25th November - Big Jive Night at Stockport

I must admit I felt decidedly out of my comfort zone when I arrived at the Town Hall tonight and discovered that Tim, Tony and Sean were not there. However, I was soon cheered up by the arrival of a few of the Prestwich regulars and decided to join in the lesson. I managed to master the first and last move of the sequence tonight, but not the daft "kicking" move in between. I was reassured by most of the men I danced with that they would never be inclined to use a silly move like that on the dance floor anyway.
After the lesson I had quite a few dances, mostly with guys I knew from Prestwich. It was great to see and dance with Silvano again - he complemented me on both my outfit and my dancing tonight. I also danced with the
girl who came with him and then watched in awe as she did a "Double Trouble" dance(i.e. a dance with two partners) with two other girls. I left at 11pm (as I did last time) feeling pleased that I'd made the effort to go there as I'd learnt quite a few moves and had an enjoyable time.

23rd November - Casino Royale

We decided to treat ourselves to Premier seating at the Printworks tonight and Andy was kind enough to just accept £5 from me as my share of the payment. I enjoyed the film - it was certainly action-packed and fast paced. Andy said it was the best Bond film he's seen in ages, but I must admit I still prefer Pierce Brosnan to Daniel Craig. I would love to know how they put together the final scenes in Venice - they certainly had me on the edge of my seat.
One thing's for certain - it won't be another 6 months 'till I go to the cinema again. I hope there's something good on over the Christmas break.

20th November - Modern Jive class

I was pleased to see that they still had tickets for the Christmas party on sale when I arrived at the class tonight. Phil and Wendy were teaching again. The moves learnt tonight in the beginners class were Neckbreak which I think is the most complicated beginners move,Sway, Yo-yo and Right handed comb. Had a couple of good dances during the break between the two classes. I had the opportunity to dance with Silvano who is a good dancer and gives encouraging feedback. Moves learnt in the intermediate class included an alternative neckbreak and Texas French girl. Phil and Wendy asked everyone to have a go at the advanced move which involved sitting on your partner's knee. Fortunately both of the guys I danced this move with were willing to have a go and I felt comfortable letting them support me. I look forward to seeing a few of the Prestwich regulars on Saturday at Stockport.

18th November - Meal at Casa Tapas

When we arrived at the restaurant tonight we were told that our table was upstairs. We went up to find a very dimly lit room which was also quite cold. As the other small tables surrounding ours were empty we borrowed some of their candles so that we could see what we were eating! I sat with Mark H, Chris, Tim and Elaine and we talked about Chris's recent holiday in New York as we waited for the food to arrive. The first dishes to arrive were olives, feta cheese salad, tomato and garlic bread and aubergines in cheese sauce. I talked to Tim about last weekend and found that he also didn't get a good room when he went to that hotel last time. Whilst we were chatting I received two text messages. The first was from Kay saying that she wasn't going dancing at Stockport next Saturday. I therefore asked Tim if he was going and he said he probably would. The second message was from Alan,Rick and Mike A asking what we were doing after the meal. I asked the others and ended up telling them to meet us at the restaurant later. More food arrived - meatballs, chicken and potato wedges in two different sauces - one creamy and one spicy. The waiter asked if we wanted paella and we ordered four dishes of seafood paella to share amongst the group of 20. That took quite a while to arrive. The dish that our group shared had only one mussel in it which I had (as surprisingly I was the only one in our little group that likes them). Alan, Rick and Mike arrived - they had been for a curry in Rusholme. Tim went up to the other end of the table to chat to some of the others. Meanwhile I talked to Alan about his plans for Christmas and New Year. Unfortunately, he won't be going away with us at New Year as his girlfriend is not keen to go.
Simon joined us and said that he is looking forward to the New Year weekend away as it's his birthday on New Year's Eve.
Elaine and I left the restaurant just after 11pm. She said that she hopes to see me on Monday at the Longfield Suite. On reflection, I had a good evening, but I think that if anyone suggests going for a Tapas meal again I would recommend going to La Tasca as the food and atmosphere are much better.

