Category: Dancing

Just another Saturday – 8 February 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Out in the morning to drive to Brookfield for another dance class.

Today’s class started by going straight into the October Waltz. Not my favourite of the waltz genre, but I didn’t write the script. Until this year we had always started with a sequence dance to ease us into the work that was to come. It appears now that has changed and we go straight into the class proper. This waltz seems a bit disjointed and doesn’t flow as well as some others. That’s my excuse for making a mess of it. Some others were also struggling and I’m sure they have their own excuses too.

Next was the Jive which was a bit awkward to start with, but it started to flow a bit better after a few practise sessions. I’m still feeling that bits of aren’t quite right, and I think I need to look more closely at the videos we’ve taken in class and see where I’m going wrong. That’s one of the benefits of filming short sequences of the dances. I can look back over the steps and find out where I’m ‘wrong footed’ and where I’m just plain wrong. When we get up to do a jive routine, we always start with the Seven Spins which is Glasgow Jive. Maybe we should put that on the back burner for a change and attempt the Ballroom Jive that S&J teach. After all, we come to class to learn the steps, not to cause confusion dancing our own steps.

Third set was a Rumba and although it was familiar to us, Jane had added a few changes to the steps and we did manage to get through them, although when I was watching the more experienced couples I could see how clumsy my attempts were. We live and learn.

We finished the hour and a half with the Melody Foxtrot and then my least favourite, the exhausting Midnight Jive. After that we were free to go. Despite my complaints, I really enjoyed today’s class.

Drove home via the Kingston Bridge which wasn’t as bad as it sometimes is on a Saturday. Maybe neither of the Glasgow teams were at home today, or maybe I just picked the right lane to be in.

We needed some extra bits and pieces for today’s dinner, so we walked over to the shops later to buy some. The meal in question was Spiced Coconut Chicken Traybake. For once it looked just like the photo in the magazine Scamp was making it from. We both would have made small changes, but we were both in agreement that it was worth attempting again.

I took a walk over to St Mo’s in the afternoon and today’s PoD is a low level shot of the wildfowl on St Mo’s pond.

No plans for tomorrow as yet.

 

Note to self:
I think I’ve found where I was making mistakes with the Lightroom catalog I’ve been using since the start of January 2025. I may use the old 2022 catalog (from the Grey SSD) to create a new catalog just to see if it runs properly. It need a bit of planning first to make sure I don’t corrupt anything that’s running just now.

Dancin’ – 6 February 2025

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Not a class, just a Tea Dance. Much more fun!

We drove over to Glenburn for this week’s tea dance. The first decent run the Blue car has had since its operation and it passed with flying colours. A much smoother ride than recent, although I was careful to avoid as many potholes as possible. Scamp was my ‘eye on the road’, warning me of any avoidable holes.

The class was about half full and we danced quite a lot of the ballroom and latin dances as well as the sequence dances. Lots of catching up with different folk we hadn’t met for a few weeks, some we hadn’t seen since before Christmas!
The tea dances give us a chance to practise what we’ve learned in Stewart & Jane’s classes and also the simpler routines we’ve worked our way through in Kirsty’s class. Today’s waltz was one we learned a couple of weeks ago in The Link. Really enjoyed today’s dance. Maybe because I felt comfortable with the dances we took part in.

We left early again, and for once we made good time, clearing the Kingston Bridge without stopping once. An amazing feat!

We came home via Tesco to allow me to post Jamie’s calendar which will be over a month late by the time he receives it. Maybe one more to go and that will be me finished for this year.

Dinner tonight was Bacon and Borlotti Beans. One we picked up from Jamie and Simonne, and still a firm favourite.

PoD was a photo of an orchid I treated myself to a couple of weeks ago. It was going cheap in Tesco and I thought it would look good on the kitchen window sill. It seems to enjoy its place there.

Tomorrow Scamp is intending to go to FitSteps and I’m hoping to get a letter written.

 

An Early Rise – 3 February 2025

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The comedy!

The Blue car was going in to the car hospital to have some surgery done. Reluctantly I left it with the other cars while I went looking for a taxi to take me home. It came quite quickly for a Monday just after the school bells had rung. A very pleasant man drove me home and I handed him a couple of quid after I’d crossed his card machine with plastic.

I reckoned I had a couple of hours to finish Wordle and have a cup of coffee before going to the dentist. As it happened a had a bit more than those couple of hours, but I didn’t know that at the time.

