Category: Dancing

Dancin’ – 18 July 2026

Posted on by Zogman

It’s Saturday and that means we were dancing in Brookfield. It was another warm day, but with a lot of clouds hiding the sun.

Quite a full dance floor. We started with the Electric Slide. Just a repetitive piece of nonsense. Next was the American Smooth Waltz. It’s beginning to fit into place, but not as fast as Scamp would like. That took up about a third of today’s lesson.
For a break we danced the Sally Ann Cha-Cha. Also a bit of fun, but much more interesting that the electric slide.
Jane’s favourite, Rona’s Rumba was next. It was to commemorate a dancer called Rona who passed away a couple of years ago. It’s probably a lovely dance, but I’ve now heard a few of the old hands saying it has too many turns and it doesn’t flow well. They could be right. I just find it hard to dance. That was another third or more of the lessons gone.
Two more sequence dances, The Mayfair Quickstep and the Melody Foxtrot finished the class.

We drove home through very light traffic and were home in no time at all. Unfortunately I didn’t time it this time.

I didn’t want to go walking in St Mo’s again after yesterday’s disappointing walk. Instead I helped Danny, the bloke next door, to rip out the old wire fence that separates our two gardens. He’s determined to get a fence up to allow his grandkids to play in the garden. It was a tough job, but I got the remains of the old Blackcurrant bush removed and a lot of weeds and invasive flowers removed. It’s half past nine just now and he’s still working away at it. Not me. I’ve had enough for one day.

We’re hoping to go to Isobel’s 90th birthday party tomorrow. I’m intending taking my camera to record the event, although I’m sure Isobel will complain bitterly!

PoD went to a Calendula flower from the garden.

Dancin’ – 11 July 2026

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The first ‘real’ dancing day this morning.

Lots of folk out today hoping to improve their dancing technique. I wasn’t one of them. I was just happy to not make a mess when I was treading water!

The dance class started with the Electric Smooth. I’d never danced it before and a few folk were in the same boat. It was similar to The House of Bamboo which I started off hating, but ended up accepting it as just another set of dance steps. The E.S. is similar and will have the same effect on me I think.

The first ‘actual dance’ was the American Smooth Waltz which we’d done before in one of the Perth classes. Bits of it fitted together like a badly made jigsaw puzzle, but by the end of the class it was filtering in to my head.

Rumba was next and we started off just copying an old rumba we kind of knew, but then decided we’d better stick to the teachers’ plan and dance it properly. There were similarities between ‘our’ version and the teacher’s version.

Tango Serida was and it took me a while to work out what was happening and when it was happening, but we managed to struggle round the floor. With a bit of help from Jane, I managed to sort out the routine.

Balmoral Blues was the last real sequence dance. I didn’t like it and struggled to make sense of it, but Scamp had it sorted right away. She has this innate ability to walk through a dance once or twice and immediately afterwards, know how to dance it. Me? I struggle and let’s leave it at that.

Just for a bit of fun and to get back to simple stuff, we finished with the Midnight Jive. A sequence dance designed to get your heart pounding.

We drove home through a very quiet Glasgow and made it home only slightly longer that the drive to Brookfield in the morning.

Scamp was busy in the afternoon digging out plants, sieving out the lumps of soil and splitting larger plants to make at least two smaller ones. I went for a walk over to St Mo’s and got today’s PoD which was a Saw Fly. Scary looking beast, but apparently harmless.

No plans for tomorrow so far, but that may change.

 

Two go dancing – 9 July 2026

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Today we drove to Glenburn for an hour or two’s dancing.

This was our first Tea Dance in about six weeks and we were rusty. Thankfully most other people were too or we may not have survived the comments. As it happened, we acquitted ourselves quite well. Not amazingly well, just enough.

I think we talked more than danced today, but most people were talking more than dancing. That’s what happens when you miss out on your dancing and struggle to remember what comes next in the sequence. At least, I felt that today. Of course, Scamp hardly put a foot wrong all afternoon.