12th November - Lunch at The Victoria Hotel

We managed to get up in time for breakfast this morning at 9am. Most of us looked drowsy, but we revived ourselves with strong coffee and cooked breakfast. After checking out Kay and I said "goodbye" to Sarah, Vicky and Debbie before they went back to Chester. Kay, DJ and I went into Bradford in search of a coffee shop and ended up spending an hour or so in Waterstones chatting about last night and DJ's holiday in Scotland. We then made our way to the Victoria Hotel for lunch. We met up with Chris,Peter and the others in the bar. Chris gave us invitations to his 40th birthday party next May and asked us if we were interested in going to Poland with him next year. He has quite a few Polish friends and one of them has suggested that next time he goes out there he should do some Modern Jive teaching. He says he needs some other good dancers to go with him. Kay and I were both interested in this.
We had lunch in the Carmargue room.



The starter was tomato and basil soup with crusty bread and tapenade followed by chicken, Yorkshire pudding, new potatoes broccoli and carrots. As usual, the food was very good and there was plenty of it!
After the meal we thanked Peter for organising a great weekend and wished him well for the planning meeting next weekend when they are hoping to recruit new members for the Northern Lights leadership team.
Our journey home was fairly good. Kay told me that she is going home to Sheffield next weekend so I won't see her for another week or two.
On reflection, this was a really good weekend. I hope that Northern Lights will be able to organise another similar event next year.

11th November - Northern Lights Dinner Dance in Bradford

I was really glad Kay was driving today as the rain was quite heavy. Despite this it only took about half-an-hour to get to Bradford. We booked in at the Guide Post hotel and found that we had got the "Fawlty Towers" room. It stank of smoke so we opened the windows. We then tried to turn up the radiator and found that it wasn't working. When we tried to ring reception to complain we found the phone in the room wasn't working either! Fortunately, Vicky and Sarah were in the room next door so we
sat and chatted with them whilst someone tried to repair the radiator. Debbie joined us and we shared her chocolate biscuits as we watched "50 Greatest Movie Videos".
When we returned to our room we were offered a fan heater as they were not able to sort out the radiator. We watched "Strictly Come Dancing" whilst we were getting ready. Kay has become v good at predicting the scores.
The evening started with drinks in the bar where we met up with the rest of the 25+ crowd - there were about a dozen of us all together. The girls looked lovely in their dresses - I was glad I chose to wear my maroon dress - I feel more relaxed when I'm not wearing black.
The meal was good. Most people seemed to have gone for the beef or the chicken. The people on our table were quite friendly. As usual, the subject of conversation turned to dancing and Simon was kind enough to point out the best Jivers to us.
After the meal, we moved back into the bar whilst the staff moved the chairs and tables away from the dance floor.
As soon as the disco started, the keen dancers returned to the main room. I really enjoyed the disco - Dave and Chris turned out to be the best dancers. I was quite flattered that Chris danced with me for two tracks. By 1 am, when the disco ended most of us were very tired. Debbie and I went back to our rooms, leaving the night-owls (Kay, Anya, Mike and Sarah C) chatting in the bar.

10th November - Deacon Blue Concert at Apollo Manchester

I had a brill time at The Apollo tonight. I had a really good view of the stage from my seat in the circle. The atmosphere was great. The crowd went wild for "Real Gone Kid" The band were really pleased to see everyone singing the first verse of "Dignity" as soon as they heard the intro. In the middle of the gig they had a quieter section that they called the "campfire" which was when they sang "Circus Lights" and "Wages Day" - it was good to hear that sung with little backing.
Things livened up again when they sung "Fergus sings the blues". The encore included something I expected - "Twist and Shout" and something I didn't - the Springsteen song "Light of Day". I was a little disappointed to not hear "Chocolate Girl" which is one of my favourites, but nevertheless it was a great evening.

4th November 2006 - Chicago at the Opera House

When I noticed the "Chicago" was coming to the Opera House I decided that I had to go and see it. Mum and I haven't been to any musicals for ages and it is one of our favourites. There didn't seem to be any spare seats in the theatre.
This show was a bit different from all the others that I've seen. The band were on stage throughout the production and the sets were very stark. Mum said that the problem with having seen the film was that you had very high expectations. Having said that though, I thought the dancing and singing was very good. The only actress that disappointed us was the woman who played Momma Morton - we thought she didn't look tough enough. Jennifer Ellison was very good as Roxie though - she made a good ventriloquist's dummy for the "We both reached for the gun" number. The woman who played Velma was good too. At the end they both came on stage together to take their bows - it was good to see that both roles were regarded to be equally important.
In all it was a very entertaining show.