Category: Dancing

A distinct quiet – 16 December 2022

Posted on by Zogman

There was a distinct quiet about when I woke, almost as if everything was muffled. That probably meant it was snowing or it had snowed during the night.

I took a look outside and indeed, everything was white. Cars, road, trees and paths, everything. It wasn’t actually snowing at the time, but it definitely had been. One poor bloke was clearing his dark red car and getting ready for the morning commute. However, as it was about 6.50 in the am, I went back to bed and slept for another couple of hours before getting up to make breakfast. You can’t rush these things.

When I looked out a two hours later there were only two sets of footprints showing on our path. It must have been Wullie who lives at the corner and works odd hours. Nobody else had moved their cars and the space left by the dark red car was now covered in snow, so there had been another fall of the white stuff when I wasn’t watching. The temperature was a remarkable 0.3ºc when I was making the breakfast, a POSITIVE 0.3ºc. It felt like it had been weeks since the temperature had been above zero, but it was only a few days.

After breakfast I wrote my remaining cards and, dressed for the weather, I walked over to Condorrat to post them. I was hoping against hope that they would arrive on someone’s mat before new year, but I wasn’t confident about their chances.

On my way to Condorrat I took a photo of some leaves that would turn out to be the PoD. Just some warm brown leaves in a bunch without any frost or snow on them, but surrounded by lots of raindrops on the branches, in fact there was a very fine drizzle in the air. On my way back home I took a detour round St Mo’s pond, bit couldn’t see anything that would compete with the leaves. No directional light, you see. You really need directional light to give you shadows and form, to take away the two dimensional look of a photo.

Lunch was a bowl of Slimmers Soup. I don’t know if it is actually slimming, but the recipe came from Slimmers World via June and it’s quick to make and is just what you need when you’ve been out chilled in the snowy wastes. Scamp made it and it always tastes good.

We had already cancelled a dinner date with John and Marion for today because of the weather. Today we got a message to say that dance class tomorrow is also cancelled. One of the teachers is suffering from a cold or flu and doesn’t want to pass on her ‘Lurgy’. That’s a pity, but better safe than sorry in this weather.

Dinner tonight is Salmon fillet and potatoes for Scamp and a tub of stew Scamp discovered in the freezer. Both went down well. A wee glass of wine helped them on their way.

It’s been raining on and off all day and the temperature has been rising. We’re now up to 3.4ºc and the snow is finally receding. No real plans for tomorrow, but we’re hoping to get out somewhere if the roads are still clear.

Dancin’ times two – 10 December 2022

Posted on by Zogman

I think the wee car thought we’d gone mad today.

We drove in to Brookfield this morning. It was snowing a bit when we left the house. Not heavy snowfall, but those light fluffy snowflakes that always make you think there is more to come. It didn’t happen though, in fact by the time we reached Glasgow it had stopped and the temperature was rising. Then it changed as we got to Brookfield and we had to navigate an icy car park.

Inside and after the warm-up sequence dance, it was into the Quickstep which were are definitely getting to grips with. Not quite perfect yet, but we’re on our way. I thought we might have to put up with the Christmas Pudding Rock with “I Want A Hippopotamus for Christmas” as the ear worm, but thankfully we were saved from that. Instead we did the Charnwood Cha-cha which is a sequence ballroom dance. Next it was the Jetlag Waltz which is not one of my favourites, but we worked our way through it.

Drove home through the crowds of folk heading to Glasgow, because it is Xmas and you simply have to worship at the alter of mammon. After switching lanes and taking short cuts that were never short and rarely cut any time we ended up on the north end of the Kingston Bridge and into a traffic jam that was ostensibly caused by one broken down car, but was really caused by shutting down two lanes of a four lane motorway because the council hadn’t the resources to repair a bridge. That’s the honest truth of it. Bridges these days, like buildings are built to have a 50 year lifespan and this one is reaching that fifty year limit. They will say that work is progressing to repair the bridges, but as anyone who travels this route frequently will tell you, nothing is being done, nor has been done for years. Anyway, we did get through eventually and arrived home to a slight covering of the white stuff.