We danced a few sequence dances and a few ballroom dances. No waltzes and certainly no quicksteps. We stayed for the entire class because the schools are on holiday for a month and the traffic is a lot lighter than usual, as a result. If nothing else, today was a good way of catching up with faces we knew.

I grabbed a few shots in the afternoon, mainly from the Schoolgirl rose in the front garden. It’s really past its best now, but it is still flowering. That made PoD. Scamp made a mixed salad for dinner with tuna chopped into it for some body. I was tested to see if I could spot the ingredients and I got them all with the exception of Oregano which was Scamp’s mystery addition. Of course, after she told me, all I could taste was the Oregano!

I have promised one of our neighbours that I’d keep her plants watered. The first couple of days were easy, because the constant rain did the job for me. Yesterday and today are different. The poor wee plants need all the liquid they can take, and that’s where I’m heading now, with a full watering can.

I need to see the vampires tomorrow to get bloods taken for my annual checkup. Oh what fun!

Dancin’ – 27 June 2026

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For the first time in ages, we drove through some busy traffic to go to the dance class in Brookfield.

There were only four couples taking part and the topics were mainly quite easy, easy enough for me to manage them. We started with House of Bamboo then the Feta Foxtrot, The Britannia Waltz, The Salsa Gibraltar (which was new to us and not a real salsa), the Electric Slide (which I ‘Elected’ not to take part in) and we finished up with the Bossa Nova. Quite a full dance card.

The heat in the hall was quite stifling for a while, even with the front door and back door open. The floor was a mess. It looked as if some folk had been dragging chairs and tables across it and leaving a bit of a mess. I’m sure the teachers will be putting in a complaint.

It as raining when we came out of the dance class. I was glad to have brought my rain jacket and Scamp had her umbrella. More busy traffic heading back to the city. It must be something to do with the school holidays starting. However, by taking a few shortcuts we managed to avoid a lot of the traffic.

The weather at home was quite clammy and generally uncomfortable. Hopefully tomorrow will bring a cooler breeze. Scamp was doing a bit of weeding in the afternoon and I took the opportunity to ask her how I needed to go about changing my old credit card for the new regime. The way she explained it, made it look simple. I expect it is in reality. I just need to put it into practice now.

I went for a walk in the afternoon and got a fair amount of photos. My favourite was a combination of three shots of wild geraniums, merged together in Photoshop. After a struggle, I got it working and it looks pretty good.

We have no plans for tomorrow as far as I know.

Keeping up with business – 22 June 2026

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In the morning we drove to Falkirk to sign some pieces of paper.

In fact we had to sign six different pieces of paper each. In the end I was beginning to get writer’s cramp! Still it was worthwhile and we felt a lot better after it was done.

After all that writing we thought we deserved a coffee, so we drove to Morrison’s for a coffee each. Scamp suggested we also have a cake each to celebrate. Her’s was a teacake and mine was a jam doughnut. Then we simply loaded up a trolley and pushed it back to the car. But not before we stopped to have a look at a trio of ceramic garden pots. So, we added them to the car boot and headed home.

It was just beginning to drizzle with rain as we were leaving the car park. It had been threatening to rain all morning so we were prepared for it. A totally different day from yesterday.

By the time we got home we had driven out of the rain clouds, but the skies were still heavy with more rain. We had lunch and decided what our next job was. It was mainly planning. Deciding which plants needed to move and which ones would stay. Also we were beginning to see which ones preferred shaded areas and which wanted to be in the sunshine.

Later in the afternoon I went for a walk in St Mo’s. Not a long walk, just a chance to see if there were any interesting insects appearing now that the weather was improving. There were a few dragonflies scudding round the pond, but the most interesting one was a Scorpionfly. It looks like a Scorpion with wings. Vicious looking with what looked like a sting in its tail, but harmless to humans (or so say’s Mr Google).

