Category: Dancing

Wandering round Glasgow – 11 September 2024

Posted on by Zogman

I drove in to Glasgow today to meet my brother.

We had planned to visit the Transport Museum, or the Riverside Museum as it’s known these days, but it was a beautiful day and it did seem a shame when we could be wandering round the streets taking photos. Anyway, I never was a fan of the Riverside Museum. The old Transport Museum had character which the new one lacked and why stack loads of cars in a vast space where petrolheads can’t get near them to look inside and remember driving that classic car? Totally pointless. The outside of the new museum is much more interesting than the inside, and the only reason I’d go there.

So, instead we walked down Buchanan Street to take some photos and so that Alex could wander round a guitar shop, looking for a new amp for his guitar. I had an ulterior motive too. I was still looking for that jacket. The waterproof one I’ve been searching for all week. I’m beginning to think it doesn’t exist, but I’ll continue looking Dug wi’ a Burst Ba’ again. I didn’t find it today, but we’d both scratched our individual itches and come away with nothing, but we’d both looked and seen.

I suggested we adjourn to Paesano to see if a pizza each would give us time to think. After lunch we went for a walk round St Enoch’s square to take some photos. For once we both went separate ways and met up again after taking a few shots of different subjects. Then it was a walk down the Clyde Walkway to admire the graffiti, and there was an entire wall that had been covered with artwork since the last time we’d been down there.

Next we took some photos of St Andrews Cathedral and its reflections on the glass walled building next door. By that time the temperature was dropping and I was aware that it was getting towards late afternoon and I was going to dance class later.

We walked back up Buchanan Street before splitting up with Alex heading for the bus and me going for my car. Some good shots today and some good nonsense talked by both of us.

I got back in time to get ready for Kirsty’s dance class. Today it was a reprise of the Rumba she’d turned into a Cha-Cha. I admit, I was lost to begin with, but after a quick run through by Kirsty and Scamp, it began to fall into place again.

PoD went to a photo of the ‘Balloon Man’. He stands in Buchanan Street in Glasgow twisting balloons into the most intricate shapes to the delight of hundreds of children every week. I was lucky, the light was just right today.

Tomorrow Scamp would like to take me to a Tea Dance in Paisley. How could I say no?

 

The Wedding Day – 31 August 2024

Posted on by Zogman

As has become traditional when we’re away from home, the write-up is more of a place marker than anything else. With bullet points to keep the memories fresh without taking up too much writing time.

  • A walk through a different part of the town on a dull morning
  • Found a monument to Jersey Cows!
  • One calf had found a toad
  • Wandered round the indoor market
  • But soon it was time to get dressed to impress
  • Got a taxi to La Mare Vineyard
  • The weather had improved
  • It was time for Pimms on the lawn
  • More butterflies in the garden
  • Alex and family arrived later
  • Just in time to see the happy couple’s entrance
  • Saw some folk we hadn’t seen in years
  • The meal was delicious
  • The dancing was hilarious
  • I took over 300 photos here are some:

 

 

Dancin’ – 24 August 2024

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Today we drove to Brookfield for the first dance class in about three weeks.

It started well, with a Mayfair Quickstep which isn’t a quickstep, but that’s splitting hairs. Two tracks to make sure we were well warmed up, because it’s summer in Brookfield and they don’t have heating on in the morning until winter.

The first ‘real’ dance was a new Cha-Cha, new to us, anyway, but made up from figures we already knew. They were put together in different patterns, though. I thought I’d filmed it on my phone, but when I got home and looked at it, I’d a photo of Jane, the teacher, but no video. I really need to learn how to use this phone. I expect that someone, somewhere has a video of the new routine, but it’s not me!

Next up was a Viennese waltz. You see folk dancing this in Strictly and it seems to be all about blokes in evening suits and ladies with sticky out dresses ( that’s a technical description, by the way), twirling around on the floor, but it’s much more complicated than that. Oh boy, is it more complicated, and fast too. We did the baby steps quite well to start with, even that was difficult, but when they started mixing up Half Natural Turns and Half Reverse Turns with Full Natural and Full Reverse my brain sort of gave up and went to sleep. I don’t suppose we’ll ever go to Vienna and neither of us speak Viennese, so what’s the use of learning their dances? Huh?

The next one was more down to our earth. It was the Tina Tango danced to Ed Sheehan’s Shivers. I believe Scamp could dance this blindfold. I also believe that Scamp think I DO dance it blindfold which would account for stubbed toes for both of us. Anyway it was much easier that the Viennese waltz.