After lunch and after a really dull afternoon with cloudy skies and and a temperature that barely reached above zero, I chose not to go out into the dreary world to take today’s photo, but decided that a bright pink flower on the Christmas Cactus was far more interesting. That was PoD sorted, post-processed and posted online. With that done we had to decide on dinner and Scamp’s suggestion of Fish Fingers, and Spaghetti was the winner. We were, after all, going out to the Christmas Ball afterwards and didn’t want to spoil our appetite.

We were heading off to Brookfield for the second time today. Better dressed this time. We had an allocated table and were sitting with one couple we see quite often at tea dances and another couple who we’ve seen before in Perth Ball. We managed to circle the floor with a waltz and a social foxtrot and even had a fair go at the quickstep. Just after the intermission we got a chance to show off our salsa moves to the surprise of quite a few others. However, the weather was closing in and we wanted to be home before the white stuff fell again. With that in mind, we left just after 10pm and drove home via the M74 because the M8 was closed just before the Kingston Bridge. Traffic was much quieter at 10.30pm than it had been at 1pm, and despite the slightly longer route, we got home and parked just after 11pm.

A quick G ’n’ T and a Rum ’n’ Coke brought a busy day to an end.

No great plans for me tomorrow as I’m waiting in for parcel, but Scamp is heading to Glasgow with the Witches for lunch and a concert in the Concert Hall.

December’s here! – 1 December 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Got a lot to do in the morning, and dancing in the afternoon.

While I was bringing in the bins in the rain this morning, I saw a few little leaves on the path and got some photos of them and they would have been PoD until I saw the Ammi majus, like a delicate cow parsley, in the back garden with its flower heads holding a vast amount of rain drops. That became PoD.

It wasn’t our best set of dances, more like a refresher for us and a chance for some exercise! Heavens, we couldn’t even remember how to do the “Baby Waltz” which is a short and fairly easy waltz. Sometimes we practise and practise the more difficult new dances and forget to refresh the older ones. I’d say we’ll practice some more for Saturday’s class, but that’s unlikely we’ve been busy tonight but more of that later.

Today was a Christmas Tea Dance. Christmas themed dress was encouraged. Scamp had her Christmas Tree dress and I had my jolly reindeer tee shirt. We did manage to struggle through the new Cameron Quickstep, but that was mainly my problem. Sequence dances are easier for me, firstly because they are short and secondly because they are repetitive and muscle memory makes it easier to remember. Longer dances like the quickstep and foxtrot are interesting and challenging and I enjoy them one I’ve worked out the pattern of the individual steps. I think “could do better” would be the comment on my dance card for today.

Back home Scamp suggested a fish supper each would be a good idea, because Crawford and Nancy are coming for dinner Tomorrow and we knew we’d be doing prep tonight. I’m in charge of soup and bread. Scamp is in charge of the main course and pudding. She wanted the main course started tonight and I wanted to get the soup made too. So, we took turns working around each other doing our prep and lessening the load for tomorrow. So far, the soup is made and the main has been cooked. The fish ’n’ chips were brilliant. Just thought you’d like to know!

Tomorrow the prep and cooking continues. I’m hoping to get the bread started in the morning and then Scamp can continue with her prep. So, very little time for photos, but hopefully I’ll find something.

Another day in the Toon – 27 November 2022

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We’d discussed the possibility of driving home via Glasgow yesterday, but the weather was so depressing, we left it until today.

It was a much better day today. Sunshine aplenty from early morning, so we drove in to Glasgow. Scamp had things to buy and I had photos that would need taking. Between us we achieved our stated goals. It wasn’t quite as cold as we’d thought, but when you were out of the sun it gave a better picture of the air temperature. Maybe it reached double figures, but not by very much.

We also made some time for coffee and a cake, but decided we’d just go home for lunch. The Christmas Market was jam packed with punters today, so we gave it a body swerve and headed up Buchanan Street. There were four little groups of children dressed in costumes and all well chaperoned who were performing dance routines all the way up the busy street and collecting for charity. I think we saw four of the groups, some with five or six dancers, some with just two, but all were very accomplished. We also saw a bloke who was jumping through flaming hoops and hoops with knives round the edges. He was collecting too, but not for charity!