After we’d collaborated on solving Wordle, Scamp asked me what time I was due at the dentist and that was when panic took over. I read the card the dentist had given me and it read 10:15am. It was now 9:40 and I hadn’t brushed my teeth or checked for hidden plaque and the dentist is half an hour’s walk away, so I was cutting it fine, but I strode out and got there with a few minutes to spare. The first receptionist said “You’re not on my list for today.” and I thought I’d won a watch. Then the other receptionist said quietly, “Yes, you are, but not for an other hour. Do you want to stay or go for a coffee?” Either way, I’d been caught.

I left the surgery and phoned Scamp to ask her to check on the card. She replied “Yes, it says 10:15 … but that was for November!” Somebody else confirming that I was a Numpty. She agreed to meet me in Condorrat to go for a coffee, which is what we did. She didn’t have any money, nor did she have her phone, but thankfully she did have the house keys. We had coffee, bought some rolls and then she walked home and I walked crestfallen into the dentists for the second time today.

The check-up showed that the penicillin I’d been doping myself with had done the trick. The soft squidgy gum was now hard and smooth and despite the lady dentist’s probing and rattling my big wisdom tooth I gave not a squeak. I left with a smile on my face.

After a roll ’n’ cheese for me and one with an egg for Scamp I wrote five notes to folk I knew well, who had sent me Christmas cards a favour which I hadn’t returned. They are sitting upstairs waiting to be posted, hopefully tomorrow. Another tick in another box.

Late in the afternoon I got a message from Jim Dickson to say that the car won’t be ready until tomorrow. One of the two arm bushes won’t be delivered until tomorrow (and NO, I don’t know what an arm bush is.)
That meant we’d need to get a taxi to and from dance class tonight. No big deal.

We arrived early and stood chatting with Kirsty until the rest of the dancers arrived. Firstly we went over the short waltz. I actually felt quite confident of dancing it, even after Scamp ceased whispering me the prompts.

Next was the Foxtrot which was a bit more difficult, but eventually it also fitted into a space in my ‘dancing head’. I even added the final part of the foxtrot and got most of it correct. The foxtrot still needs a bit more work, but hopefully we’ll get a chance to practise it during the week.

PoD was a photo I took earlier in the day. It’s actually a tray with a selection of cacti and some succulents. Carefully selected view point gave it a bit of mystery. It was actually placed on a shelf in the downstairs toilet with a bright sun shining on it from behind. Possibly too much information there, but it’s done now.

Tomorrow I’m hoping for a bit of a lie in and a healthier Blue car to drive.

 

 

 

Dancin’ – 1 February 2025

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Driving over to Brookfield for a dance class.

I really thought we were going to have to give up on dance class last night. Nobody seemed to want to tell us if the class was on or off. As it happened, it was on. Thanks for making us wait for hours to find out if the class was on!! Yes, that was sarcasm.

Anyway, today we started with the October waltz. A rather over complicated and clumsy at times, waltz. Eventually with the help of Scamp I managed the first part of it, but it wasn’t easy. I can’t imagine dancing this on a busy floor, like at the Salutation with about eighty other dancers on the floor. Maybe I’m being over critical, but we just don’t have the time to drive over to Brookfield twice a week like a lot of the class do. We survived it, but I was glad to move on to the Tango.

We’d learned the basis of the tango a year or so ago and this one wasn’t really all that different. Basically the same moves in a different order, I thought. Lots of little tweaks that were interesting were included and we did manage a fairly decent run around the floor.

Next stop was a few jive steps. The problem here is that we learned Glasgow Jive, away back in the dim mists of time. It’s totally different from Ballroom Jive. It’s all to do with the beats I’m told, but it complicates matters, not knowing which foot I should be on. Maybe we should just forget Glasgow Jive and throw ourselves into the Ballroom Jive. Seriously, it would be difficult to unlearn a dance and start anew, but it might be the only way to keep in step with the rest of the class.

Final torture was the Midnight Jive, of all things. One track was enough for all of us, I think. Too much work today and not enough breaks for lighter, sequence dances.

We drove home on a very quiet M80. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the road so empty, but I didn’t complain, I just kept on keeping the car between the white lines!

I went for a walk in the afternoon to clear my head and to get some photos. I was hoping to get a couple of shots of the ladybirds that overwinter in St Mo’s, but none were visible this year. Such a shame. Lots of trees down here, most of them old and rotten. I imaging none of the tree doctors will be tending to them, deep in the woods.

PoD went to a tiny wee mushroom. The cap is less than 3mm high. How did something so fragile survive Storm Éowyn?

No plans for tomorrow.

