31st March - Pub Night

I arrived at the Cheshire Line Tavern tonight to find a few people had decided to eat at the pub. Portion sizes seemed to differ greatly depending on what people had chosen. The Ravioli didn't look very filling, but Rachel assured me that it was. She gave me some clear directions for getting to the wedding on Saturday - I'm still planning on going by train, but I now know where the church is in case I get a taxi driver who doesn't know where he's going.
I was surprised and pleased to see Julie tonight. She told us how she managed to break her collarbone by falling off a chair whilst putting a new battery in the smoke alarm. She pointed out that there were a few new people tonight - I introduced her to Camilla. However I forgot Christie's name and had to be reminded and I never did manage to find out the name of the new Irish girl. Hopefully she will be coming to the group again.
Kay, Tim and Emma joined us later on in the evening. Kay was impressed with the wedding card I had made for Louise and Rob. She has agreed to give me a lift to Chris B's party in May. We found out that the Chester trip has been cancelled because Debbie can't make it. I pointed out that there is nothing on the programme that clashes with the next Big Jive Night in April and Sandeep, Tim and Kay said they were interested.
I left just after 10.30 tonight and was home just after 11pm - a good journey home to round off an enjoyable night.

25th March - My first New York Salsa class

I decided to go to Alex and Tina's salsa class today because I'm missing my salsa.
I arrived half way through the beginners lesson and was invited to join in. I learnt basic cross body and outside turns. I then did the improvers class which was all variations on what they call the "cuddle" or what I would call a wrap. This type of salsa is faster than I'm used to, but I did manage to master most of the moves by the end of the lesson. I'm definately going to try and go to this as often as I can. it's not as much fun as Les and Lorraine's class, but it is cheaper and at least it helps me to maintain my salsa skills.

22nd March - Martyn Joseph concert

It took over an hour to get to Sale tonight,but I'm pleased to say I got there in time for the concert. Met Kay and Janet in the bar. Also saw Dave and Sue who I haven't seen since Greenbelt. Sue said she was looking forward to seeing someone called Miranda so we wondered who that could be.
The support act was a guy called Martin Sexton - his music is somewhat similar in style to Martyn's so he was a good choice for support. Then came the interval when we met up with Janet again. Also saw a guy called Andrew from 25+ - haven't seen him since the moveable feast.
When we returned to the theatre we found out who Miranda was. She is the double bass player from Show of Hands who is accompanying Martyn on this tour. The concert was good - a good mix of old and new songs interspersed with tales from Martyn's recent tour of Canada and America. I was pleased to see he did "Turn me Tender" - it is fast becoming one of my favourites. Kay gave me a lift home and we caught up on each other's news. She is looking forward to seeing her parents this weekend.
In all it was a good night - I'm glad I went.

18th March - Coffee at the Slug and Lettuce

As usual, I was the first to arrive today. Geoff and Ian arrived not long after. We chatted about the forthcoming weekend away. Geoff says he is going sailing - he's the first person I've spoken to who is doing watersports. Kay, Phil and Vanessa were next to arrive. Kay brought me a birthday card which takes the total up to 19. Tim, Jenny and Susanna arrived not long after. We talked about next weekend. Kay is going home. We get the impression that there aren't many going to Jackie's party. Tim is hoping to go and I presume Vanessa and Susanna will go as it's near their house.
Anya and Mike turned up. Anya says she had a good time in Malawi - it was good to see her again. At the end of the afternoon, Jenny paid for my coffee. Kay said I should regard that as a birthday present. It was a nice gesture. I was very grateful.

17th March - Birthday meal at Lal Qila

Mike, Jane, Dave,Eddy and Steve were already there when I arrived at the pub tonight.
It was good to see Steve again - must be well over a year since I last saw him. We waited for Karen and Al to arrive. Karen turned up with Andrea and Al met us as we were leaving the pub. We walked down to Lal Qila. I was disappointed to find out that they had no record of nmy booking when I arrived,but we didn't have to wait long for a table anyway. I ordered fish tikka again and was very pleased with it. The chicken shashlik that Al and Eddy ordered looked good too. The only dish that looked disappointing was Karen's Keema Rogan Josh. After the meal we decided to go to the Whitworth. Andrea and I bought Kulfis from the street stall on the way. When we arrived at the pub they said they couldn't let us in as it was nearly closing time, so they recommended we go over to the Varsity bar instead. Al, Karen, Andrea Eddy and I went over there. The others went home. Drinks were quite reasonably priced and they had "Match of the day" showing on the big screen. Al has invited me to his party next Saturday so that is where I will go as it's easy to get to.
We left the pub at midnight and made our way home. In all it was a good night and i got another 6 birthday cards.