Scamp was going out tonight to a dance demonstration. Not Ballroom Dancing, more modern dance. She and the rest of the witches were going to cheer the girls on.  Also, as promised, the rain disappeared and the sun came out!

PoD went to the Scorpionfly, by a long way. High on the checklist was a Heron. A rare visitor now to the pond!

Alas, Keir Starmer’s job has come to an end. He resigned today. I admit I wasn’t impressed by him, but I almost felt sorry for him today.

We have no plans for tomorrow … yet!

Alyth, Dragons and Dancin’ – 8 June 2026

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Jamie and Simonne went off this morning to meet up with their friends in Alyth we went dancing in Kirsty’s class at night.

After Jamie and Simonne left, we drove to Tesco and did our usual Monday shop. There were quite a few heavy showers throughout the day, but we managed a walk over to St Mo’s. That’s where I saw the first Dragonfly of the year, a Four-Spotted Chaser. Four-Spotted because of the four spots on the wings of the insect. That made PoD.

In the evening we went to Kirsty’s dance class. That’s where we learned the Dalshannon Swing, a fairly simple, but fast dance the lady herself had devised.
We also learned the correct way to dance Rumba One, finding out that we’d been doing the ‘Fencing’ part completely wrong. Other than that, I think Scamp sat all evening working through old movies that now run on new technology. Now, I wonder where that DVD camera went. Maybe I could get it going again and that would mean I could …….. On second thoughts, probably better not!

Tomorrow we await the return of the walkers.

A scorcher! – 25 May 2026

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In the global stakes they don’t stand a chance, but today’s temperatures of 24ºc are impressive for Scotland.

We had a lazy start to the day, but we really must get some work done to the house. I thInk I need to sand down the back door and repaint it. The window sills also need a fresh coat of paint, front and back. The cupboard at the front of the house could do with a lick of paint too. I think that will be a good start. The carpets need to be cleaned and that seems to be where Scamp thinks we should start … hopefully tomorrow.

We watched a fairly interesting Canadian GP with a lot of mechanical failures catching drivers out. I almost felt sorry for George Russell. After his car ground to a halt at the side of the road, he threw his headrest away in disgust and that earned him an extra penalty! Not St George’s day. This new F1 rule book is catching a lot of drivers out and causing no end of misery for the ‘Old Team’. Good to see!

After the race was done, Scamp and I went for a walk down to the shops to get some essentials for lunch and for dinner later. That was when I began to feel the effect of the 24ºc and wondered how Hazy was surviving “Dahn Sarf”. Hope it wasn’t too hot for you.

After lunch and before dinner, we drove to the Town Centre for a sequence dance class. I can’t for the life of me remember its name, but we knew it well enough to dance the whole routine without listening to the teacher. That didn’t mean that we just ignored her, and we actually learned some of the finer details like the hold we should be using. Good work, Kirsty.

Back home there was just enough light to capture a bunch of Aquilegia flowers backlit by the sun. That made an easy PoD.

So tomorrow we’re intending getting the carpet cleaner out and do a ‘Scrub a dub dub’ on the living room carpet!

Off to Brookfield for a dance class – 23May2026

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This may possibly be the last dance class for a whole month. The teachers are off on two different cruises. I won’t say I am disappointed, but I’m not.

We got a great surprise when we headed over to Brookfield and were allowed to travel faster than 40mph. The 40mph ban had been lifted and we were driving at normal motorway speeds. Even better, the roads were only partly full. We usually watch for one of the big ‘out of town’ parking areas to whizz past on the left, only half full. Today it was almost totally full. Finally we reached Brookfield, about fifteen minutes quicker than usual. That’s the difference the 40mph ban makes.