Dentist and Dancin’ – 23 January 2025

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But not at the same time!

A couple of days ago I had a pain in one of my wisdom teeth at the very back of my mouth. A few moments later I had a horrible taste in my mouth too. I thought it might be an abscess and drove up to the dentist’s surgery. The girl there is very good and squeezed me in to an appointment for this morning – It’s a really busy surgery practice.

The dentist had a look, but couldn’t see any sign of infection, but she took an X-ray just to be sure and although the photo came out clear, she said she’d give me a course of penicillin just in case there was something there. Two tablets, four times a day when my stomach is empty. An hour before food or two hours after food. Far too complicated for a bear with little brain! Worse, they taste awful!

Back home we decided to go to the first Tea Dance of the season. The fact that we were promised home-made Tea Loaf had nothing to do with our decision. Awful weather and a host of potholes made for something less than the best journey we’ve had, except for the train journey home after Christmas!

We arrived late and were met with Stewart’s favourite comment: “Don’t think you can just Waltz in here!” I don’t know how many times I’ve heard that old joke. Anyway, we were seated far away from our usual table and we were directly under the speaker. Maybe that’s why we were on the dance floor most of the day – to keep away from that speaker. I think we must have been up for every dance except the Scottish selection. Traditional if the Tea Dance is nearly at Burns Night. The tea loaf was excellent. Home made as promised by Jane.

Most of the second half was a collection of Sequence Dances and although Scamp was as sure footed as usual, I must admit to being a bit rusty and needing a prod in the right directions sometimes.

As usual, we left early to avoid the worst of the schools coming out. The weather had deteriorated by then and it was an uncomfortable drive home. I think I may have damaged a shock absorber on one or two of the potholes which seemed to be everywhere today. I may take the car down to Jim Dickson to have it looked at next week.

No outside photos today because of the atrocious weather. Drizzling rain is not conducive to taking photos, unless you want to have your camera ruined. I didn’t. So, PoD was a bunch of violet and white Lisianthus cut flowers that Crawford and Nancy had brought yesterday.

We’ve been given a RED weather warning for wind tomorrow. It has gradually climbed up the scale from Yellow to Amber to Red in the past few days with winds in excess of 100mph on the west coast and over 60mph inland. No trains, schools closed, no GPs, no buses. We’ve been told to be prepared for possible power cuts too. The danger of life warning blared out at about 5pm, scaring the living daylights out of me.

Hopefully it won’t be quite as bad as they are predicting, but we have to be ready for it anyway.

An early shout – 20 January 2025

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Out just after 9am (early for me!) to go see the bloodsuckers. Those darling ladies who take away some of my high quality blood for their own nefarious purposes. I think they use it to make black pudding!

After the blood letting, I was free to enjoy the rest of the day. It was a gloomy prospect. Poor light in an overcast sky and nothing to look forward to. Even lost my 36 day run on Wordle. First one I’d tried on the new phone. I hope that’s not an indication of what’s coming next.

After a reviving cup of coffee, Scamp set out her plans for the remainder of the day which involve driving to Falkirk to look for a bedside lamp, a coffee table, maybe a new fridge and just the chance of a new rug for the lighting room.

  • None of the many bedside lamps ticked her boxes.
  • Of coffee tables there were no signs.
  • Fridges were also thin on the ground. There were cheap ones and there were expensive ones, but virtually nothing in between.
  • We did find a rug which was almost the same size as our present one and we took a chance on it.

At least we did get the rug and then we went shopping in Morrisons for … well, shopping mainly; – also known as ‘Messages’. We were almost as unlucky there too. It being Monday, a lot of the shelves were empty. I’m beginning to wonder about Morrisons. Over Christmas they were in dire straits when they couldn’t produce the Christmas goodies folk had been saving up for. It wasn’t a good sign. No doubt we’ll hear about it sooner rather than later if the shops begin to close.

Drove home and I took a chance on being able to get some decent landscape shots. Luckily for me I did find a likely sky scape that reflected on the water of the pond at St Mo’s. I took that as a basis for a PoD.

Drove up to Kirsty’s new dance class. The class had started last week, but neither Scamp nor I was really ready for it, but today we were. The hall she had found was a decent size an brightly lit. Much, much better than the dingy pocket handkerchief we’d been working I for the past year. This was a whole new possibility. Tonight’s dance was the first two parts of a waltz routine and it worked well. We had a new couple just joined us last week too. I hope Kirsty’s enthusiasm starts to bring in more ballroom and latin dancers.