The final dance of the day was the Vogue Waltz. I can just remember dancing this on a Perth weekend. Bits of it were stuck in my memory slots, but other bits of it were Vague rather than Vogue, but we struggled on until I was almost fluent in it. Then they sprung a curve ball. We would only dance one round of the steps, then move on to a new partner. Woah! Chaos reigned for the three or four minutes this new routine was being danced. I’m so used to Scamp calling out instructions quietly in my ear that I though all the ladies did it. They didn’t, but a few of them laughed!! It was actually fun.

We drove home from Brookfield with our heads spinning with new and half remembered dance routines. We may try them out some time in the living room, just not today.

Lunch was a sandwich for both of us and we’d agreed that dinner would be provided by Golden Bowl.

Today’s PoD was a vase of flowers that sits on the kitchen window sill. Every time I’ve passed it for the last couple of weeks I’ve told myself I was going to photograph it, and today I was true to my word. I just liked the composition.

Tomorrow we are maybe going shopping.

Dancin’ – 22 August 2024

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Bright sunny day that developed the look of rain, which never appeared until evening.

We were going dancing today at Glenburn, but before that, Scamp went shopping for bread and milk, so that after lunch we could get changed into dancing clothes and go.

We didn’t dance as much as we’d thought we would because we were sitting with a couple from Largs. The lady struck up a conversation with Scamp while we men sat around and chipped in the occasional comment, as men do.

We did manage a fairly lengthy quickstep without making it too obvious that we were repeating a lot. I attempted Fishtails, but need a lot more practise on the actual strategy of fishtails before I can confidently insert them into full dance. There are lots of little steps like that we know and just need the confidence to add them to our short routine. Practise, that’s what we need the most. Anyway, it passed an afternoon that otherwise we’d have used up sitting around the house.

Drove home and had an M&S curry for dinner. For the first time I was distinctly unimpressed with the Chicken Tikka which was just bland with nothing to commend it in my opinion.

We watched episode 1 of a series called Vienna Blood, set in 1906 Vienna. I drew comparison immediately with The Turkish Detective which even with occasional subtitles was a much better series. Scamp took issue with the close-ups of staring eyes. Maybe episode 1 was a good place to stop.

The PoD was a robin that stopped for a quick splash in the birdbath in the afternoon. Another swimmer I saw today was a snail, complete with shell in an old mushroom tub sunk in the raised bed, I’d originally poured some no alcohol beer into it to see if the smell would attract slugs to drown in it, but they appeared uninterested in pretend beer. This snail, however wasn’t drowning in the now rainwater tub, it was actually swimming. I’ve once seen a big black slug paddling in puddles with its ‘head’ above water, but this snail seemed to be floating in the water. Maybe the shell holds enough air to make it buoyant. I must investigate that.

Tomorrow we may be going east in search of some sun.

Windy day and Driving – 10 August 2024

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It was a bit of an uninspiring day. Gusty winds again and the threat of showers that never came.

I just couldn’t get out of the bit today. Nothing physically wrong, I just could not shift myself from the sofa. Maybe it was the thought of driving in to an evening dance at Brookfield that failed to inspire me or maybe it was a hangover from yesterday. I still had the sore back, and I think that is caused by carrying a heavy camera bag. Maybe I should listen to my body more!

Eventually we did the same as yesterday and walked down to the shops to get dinner. I had decided to have a venison steak that had been languishing in the freezer since May, but I had no appetite. Then Scamp suggested something simple like a baked potato and that worked for me. It was a heavy bag I was carrying back from the shops and was reluctant to hand it over to Scamp, so we both walked home, with me carrying a bag with two bottles of no-alcohol (and no-taste) beer and a heavy camera bag (then I wonder why I’ve got a sore back!).

When I got home I just turned around and walked halfway round St Mo’s, then back again, about half an hour it total, but happier now that I had a couple of fairly decent shots in the bag. PoD went to a Common Drone Fly, or so said Mr Google and friends, lunching on some cow parsley flowers. By the time I got back we just had enough time to have a baked potato each and then we had to get ready for the evening’s entertainment.