I found my PoD at the bottom of the street. A low level shot of a bloke selling helium balloons. Those big bunches of brightly coloured vinyl balloons and I was lucky enough to catch him removing one to sell to a little girl. That was my picture of the day right there. I got a couple of mono shots too that made it to Flickr.

Back home and after lunch Scamp headed down to the shops to get a chicken for dinner while I worked on the photos. By the time she was coming home the light was beginning to fade, but by then the photos were uploaded into Flickr, so I didn’t need to worry about going out for more shots.

Dinner was roast chicken with potatoes and roasted veg and it was quite delicious. Pudding was just as good. It was a slab of ice cream with meringue crumbled over it. A healthy squirt of raspberry sauce finished it off.

Spoke to Jamie later and broke the news to him that we wouldn’t be coming down to their house for Christmas. The trains are too risky with every week bringing more strike announcements. The flights are overpriced as a result and for him to drive to the airport and back, picking us up and then delivering us back again would take a large chunk out of his day on what should be holiday time. We did say that we like to come down in the spring and we’ve agreed a possible time. Hope you’re not too disappointed Jamie. Glad you’ve booked a trip to see Jaime in Trinidad.

That was our day. Tomorrow we’re hoping to take Shona out for lunch. Out to lunch again, I hear you say?! Well, we haven’t been out for lunch this week yet. Mind you, it’s only Sunday!

 

Dancin’ – 26 November 2022

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Drove through the rain to Brookfield to find an enormous marquee sitting in the car park.

Thought for a minute the class had been cancelled, or that the marquee was for us to dance in. Neither was the case. It appeared that the marquee was for an event later in the day and unfortunately the class hadn’t been cancelled. We filed into the hall to find tables arranged round the hall. More obstacles for us to dance round or collide with, depending on our dancing skill. The class started with a Melody Foxtrot, two tracks of it. Then it was full pelt into the Cameron Quickstep and almost all of the practise we’d done last night went clear out of my head. Gradually it returned after I listened to Scamp’s whispered directions, but it wasn’t the resounding success I’d hoped for. Although, neither was it the disaster that it could have been, so we’ll take that as a positive.

Midnight Jive was next just to give us a chance to clear our heads before the teachers decided to throw in the Jetlag Waltz, which we’ve only danced once or twice, but like most of these dances, consists of dance ‘units’ that are bolted together to form a complete dance. It’s knowing what order the units are in that makes for the level of difficulty. According to Scamp we have that one on video and so should be able to make more sense of it by next week, all being well.

I thought we were going to be forced into the Christmas Pudding Rock to finish with, but instead we did a round of the Sally Anne Cha Cha. I don’t know who Sally Anne was, but this wasn’t a cha-cha. Again it was a series of dance units bolted together in what seemed like random patterns. Noisy and energetic and fairly good fun. Got our blood flowing ready for the drive home.

The actual drive home wasn’t too bad although the weather wasn’t too clever. Still raining and I really need to replace the wiper blades soon. The way they rattle across the windscreen sets my teeth on edge. We stopped at the shops on the way home to get milk and donuts and cakes, because we’d been good and not made a total mess of the morning’s dances.

I took a walk over to St Mo’s in the late afternoon because the rain had stopped and the sky was clearing for a warm looking sunset. Warm looking, yes, but it was getting cold, so only one circuit of the pond. PoD was a shot of a woman walking her dog along the boardwalk with some early evening light.

Dinner tonight came courtesy of Golden Bowl. Chicken Chop Suey and Fried rice for Scamp and Chicken Chow Mein for me. Very nice, if a bit dry.

We watched Hidden Figures on TV. It’s based on the true story of three women of colour in America attempting, and succeeding in working for NASA to make a success of the first American in space. Yes, we’ve seen it before, but the message was still there and the fact that we’d both lived through such ridiculous bigotry shocked both of us, just as it had on our first viewing.