Tomorrow, I think we may be practising some food ideas for two friends on Wednesday, all being well.

Dance Class – 18 January 2025

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First one this year and first one for about a month too.

Drove to Brookfield to find that the room was almost full. Neither of us had seen such a busy dance class in a long time, if not ever!

Just as we were driving over to Brookfield, my phone buzzed. By the time I got there the message was long gone and anyway it was just a message to say that NHS Hairmyres Hospital had called and it wasn’t possible to reply to this message. What sort of way is that to run a railroad, or a hospital, for that matter. I phoned the hospital and spoke to a human who told the message was about an appointment I had. By the sound of her, I wasn’t the first to have one of these calls. In fact I’d had one last week and knew what was coming.

Back at dance class, we recognised a few faces from years ago, in for a refresher course. Stewart asked us how many of us could remember the October Waltz. Most of us couldn’t remember how to tie our shoe laces, far less how to dance! That didn’t sway Stewart and Jane and we were soon remembering ‘Back Cortés’ and ‘Spin Turns’. It also gave me a chance to do take some video footage on my new phone. The October Waltz took up most of our time and we may still be perfecting next October if we’re spared.

A wee bit of sequence dancing gave our knotted leg muscles a chance to recover after the waltz, and we were in to the Tango. A new version of the X-Line Tango that we started with a few years ago, but which has been altered an improved in the last year or so. Actually, it feels like a completely new dance now. With Scamp and Jane’s help I did put the steps in the correct place and my feet followed suit. In the end, the tango wasn’t as daunting as I’d feared.

A Midnight Jive or two brought proceedings to a suitable finale and we were still able to walk back to the car. One of the dancers had brought eggs, laid by a neighbour’s hens and was giving them away. Scamp collected half a dozen in a box filled with straw and they survived the journey home. I took a risk and went the Kingston Bridge way home, it being quicker, especially if you claim a space in the outside lane quickly enough. I did.

Back home despondency hung over me because of the complications of the iPhone 15 again. However, a severe talking to by Scamp and the promise of a Golden Bowl supper made me forget.

A walk over to Condorrat to collect the supper gave me my first serious shot with the phone of cars on the motorway. I was quite impressed. Not camera quality, but not bad. That was the PoD in the bag.

Remember the phone call that you cannot reply to? We got another one tonight when we were watching last year’s prom on iPlayer. The same message I got last week, so I knew what to expect. Automatic recorded voice which, thankfully wasn’t american, talked me through the procedure an I was booked in.

Scamp was enthralled by Barber’s Adagio and I was similarly fascinated by Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Absolutely fascinating. How can these folk remember all those piano pieces.

In a much better frame of mind tonight. I’m more settled with the phone and with the next appointment at the hospital. It looks like it’s going to be a busy week. Only one free day for a walk with Alex.

Hoping for a bit better day tomorrow, even just a bit of light, even if it’s raining will do.

Dancin’ – 12 December 2024

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The last tea dance of the year.

Drove through the freezing fog to Tesco for a bottle of fizz for the dance teachers, plus a loaf and some pomegranate seeds and … well, lots of things, actually.

Then it was back home for a coffee and a Wordle. Didn’t quite get the Spelling Bee, but the coffee was good. Found I’d got an Explore for the photo of Hair Ice back on Tuesday. I suppose it is a strange looking thing and not seen very often.

Lunch was coming up fast and I wasn’t dressed for it yet, so it was a frantic rummage in the wardrobe to get suitable clothes for today’s tea dance. ‘Christmas’ was the unspoken theme for today and for once I did embrace it. Christmas jersey and a very old bright red tee shirt with a reindeer. Scamp was in her Christmas dress and looked very festive.

The fog was almost gone by the time we reached Glenburn but there were only a few or the regulars there. We danced a whole, or almost a whole, Quickstep. I was quite chuffed to find that I could remember almost all of the Hoabie Quickstep. We rather messed up the Waltz Nioli which we used to know and that was it for the formal ballroom dances. The rest were sequence dances and I think we danced them all, even the Christmas Pudding Dance which is a complicated four person dance with lots of ducking under and dancing round each other. Best seen, not described.

Made a mistake on the way home and took the Kingston Bridge road which felt like a moving car park. Once we were on the bridge and after a quick lane change we were moving a lot faster. Actually we took about the same time as we would have done if we’d taken our usual M74/M73 route. That freezing fog from the morning was descending by the time we got home. I dropped all the bags in the kitchen and went over to Condorrat to get a large fish supper for us to share, and that was dinner sorted.

