29th May - The journey home from Cliff

I decided to leave straight after breakfast this morning. After I had only gone about a mile or two the car didn't seem to be accelerating all that well and was struggling to go faster than 20mph. I decided to pull into the nearest layby and phone the breakdown service. They said they would send out a local firm within the hour and they were true to their word fortunately. A man turned up and checked the engine and put in some more oil. He gave the car a test run and said all seemed to be ok. He decided to follow me for few miles just to make sure which was good of him.
Despite this problem it didn't take too long to get home as the roads were fairly clear and the weather was good.
I had a meal at Mum and Dads before setting off home. In all it's been a good weekend and a good rest. I don't reckon I'll be going to Cliff festival regularly, but I enjoyed the experience and I'm sure I will return sometime.

27th May - Third Day of Cliff College festival

I decided to treat myself to a proper breakfast today - sausage, beans and hashbrowns. After breakfast I went to the interactive bible study again. By now it had started raining. The Bible study focused on Ephesians again and was all about Hope. After this I went to Worldwide worshipin the chapel. The preacher and singers were from Zimbabwe. I even recognised a couple of songs as we have several Zimbabweans at my local church.
I had ice cream sundae for lunch! After lunch I went to the talk on using pupppet shows in church. We learnt how to make puppets speak and move. They sang adaptations of pop songs which had been turned into praise songs.The puppeteers also did a sketch about the healing of the paralysed man who had been lowered through the roof.
I had a baguette and chips for tea and then went to Mark Hammond's worship service. The worship songs were lively and by coincidence we focused on the Ephesians passage we read this morning.
After this we went to Clarence's chat show again. There were some interesting interviews tonight especially from one woman whose husband had a heart transplant.

26th May - Second day of Cliff College festival

After breakfast this morning I went to the Interactive Bible Study in the Terrace Tent.
I treated myself to a vanilla latte and sat down at a table with some friendly women who said they came to the festival regularly. The study was led by two young ministers called Ashley and Debbie and focused on Ephesians. I quite enjoyed it.
After lunch I went to a talk on a Wesleyan approach to other faiths. It was quite interesting. Later in the afternoon, I went to see a show by Storm ministries which told the story of creation and Jesus's ministry through dance and sketches. It was really good.
I had a turkey and stuffing sandwich for tea. I then went to the World Wide worship which was led by Debbie who led this morning's bible study. It also included songs from Africa and a bible reading in Mandarin Chinese.
I ended the day by going to see Clarence's chat show. This was a chat show in which peple who were speakers or regulars at the festival were interviewed by Steve Wild, the evangelism director and his frog puppet , Clarence. Tonight's interviewees included a trio of regulars from Wigan - one of whom had recently had heart operation. The chat show was both good fun and quite moving at times.

25th May - First day of Cliff College festival

I had a reasonable journey down to Cliff college today. The only awkward bit was the roadworks near Disley. When I arrived at 12 midday I found that I was too early and my room wasn't ready yet. The woman on reception suggested that I go to the nearby teashop and craftshop so that is what I did. I had a pot of Earl Grey and a fruit flapjack.
When I returned to the college my room was ready but they couldn't find the key. Eventually they did find it and I went to unpack in the room. It was quite a good room though the view from the window was not brilliant.
In the evening I went to the Welcome meeting in the main marquee. Sandy Rodgers from Edinburgh preached on the Holy Spirit in John's gospel. It was an encouraging sermon.
Later I went to Late Night Extra in the main college building. The theme was the Kindom of God and there was plenty of good loud music from a band called My Spoon. The New Testament lecturer talked to us about the Kingdom of God and the parable of the mustard seed. I left at about 11pm. In all it was a pretty good day.

21st May - Modern Jive Class - Prestwich

Despite the fact that I was a bit dizzy tonight and had to go back for my shoes(!) I still managed to get to the Longfield Suite in time for the lesson. Such are the advantages of living nearby. The moves we did in the first class were Basic move,shoulder slide, Yo-Yo and catapult. At the end of the first class I ended up dancing with my Aussie friend who also goes to Sunday salsa classes. He remarked that I can't keep away from the dance floor - a fair observation I must say. Also danced with Sid and Kevin in the interval between classes. They seemed to be playing some good music tonight - plenty of swing and classics like "Mustang Sally".
The second class was more complicated - we learnt the basic wrap, shoulder drop combo and another move which was difficult to master which included a double spin where you swapped hands halfway through - that was the one bit I did get the hang of. I watched the advanced class before going home. As usual it was a good night out - will miss it next week as it's Bank Holiday.