Tomorrow looks a lot better than today according to the weather fairies. I hope they have it right.

Checking out the Humans – 25 November 2022

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Not an early start today, but I got a fair bit of work done once I was up.

Scamp was out at 11am for her FitSteps class and I began my cleanup of the back bedroom, my painting room. I managed to clear most of the chest of drawers. Some of the things I wanted to keep went into a drawer, most of it went into the bin. I even dusted the two bookcases in the room. It’s not nearly finished, but it’s started and that’s the main thing.

After lunch we drove over to The Fort and while Scamp went shopping, I went looking for photos of Provan Hall which I remember sketching about fifty years ago. I’ve still got that wee sketch somewhere. Drawn with a dipper pen in blue shellac based ink. Unfortunately once I’d battled through a rainstorm, I found that the 15th century building was getting a facelift and seemed to be in the middle of a building site. I did get a few photos, but they were more record shots than anything creative.

I walked back to the car in the gathering gloom looking for a last minute photo, then I remembered the three deer who are always ready for a photo opportunity. Instead of the usual face on view or the profile shot, I chose to shoot over their bronze heads as they checked out the Humans, and wondered what the glitz and jingle bells nonsense was all about. I used a wide aperture, meaning that the background of the shops in their festive splendour would be just a warm blur.

We drove home and Scamp wisely used the Hive app to turn the heating on for a half hour ‘boost’ when we were halfway home, ensuring we had a warm welcome when we arrived. It had been a cold, wet day and the house was indeed toasty when we got back.

Dinner tonight was Scamp’s veggie chilli and a baked potato. Like soup, the chilli tastes better the second day, or as was the case here, the third day.

Tonight we had a practise run through of the Cameron Quickstep and ironed out a few problems, then we did the same with the Gershwin Foxtrot, a lot of which had slipped my memory.

Both of these dances will be contenders for further changes and additions tomorrow at Brookfield.

Glasgow on the bus – 19 November 2022

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After struggling through Wordle and Spelling Bee (still working at it), we got dressed for the cold, because it was a lovely clear, dry day, but chilly, and headed out to Condorrat to get the bus to Glasgow.

When we got there we found that the the X37 was running late and was full with passengers, standing room only, when it arrived. We did both get seats, but others were still standing. Neither of us had experienced that before for the 20min trip to Glasgow. I don’t think the driver or the bus had experienced it either, because both were doing a fair bit of grumbling.

We’d forgotten that Glasgow would be busy, because it’s Christmas, or more accurately Xmas. There is a difference. The place was mobbed. People everywhere. We’re not used to shopping on a Saturday, or Sunday. We’re the lucky ones who can go shopping mid-week, so this was a bit of a culture shock.

We decided, after a quick browse in JL, that it would be best to visit Paesano for an early lunch before the rest of the hordes descended. We got a table right away! That doesn’t mean Paesano wasn’t busy. It was, but there were a few tables-for-two available. Scamp had a Number 1 (No garlic – Yes I know there is no cheese) and a side of rocket and parmesan. I had a Number 3 and a side of burrata and tomato. Washed down with a glass each of red wine. It’s such an ‘Italian’ place. Lots of folk sitting talking and eating. It’s not until you stop and listen that you hear all the different accents and languages overlaying each other. So strange in Glasgow. I don’t think it would be so strange in London!

Fed and watered, we went down to Argyle Street and wandered along for a while, then back along Queen Street where I got a photo I’d been thinking about. Then on to Buchanan Street where I knew the photo’s alter ego was waiting. They didn’t make PoD. That accolade went to a photo of the GOMA (Gallery Of Modern Art – Glasgow). However you should look for the pictures comparing the Roof Decorations on Flickr.

With nothing much else to do and because the crowds were so thick on the ground, we got the bus home. Not nearly so busy on the way back, thankfully.

Watched the Qualifying for tomorrow’s final F1 GP of the season and then Strictly. We both agreed that there’s not all that much dancing in Strictly. Scamp has been saying for weeks now that the whole program needs revamping. I’d agree. It need a complete re-shuffle. If it’s good enough for Rishi Sunak, it’s good enough for Strictly.