There had been no time today for an outside photo, so it was a still life. The Christmas cactus has just come into flower, so that was today’s subject. Actually it an amalgam of two photos. One of the flower petals and one of the stamens. If you look closely you can see a dusting of pollen from the flower.

Watched the final of Masterchef The Professionals and the right person won as far as we were concerned.

Tomorrow we’ve been invited by Shona to coffee and a cake in Costa. I look forward to that.

A cold windy day – 7 December 2024

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We hadn’t planned anything for the day and it didn’t look like there was going to be any reason to go out.

Basically, that was the story of the day.

It was such a dull day too. I had no reason to go out to take a photo. Instead I decided it would be a tabletop shot today. I chose the Hebe cuttings she’d taken, with permission, from Jackie’s bush in her front garden in Skye. She had watered them today and a little bead of water was nestled in the bottom of some leaves. An ideal subject from a less than ideal day. After about a dozen shots I had one I was happy with. It was a 30second exposure which will give you an idea how low the light level was in the toilet today. The toilet has been a great place to photograph plants. Awkward to get the Manfrotto tripod into, but a great setup to shoot in. PoD done and dusted.

With a few hours left were taken up with building this year’s calendar. I’m only really about half way through the first attempt and there’s still a lot to do, but a start has been made.

A pizza for dinner, because we were going over to Brookfield in the evening for the final evening dance of the year. Quick change of clothes and a shower, then we were off into Storm Darragh. Again, we were just on the edge of the worst of the wind, and thankful for it.

Arrived in plenty of time and had a great night of dancing and what can only be called a “Carry On”. Spoke to folk at our table who I may, in the past, have described as slightly standoffish, but once I took the time to talk to them, they are just ‘folk’.

Drove home along a motorway that was busier than I’d anticipated, probably due to shows and pantomimes emptying into the motorways. After we left Glasgow everything calmed down and we got parked quite easily at home.

We watched the qualifying for the F1 GP of the year, and had a wee snifter each to keep our eyes open.

Wind is still quite strong and noisy, but it’s calming down, I think.

No plans yet for tomorrow.

We start the battle again tomorrow – 4 December 2024

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My parting words yesterday were “… I will let the whole thing cool down until we start the battle again tomorrow …” and that’s basically what I did.

I have two SSDs which can run the iMac. One seems to be damaged, or mismanaged in some way, but the other, the older one, does work, although the operating system isn’t as up to date as the dodgy one. Before I went to bed last night I swapped the dodgy one for the less up to date one and it just worked.

It was a foggy morning and we drove up to Calders to get some compost and plastic pots to plant out some cuttings Scamp had ‘acquired’ from Jackie. She, Scamp, was booked to have her hair cut later in the morning , so on the way home we drove past Condorrat, where the hair dressers is, to ensure the four way traffic lights wouldn’t block the entrance to the hair dressers. They didn’t, thankfully. On the way past St Mo’s park the fog was turning to mist and rising very photogenically from the surface of the pond.

We parked at the house and I grabbed a camera and went for a walk in St Mo’s. Beautiful light and excellent shadows from the trees in the park. Plenty of subjects and when I’d done one circuit of the pond, I came upon a group of about a dozen Canada geese paddling in one of the channels that had been dug to increase the cover for the waterfowl. They took one look at me then turned a blind eye to me. I think they were pretending that if they didn’t look at me, I wasn’t there. I decided to do the same after I’d taken half a dozen photos, and walked on without looking in their direction.

Back home I uploaded the photos to the laptop, so at least I would have them saved somewhere on a computer and could retrieve them sometime.

Of course I couldn’t leave well alone and, started looking in detail at what was happening with the dodgy drive. None of it made sense and the more I looked the worse it became, and the more fankled I became.

The bright spot of the day was dinner which was Mince ’n’ Tatties. It gave me heartburn later, but that was a small price to pay for such a lovely meal. Thanks Scamp.

At night we went dancing in Kirsty’s class. Tonight was the last class of the year and hopefully the last time we’ll be on that tiny wee dance floor. Every dance tonight was a sequence dance, starting with the Sambarina which I hate. Then it was on to other dances. Some just silly wee dances, but some real sequence dances we knew. A lot of folk gave up on them but about six of us, three couples managed to finish them. Actually, if you ignore Sambarina, it was a good night.

Drove home and watched the penultimate episode of Shetland then we both went to bed to read for a while after another disappointing day.

Still no photos to show, but hopefully I’ll process some on the old drive tomorrow..

Tomorrow we may also go in to Glasgow.