14th March - My birthday

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Prompted by Liz I decided to treat myself to a visual DNA for my birthday. I got a dozen cards today, a box of chocolates from my Mum's best friend and some brightly coloured socks from my friend Caroline. No doubt I will get more cards on Saturday when I go out for my birthday meal.

10th March - Greenbelt Angels Day in Leeds

I arrived at the station in plenty time to catch my train this morning. I was pleased to see that it didn't go from platform 13 for a change. I arrived in Leeds at about 9.30am and was pleased to see that the station hasn't changed a bit since I was last there. I took a taxi to the church where I was greeted by Steve and Kathryn.
They said there were about 35 people coming to the event - less than I expected but still a good number.
The morning startred with a talk from Steve H on paganism - quite interesting. This was followed by a talk from a Christian Aid worker who lives in Afghanistan. I learnt a lot about the situation out there from her.
During lunch we listened to a good number of songs from the GB folk club. I quite enjoyed it - the singers were pretty good. After lunch we went back into the church for a poetry recital by Rob Drysdale. His style is similar to Stewart Henderson and his poems were witty and entertaining. This was followed by a talk from John Davies on the GB theme - Heaven in Ordinary. Kathryn said it was similar to the talk he did on Iona which I missed so it was a good opportunity to hear it again. The day finished with a talk from Ray Gaston - a very unconventional looking vicar about what his encounters with Muslims had taught him about their faith and how it had challenged his faith. It was very enlightening. It shows that people who won't join in multi-faith worship are really missing out.
At the end of the day I decided to go back home. I shared a taxi to the station with a girl called Trina. It cost about half as much as the taxi there so the first taxi driver was obviously a conman. When I arrived at the station there was a train in that was going to M/c Victoria. I got it even though I knew it would take longer as I didn't fancy waiting half an hour for the Piccadilly train. I ended up getting home at about 9pm.
In all it was a really good day. I'm definately glad I went.

6th March The End of an Era

I thought there was something wrong when I arrived at salsa class tonight and found everyone upstairs in the bar and I was right. Lorraine told us that salsa classes are going to be on Mondays from next week onwards. This is because the ex-manager of La Tasca has allowed a group called the Social Circle to use the room we normally use for dancing on a Tuesday evening. Les was pretty unhappy about this as you might guess. I'm not too happy either as Monday is my jive night and I'm not giving that up. Lorraine sugested we try Cuba cafe on Tuesday or Copacabana on Wednesday or Moso Moso on Thursday. I suppose they're all worth a try as is Alex and Tina's Sunday class even if that is New York style. After a brief chat with the others I decided to go home. Spent the rest of the evening sorting out my new phone. Suceeded in swapping sim cards over and working out how to do all the important things like making phone calls and sending text messages. Also had great fun with the camera.
Will have to get a cable so I can transfer photos to my PC.

5th March - An Early present

I was given my birthday present today. It's a new mobile phone - a Sony Ericsson with built-in-camera. I didn't have much time to play around with it and discover all its features tonight as I had to go to Whalley Range for a Circuit Meeting. I'm quite pleased with it as it's lighter and smaller than my old one. So far I've managed to find an attractive floral screen saver and set the date,time and ringtone! Here's hoping that swapping sim cards with my old phone and working out how it works will not be too difficult.

3rd March - Pub Night at Cheshire Line Tavern

I arrived tonight to find that quite a few people had come for a meal. The place was fairly busy as there was an 18th birthday party booked in. I sat and talked to two new girls called Leanne and Camilla, both of whom are from Sale. I was quite surprised to see Elaine tonight as she doesn't usually come to pub nights. She says she is going on the weekend away in June. Rick told me that all the women's places have now been booked. This is a record - the booking forms were only sent out a week ago! Charlie came in and told us the eclipse of the moon was starting so we all went out to have a look. It was quite cold out so we came back in rather quickly. I joined the group who were sitting in the centre of the pub. We chatted about the June weekend away. I was pleased to find out that there's quite a few who won't be doing the water sports in the morning. Jenny says it will be just after her exams finish so she'll be taking the opportunity to get a good rest.
Later on we went out again for another look at the eclipse. By now the moon was almost covered. I drove off home leaving the others staring up at the moon. Had quite an easy journey home. I'm getting to know the route quite well now.