Tomorrow looks wet. We’ll make the best of it, maybe with some soup!

 

Dancin’ and Camera Misadventures – 17 November 2022

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Today it was raining, miserable wetting rain and then heavier soaking rain, but it didn’t matter, we were going dancing.

In the morning I cancelled our subscription to Which. We’ve been talking about doing it for ages. It used to be totally independent in its reviews, but recently we’ve noticed a tendency to support ’favourites’ like JL and Apple rather than the less expensive shops and brands. The time had come. Since I’ve emailed them I’ve had two pleading emails telling me what I’m missing and inviting me to rethink. Both of them fell on deaf ears.

Drove over to Glenburn and danced what was probably the worst selection of dances we’ve ever done. Both of us made countless mistakes, even in the sequence dances that we both knew. I think it was something to do with our dancing brains being worn out from the nine hours of gracing the ballroom floor in Perth almost a fortnight ago. I have no other excuse for it. Maybe we do need the weekend off to regroup and forget today’s outing. Or maybe we just need more practise. Either way, today was a “disaaaaster, darling”! But we did have a laugh with David and Carol at the table. Plus we almost, just almost, got a handle on the Cameron Quickstep.

Drove back through the unremitting rain and picked up some ‘bake in the oven’ Katsu Chicken and a bottle of Malbec from M&S to wash away the memory of today. Since we arrived home just after 4pm and the car’s headlights had been on for the journey home, there wasn’t much hope of getting an outside photo. I set up a table-top of my jalapeño plant, looking like a little bonsai tree and left it while we had our dinner.

When I went to take the photo, however, one of my usual settings had disappeared from the menu. I won’t bore you with the details, but the camera was telling me some gobbledegook about movie settings. I’ve only taken one movie with this camera, the A7iii and never touched the settings again. I got so confused by what was going on I just did a ‘factory reset’. Now it works normally again, but it’s going to take me most of tomorrow to get all my dials and buttons reconfigured to the way they were before this thing happened, whatever it was.

Tomorrow we’re booked for lunch with June and Ian and before that the plumber is coming to have a look at the kitchen tap which has been dripping on and off for months.

Dancin’ and Singin’ – 12 November 2022

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As usual on a Saturday we were off to Brookfield for dance class.

Very small class today only four couples and one single woman. Apart from the single woman, they all have nicknames, none of them particularly complementary and none of them will be used here!

First dance was a Melody Foxtrot which did have a musical Melody attached, but no discernible Foxtrot steps. Some knew it, some didn’t, some did ‘kind of’ know it. I’m talking about individual members of the pairs here. I was in the ‘kind of’ category while Scamp was in the ‘know it’ one. It took us all about half an hour of staggering around the hall to get more or less adept at this fairly simple sequence dance.

Next was the main lesson, The Cameron Quickstep which, although danced as a sequence because it finished at a point where the dance could start again. We’d danced it for the first time last week at Perth and it looked and felt just like a normal quickstep. We’ve not had much chance to dance quickstep and this looked like a great introduction. We’d practised it a bit at home, but a living room is not anything like a dance floor. Today gave us a much better chance to work on the dance and of course we had expert help at hand. Unfortunately the teachers are off watching rugby next Saturday, so we’ll have to wait a fortnight before we get to have a real practise, although there is the chance of a tea dance later this coming week. A couple of sequence dances rounded off the day and we were back on the road home.

I did actually get out this afternoon to take some photos in the sunshine that had lasted all day. PoD went to a view through the trees to the setting sun. Nice to get an outside photo without too much fakery, or post-processing as photogs call it.

We drove over to Larky later. Me to have a jam session with Crawford and Scamp to go with Nancy and Jacquelyn to a concert in Strathaven. I wasn’t really looking forward to jamming with Crawford. I don’t practise playing guitar, relying on what I did way back in the late ’60s, but my fingers were far more supple then and could reach all those hard to fret strings. However we did cover some weel kent songs and had settled down to a blether by the time the girls returned. Another cup of white tea for Scamp and some arrangements for a return visit to us in December and we headed home and actually found a parking place just after 11pm.