We were driving the Brookfield, but as we were driving out of the estate I saw the big splat of seagull diarrhoea on the passenger side of the windscreen. A couple of scooshes of screen wash told us it was stuck firm and there was no point in damaging the wiper blades on it. A job for tomorrow. On the M80 first it was a police car with blue lights on travelling in the same direction as us, next a 40mph speed restriction flashed up on the overhead gantry then about two miles later the next message was “Pedestrians”. Never a good thing on a motorway. However for the rest of the drive in to Glasgow there was no sign of police vehicles or pedestrians. We carried on regardless. Of course everyone had obeyed the 40mph sign 😉

The rest of the journey was just normal Saturday evening busy. Until we came to the Irvine turnoff, our turnoff. Then ahead was two lanes of red lights for as far as we could see. For the next five miles it was first gear and stop, first gear and stop. Then the blockage seemed to clear and we drove the rest of the way unhindered. We later discovered there had been a two car crash somewhere ahead of us and we were the lucky ones who joined the queue when it was at least moving, if slowly.

The dance itself was really great fun, mainly because we were at the same table as Barry & Cath plus Cath’s sister and Niahmat & Audrey and another couple we’d met at a dance weekend in Perth. The table was a bit congested, but the jokes and laughter lifted the evening. We danced a few ballroom dances and, I think, all but one of the sequence dances. For once, the night really flew in, although as we neared the Last Dance there was a bit of a lull sometimes. As if the energy had gone out of the night.

I almost always enjoy driving home at night from a Brookfield dance. Absolutely no need to drop out of 5th gear, even across the Kingston Bridge. We parked and I had a wee dram while Scamp, unusually had a decaf coffee before bed. Something in the dancing put my back right again and something about the night put me on the right road.

Tomorrow I might was the car, or the windscreen at the very least.

Dancin’ again – 8 August 2024

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A day that started well, but inevitably the rain spoiled the afternoon.

Scamp was out in the morning to get her hair cut. I was stuck at home tidying up things I should have done last week. Not real things you can touch, just computer stuff. When Scamp returned looking beautiful, we got ready and drove in occasional sunshine to Glenburn. Our first tea dance in about a month.

It was more a blether than a dance. Lots of folk there, folk we hadn’t seen for ages. A few faces were missing, but this is still school holidays in Scotland and some folk had other places to go.

We did dance a fair bit. We struggled through the Four Seasons Waltz, but made a poor show in Kirsty’s Waltz Nioli. We were agreed that more practise is required. I think we danced more sequence dances that ballroom dances, mainly because the repetition in sequence means that muscle memory takes over after a while. Of course you still have to keep a watchful eye on where you are in the moves, because autopilot is not one hundred percent perfect, as we found out today.

It was a good day and I really enjoyed it. Company was good and we bumped, not literally, into a couple of folk we knew. By the time we were leaving at 3.30 the rain had drifted down from the Gleniffer Braes and a misty drizzle made driving a wee bit less enjoyable than it usually is.

Dinner tonight was an M&S stirfry. My turn to cook and for once I was quite well organised, with everything to hand more or less

By about 7 o’clock the rain had fizzled out and I was trying to get some moody shots of the wet rose leaves on the climbing rose, but for some reason, the focus ring was controlling the aperture. It happened on both cameras and I just couldn’t understand what was happening. A chance comment by one person online told me what was wrong. There is a three way switch on the Tamron that can be programmed and a month or so ago I’d set it to switch between focus and aperture control. Then I’d forgotten all about it. I pressed the button on the lens and everything went back to normal. So glad I found that because I’d have looked a proper numpty if I’d taken the lens back to the shop and told them it wasn’t working as it should!!
If none of the foregoing makes any sense, don’t worry, it’s just photog’s nonsense.

PoD was indeed a rose leaf, backlit and with raindrops still on it.

Hoping against hope for a decent day tomorrow, but it doesn’t look likely.

Cooking, Grass Cutting and Rumba – 17 July 2024

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We spoke to Hazy in the morning. She told us she’d had her hair cut but we wouldn’t see it until Saturday when she and Neil are coming up. She’s like that, Hazel! I still remember being in the car with her, going to the church on her wedding day and her making poor Neil wait! Bride’s perogative, I believe. I have a long memory Hazy!

I did some shopping after we’d finished our call and took my “I’m away for the Messages” bag. Just my meds, some fruit for Scamp and a loaf.

After lunch I started to clear the top of the sofa in my room. It hasn’t seen the light of day for months now, probably since about March. So, it really did need a good clear out. A lot of stuff went in the bin because tomorrow is bin day and theres no going back after the bin is tipped into the bin men’s lorry. The sofa looks so bare now, but tomorrow it will be filled again with other stuff.

While I was doing that, Scamp was doing ‘grass hoovering’ in the front and back gardens. It looks a lot tidier now, but we’re due rain overnight and that will just encourage more growth. It’s a never ending cycle.

