is playing nice.

Cold morning with rain later – 10 February 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Not a good day for outdoor photography.

I did very little in the morning apart from fail at Wordle. Too many different options for The Word, and I chose the wrong one. Scamp then followed me to failure. I didn’t feel quite so bad after that.

It was a bit too cold to do any serious photography, but scrounging around I found a tub of shop-bought basil plants that looked interesting enough to make a decent photo with the rain splashed kitchen window behind. When the sun made one of its occasional visits, it showed off the texture of the basil leaves and made some nice bokeh splashes on the window. PoD captured.

We went to Kirsty’s dance class in the evening and worked our way round the floor with a few tracks of the waltz we’ve been learning. Next was the Foxtrot which is a much more interesting kettle of fish. It was quite a big class and a busy floor as a result. If the entire class had been there it would have been even tighter for space, but two couples were missing. We were more or less left to our own devices as Kirsty and Nicola were doing their best to help the less able. Wet drive home and grabbed one of only two parking spaces.

Dinner is becoming a late evening thing now that we’re going to Kirsty’s class at 6pm. Tonight it was based on Potatoes and Cabbage with a very neatly poached egg for Scamp and the remains of yesterday’s stew for me.

No plans as yet for tomorrow, but something tells me there might be shopping to be done.