Watched a confusing Brazilian GP with Kevin Magnussen in first place and Mick Schumacher in last place. Both drivers from the Haas team! Unfortunately Magnussen couldn’t hold on to that lead after the sprint race.

Tomorrow the weather looks good again. Two days in a row, is that too much to ask? I’m hoping to tell you tomorrow.

A full day – 5 November 2022

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It started about 9am. I’d slept fitfully because I’d galloping heartburn. Must have been that chilli!

I took a Nexium tablet to help with the heartburn and we went down to breakfast. Then I did one of those stupid things. I had a full breakfast. Egg, bacon, sausage and tomato, on top of a Nexium tablet that was fighting with my heartburn. Duh!

After that it was dance shoes on, new dance shoes. A short hour long class to break them in. Stewart and Jane demo’d the routine we were going to learn. It was a Quickstep sequence dance called Cameron Quickstep! Then we were all called on to the floorRoughly 80 people converged on the dance floor and attempted the first few steps. Surprisingly it was a Car Crash. Not the brightest idea Stewart. Sense prevailed though and he split the class into two sections and called one half on to the floor at a time, then the second half. I think it was then it dawned on him that it was going to take twice as long as normal to get through this, for us at least, complicated set of steps. Soooo instead of taking twice the time, he just taught it quicker! Well, what else would you do with a quickstep? The car crash became a shambles and after the hour that had been allocated, we knew the first section and very little else. We weren’t alone. There were a few mumbled voices about ‘not knowing what we were doing’, and ‘just not getting this.’ I was glad when the hour came to an end and we were released into the wide, wet world for the afternoon.

We went for a walk into the town. I was looking for two things.

  1. Coltsfoot Rock from a wee health shop.
  2. Coffee from The Bean Shop.

We set off to find what was available. Unfortunately the jar of Coltsfoot Rock in the shop was empty. It looks like the Coltsfoot Rock lorry had had a puncture or some other mishap. On the plus side, The Bean Shop was open and it had amongst its coffees, Cuba Turquino beans! Yes, two bags please and some tea and a bag of Christmas blend coffee beans.

I went off to put the coffee and tea into the boot of the car while Scamp went shopping. Back from storing the coffee I went shopping too and then we had lunch in the cafe of the recently refurbished Perth Theatre. It was quite noisy inside with teenager ‘lovies’ shouting and carrying on upstairs. The coffee in the cafe was a bit tasteless, worse than Costa and if that’s not damning enough, it also took ages to come. It’s an interesting place. Much more modern than it was, but it did take more than two years to complete the makeover. My final thought about it was “Style over Substance”.

Our lunch had given time for the rain to stop and now the clouds were clearing and it looked like we might actually get a walk, either in the gardens across the river or through the park. We chose the gardens after Scamp bought four sherry glasses in a charity shop for three quid. A real bargain. They went into the bag with the coffee in the boot of the car for safe keeping while we went for our walk. I took a few photos from the road bridge over the Tay, then we crossed the road and took the long slope down into the gardens. Too many junkies and ‘wideos’ hanging around under the bridge, so we went the other way and bumped into another bunch of dancers out for a walk who were also complaining about the lesson this morning. We walked on and they went the other way. We crossed back over the Smeaton’s Bridge where today’s PoD came from. From there it was a short walk to the Salutation Hotel.

Tonight was a ‘Black Tie’ event and we’d come prepared. We were cutting it fine for the drinks reception, but the food tonight was much better than yesterday. Scamp didn’t have a starter, but her main was Salmon and dessert was Cheesecake. I had Mackerel Pate to start then Chicken followed by ice cream, trying to put my stomach under less stress than last night. Dancing was good, but constant and exhausting with a break in the middle for two semi-professionals to strut their stuff to the amazement of all. That’s when you realise you’re only playing at this dancing thing. The ones who devote themselves to it are on a different plane.

We finally gave up about fifteen minutes from the end. I don’t think our feet could take much more. Tomorrow we have another ‘free’ hour’s dancing in the morning before we all head home.