Later in the afternoon I made some stew for next week’s dinner. Not made on the hob this time, mainly done in the Le Creuset which allows the oven to do most of the work.

With the stew happily bubbling away, I went for a walk in St Mo’s and got the PoD. It was warm and still a bit close feeling today. The photo’s another one of a geranium this time with  with a little fly as a photobomber. I think every photo I took today had an insect of one variety or another in it, hogging the limelight.

We went dancing tonight and learned the first part of Kirsty’s new Rumba routine. As with all the best routines, it started off simply and then progressed to the more complicated bits. Next week she’ll be adding in even more intricate figures like the Hockey Stick and the Fan, but by then we’ll have forgotten what we learned tonight!

No real plans for tomorrow other than finishing the stew.

Enjoyin’ Dancin’ – 13 July 2024

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Out to Brookfield to the last dance class for a while.

Three weeks off dance class. The teachers are off on holiday teaching on a cruise ship in the Canaries for two weeks and recovering for another week. I hope they have fun!

Today’s class started with the Butterfly Jive after a couple of walk-throughs. With a little bit of help, I sort of made my way through it. Two units at the end of the routine are still just beyond me, but I’m sure with Scamp’s help I’ll manage to get them sorted out.

Next we went straight into a technique session about the Foxtrot. Very technical in places, this pointed up where we were both going wrong with my favourite dance. Sometimes I felt I was doing something wrong and Stewart corrected it for me and sometimes Scamp was not quite in the right place and that was fixed by Jane. Altogether we learned a lot about the techniques. Then we had a strange practise session where we had to dance the same six steps over and over again while applying CBMP (Contra Body Movement Position) where your legs to in one direction and your upper body goes in the opposite direction. Difficult to explain and counter intuitive to dance, but once you get it, it improves your dance technique – or so I am told. I have enough trouble getting my feet to go in the direction I want without encouraging my upper body to go in a different direction!

The last half hour of the lesson was a refining of the White City Waltz and the Blue Angel Rumba. All in all it was a very useful morning and one I enjoyed. I think the fact that the class size was small and that allowed folk to ask for help and to correct problems.

Drove home through fairly light traffic, so light in fact that we took a shortcut through the Clyde Tunnel and merged back into the M8 without missing a beat. Scamp calculated that this was Glasgow Fair weekend, which might account for the light traffic. Whatever it was, it cut about 20 minutes from our usual commute.

We’d booked a table at The Cotton House for 2.15pm today and had a filling lunch. Thai Spring Rolls followed by Chicken Chow Mein for Scamp and Chicken Satay followed by Salt and Chilli Chicken with Noodles for me. No room for dessert, but I did have three jelly beans as my sort of dessert! Glad we booked, because the place was full.

I couldn’t be bothered going for a walk when we got home. Too dull and with rain predicted. Instead, I found the PoD when I was wandering around the garden and saw a Green Orb-Weaver Spider building its web on our gigantic Teasel plant. Meanwhile, Scamp wasn’t happy with the Berberis she’d replanted. It was falling to one side and just didn’t look right, so she dug it up and replanted it a second time.  Now it looks right. Scamp the perfectionist!

We watched two episodes of The Turkish Detective tonight. Interesting, but the Detective Inspector’s delivery reminded me of Columbo. Entertaining police drama with some elements of dark humour. Yes, I’d watch another couple of episodes.

I finished a book that Fred gave me, The Secret Hours by Mick Herron. It was like saying goodbye to an old friend. It’s a spy story with so many twists and turns, it left me wondering who was following who. Jamie and Neil, I’d recommend it to you. Unputdownable is the only way to describe it, although as it was reaching its end I wanted to put it down, just so I could keep reading it later, if that makes sense!

No plans for tomorrow, but it looks like rain again.

 

A wee surprise – 2 July 2024

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We had agreed that we should go out somewhere today.

I suggested to Scamp that she might like to go down to Troon to test out the dance floor there. There are two dances a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays and since we were committed on Thursday, why not go today? By the time I’d rinsed the breakfast dishes, Scamp had laid out prospective dresses and shoes, so I guessed the invitation had been accepted!

The dance started at 1pm and finished at 3pm. The drive down to Troon was without event and by the time we got there the sun was shining. Even better still, there was a parking space next to the hall. After heading in to the wrong building by mistake we were given detailed instruction on how to get to the hall which was next door, but was hidden round a corner. Booked ourselves in and paid a tenner for both of us, probably the going rate for us Auld Yins!