Today was a high energy dance class. It started with the Electric Slide which only about fifty percent of of the class seemed comfortable with. I was just lost – thinking it was The House of Bamboo with different music. Then we were into the ‘meat’ of today’s class with “Celia’s American Smooth Waltz”. Every time I start this dance, I think I’ve got it sorted in my head, then it falls to pieces. Today if took me a couple of rounds of the floor before I managed to join all the units together correctly.

A couple of sequence dances came next to give us a bit of relaxation, then it was time for another of Stewart and Jane’s less complicated dances and we finally ended up with another exhausting sequence dance that left most of the senior dancers gasping for breath.

We walked out of the hall into sunshine. It was such a beautiful day. We drove home in very light traffic for a Saturday. We even had enough time to go to M&S for some messages.

After lunch, Scamp wanted to work in the garden and I wanted to go out to St Mo’s in the hope of finding a damselfly ,,, and there it was, a Common Blue damselfly. It was very agitated and kept flying away. Eventually it settled down and I got a clear, if distant, view of the insect. The first damselfly this year for me! That became the PoD.

Tomorrow I have no plans.

Three days that were a blur – 18 May 2026

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On Friday we drove to Perth in the early afternoon to park the car for a few days while we sauntered off to do some serious dancing. Three days dancing, in the oldest, creakiest hotel in Perth. We’d been there before many times, and knew what it was like, but we chose to ignore the surroundings and just dance.

Saturday was a repeat of Friday with more dancing, but with the addition of posh dresses for the ladies and Evening Suits for the men in the evening. Still the same madness with the addition of a ‘new’ dance to learn and practise. Towards the end of Saturday it began to feel like “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?” A 1969 film about a disparate group of individuals desperate to win a Depression-era dance marathon. The only differences between it and us was that there was no prize and we could leave whenever we wanted and go to bed.

Sunday morning was my least favourite, the one hour dance class, where everyone is enthusiastic to begin with, but, as the hour ticks away, people drift away and say their goodbyes. It’s a bit sad.

We drove home through some really heavy rain showers, but arrived in a dry Cumbersheugh after three long days.

Today was a day of rest after a fashion, but we also had a consultation with a solicitor to finalise some details of legal issues. I think we were both happy with the end result.

Back home I went for a walk in St Mo’s and got a couple of decent photos. My favourite, and PoD, was a pair of delicate looking Aquilegia plants resting against a wall. The previous three days worth of PoDs are available for perusal in the usual place.

Tomorrow I’m hoping we will have a real rest day!

Dancin’ – 14 May 2026

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Looking for windscreen wipers unsuccessfully this morning.

I was out fairly early and drove over to Halfords for a pair of much needed windscreen wipers. “Yes sir, we have that size in stock”. First problem was that their tablet that allows you to check the wipers if you know your reg number wasn’t working. That meant I had to work through all the wiper boxes only to find that one I needed was empty. “Ah, I think we have one in the back shop.” He didn’t. His boss appeared and looked at the empty rack and then tried raking through the boxes on either side of it to no avail. “We do have this stainless steel version. It’s blah blah blah …” I asked him what the price difference was and he said with a smile “It’s twice the price of the one you’re looking for, but it’s stainless steel.” I didn’t buy it, nor did I buy the other two blades they did have. Moral: Don’t buy from Halfords!

Drove home and had just enough time for a banana sandwich before driving to Glenburn for a very empty looking Tea Dance hoping it wouldn’t rain! Apparently, some of the regulars were on child minding duty and some were on holiday. A few folk did trickle in after the first dance was called and eventually the floor filled up. Stewart played his usual selection of merry melodies and Scamp and I managed to struggle through the sequence dances. We left a bit early to avoid the worst of the queues from schools finishing and also from office workers leaving early.

I had intended going out for a walk after we got home, but those scattered showers the weather fairies keep talking about were upon us again, so today’s PoD was a Rhododendron called “Golden Torch” from the garden, an old favourite.

Don’t know what we’re doing tomorrow. Maybe looking for windscreen wipers (not Stainless Steel ones!)