We found a large dance hall with the compere and keyboard maestro ready for action on the stage with his three keyboards. He had a good sound system and the sang to all the tunes he played, and he played a lot. We were used to Stewart & Jane’s setup where they played pre-recorded music and there was tea at half time. Not so today. If you wanted something to drink, you had to provide it yourself. That way participants didn’t lose any dancing time.

I think we danced for almost everything he played. The only things we stayed seated for were the ‘school dances’ Military Two Step and Canadian Barn Dance. We also avoided the Viennese Waltz which isn’t in our syllabus. We even added in a Salsa track and a Bachata, just for fun. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming. Ronnie and Millie seemed surprised to see us and we had a bit of banter with them.

For once in a dance class, the time seemed to fly. I don’t think it was because my dancing was stunning, because it wasn’t, I think I was just enjoying dancing. But soon it was time for the last waltz and we assured everyone we spoke to that we’d be back, despite the long drive.

Since we hadn’t had anything to eat since breakfast, Scamp suggested we go for a late lunch at the Lido in Troon: Mussels for Scamp and Italian sausage and pasta for me. We had stopped at Morrison’s on the way home to buy a loaf and ended up with a trolley full of stuff, as usual.

The run back in  the rain, took a bit more time than the drive down, but I’d expected that. Much more traffic on the road and a lot of congestion coming off the M74 on to the M 73. I’d hate to drive through that every day.

I only took six photos today and kept only four of them. PoD was a bloke sitting on the wall at the seaside having his lunch.

We have no plans as yet for tomorrow. I’m sure something will turn up.

Back in the old routine – 22 June 2024

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10:15am found us driving towards Glasgow and on to Brookfield. We were going to dance class.

When we got there the ickle girls were being presented with awards for being the best ballet dancers in Brookfield Hall while Stewart & Jane looked as if they were about to blow a gasket. I could understand why. We lost ten minutes of our dance class to this little frippery.

Jane was the one to call a halt to the celebration when she started clearing away the unnecessary seats and allowing us to get out of our trainers and into our dance shoes while the little charmers went charging round the hall. Then we danced a little bit of fluff, the Blue Angel Rumba It wasn’t blue, I saw no angels but there was a little bit of rumba there. Next, as we’d expected, we went through the Butterfly Jive. Again, I must complain because there were no Butterflies although there were a few Jive steps. It’s quite complicated and it’s FAST. Far too fast for my poor feet. They’ve only just learned how to waltz and foxtrot, but aren’t experienced enough to handle a fast Jive. Neither am I come to that. I managed to get my phone to record the routine and hopefully between now and next Saturday we’ll have had a chance to learn the steps and assemble them in the correct order.

Next was a new ‘improved’ version of the Tango we’d learned ages ago which had a ‘Prom turn to Rock turn’ added to it. I’d never understood what a Prom turn to Rock turn was, something to do with 6th years leaving party added to Mick Jagger’s on-stage antics. Actually it’s just fancy word for a turn and then rocking back and forward. Next Jane added ‘The Chase’ which I didn’t understand and still don’t. Just a whole pile of pirouetting on the dance floor, much like the ickle girls were doing earlier. Thankfully Scamp managed to make sense of this new dance language and we got through it.

We finished up with another couple of sequence dances, a Midnight Jive and a Bossa Nova. I can handle them.

I was so relieved when the teachers started clearing up, because my little brain was full after we did the Blue Angel Rumba and I was beginning to get a nagging headache.

We drove home through the lightest traffic I’ve ever seen on the M8/M74. In fact, when I glanced over to the Kingston Bridge, the traffic on it was travelling at about 50mph. Unheard of on a Saturday afternoon.

I was absolutely beat and feeling quite down, when I got home. A piece ’n’ egg helped, but didn’t cure it. Scamp suggested I take a couple of paracetamol and I did and I felt better. Went for a walk in St Mo’s later and got a few photos. That’s where the PoD came from. It’s what my mum called Purple Vetch, so that’s what I’m calling it too.

Dinner was provided by Golden Bowl, Chicken Chop Suey and Fried Rice for Scamp and a Special Chow Mein for me. Both quite, quite delicious. A large glass of red to wash it down helped too.

The walk in St Mo’s lifted my spirits and the Golden Bowl helped too, but the heavy lifting was done by Scamp, as always. Thank you my love for talking me out of a bad day … again!

Nothing planned for tomorrow, but I think we need to practise the Butterfly Jive. Who knows, we may even find the butterfly!