19th May - Pub Night at Cheshire Line Tavern

I had another easy journey to the Cheshire Line tonight. I arrived to find Kay, Anya, Mike and John were already there. Jenny arrived not long after and they ordered food. Most people seemed to be ordering tortilla wraps which looked pretty good. Jenny seemed to be in a good mood as she has just finished her dissertation and is off to see her grandad in Spain next week.
Later on a few others arrived including Sarah, Chris ,Nigel and Rick. We seemed to be a bit depleted in numbers tonight. I believe this is because someone called Bev (not someone I'm familiar with) is having a barbeque at her house. Robin came in later on and handed out invites to his concert which clashes with the ball. I have discovered that not many people are going to the ball, but I'm not too bothered as that means there will be lots of new people there. Debbie and little Sarah joined us too. I found out another reason why Jenny is in a good mood - it's her birthday tomorrow. Debbie bought her a very cute teddy bear.
I left a little later than usual tonight but still made it home before midnight. In all it was a good night despite the lower attendance.

11th May - Strictly Come Dancing at Stockport Town Hall

I arrived at Stockport Town Hall tonight to find that the car park was already pretty full. I just about managed to find a space I could park in easily. Kay had already arrived before me and I took the seat next to her. The evening started with dancing for the audience. Kay managed to get a couple of dances but I didn't. I guess you could say she has more confidence about asking guys to dance than me. There were quite a few good dancers there tonight. Some were obviously born show-offs - there was one couple in proper dancing costumes, but we preferred the more subtle plainly dressed couples as they seeed to be better dancers with no airs and graces.
At about 9pm it was announced that Darren and Lillia were going to be late as they were held up on the motorway. I did start to wonder how much we would actually see of them this evening. Eventually we spotted them through the window in one of the side doors. They entered to rapturous applause. They performed a tango, a rumba, a paso doble and a jive. Lillia changed costumes for each dance - I particularly liked her red paso doble dress and the black dress with silver leaves that she wore for the rumba. Between dances Darren chatted to us about the Strictly Come Dancing contest and other contests they have competed in in the UK. He hinted that there would be a fifth series this year.
Before they left we had the opportunity to chat to them and get autographs. Kay asked about dance opportunities in Sheffield and found that they are leading some workshops soon.
We then left feeling that we had had an enjoyable evening. I did have my doubts about whether we got our money's worth, but I did enjoy it nevertheless.

8th May - Bryan Adams concert

I arrived at the M.E.N. arena quite early tonight. I had a good seat in my usual block -114 - on right hand side of stage.
The support band was James Hunter who played blues music. I recognised one track - "Walk away" as we use it for dancing. They were pretty good.
The main concert began on a small stage at the back of the arena. Here Bryan and the band played "There will never be another tonight" and "Can't stop this thing we started". They were mobbed by the crowd as they made their way to the main stage.
The set here started with tracks from way back - "Kids wanna rock" & "Summer of 69" - sounded really great. The lead guitarist tonight was Keith Scott - he played some cracking solos.
Then came the cue for someone to get up on stage to sing "When you're gone" with Bryan. He picked a girl who was sitting on her boyfriend's shoulders. She turned out to be a Scouser and was greeted with loud boos when she shouted "We're going to Athens!" Having said that she did sing quite well and we cheered and applauded at the end of the song.
At the end of the show Bryan came back for one encore on the main stage and played "Cloud No 9" and one of my favourites - "Run to you". He then disappeared and re-appeared with the band on the small stage to play "7 days to rock" and "She's only happy when she's dancing". We certainly got our money's worth tonight as the concert lasted over two hours. It was brilliant.

6th May - New York Salsa class

Looking back I'm surprised I managed to motivate myself to go to salsa class today.
I was still a bit tired after last night and the idea of having to take the bus into town didn't encourage me. I had to wait 20 mins for the Metrolink replacement bus,but it didn't take long to get into town. That meant I only missed about 10 mins of the beginners class.
It was encouraging to see so many people there today and good to see a few familiar faces too. I managed to pick up the beginners routine easily. In the break between lessons I chatted to Sid and Anne (who also go jiving at Prestwich) Sid said he had decided to stay for his first improvers class. I reckoned he should manage ok as he's quite good at jiving.
We spent the whole lesson concentrating on one move - the Copa C. I felt I had mastered it by the end of the lesson, though I had problems when the music got faster!
I left La Tasca to discover that it was raining hard outside. I just about managed to catch a bus. The driver assured me that he was stopping near the tram station so I was a little annoyed to find that he only went up Cheetham Hill. This meant I had quite a long walk in the rain before getting home. Must make sure I don't get that bus again!

5th May - Chris's 40th Birthday party

I decided to wear a new dress for the party tonight. Mum had bought me a lovely summer dress - white with pink flowers - earlier in the week and she advised me to wear it. Kay picked me up at about 7.30pm and we had a good journey over to Warrington - the directions we were given were quite easy to follow. As we got out of the car we met up with a few other familiar faces - Robin, Vicky, Sarah and Debbie. We were quite impressed with the venue - especially as it had a good sized dance floor.DJ came over to talk to us - it was good to see him again - haven't seen him since November. He had a dance with Kay. A few more of us started dancing. I danced with Tim. Chris had a go at doing "Double Trouble" (i.e. dancing with two girls) and did quite well. A few other people joined us - Sarah C, Susanna,Laurie, Rick and Julia. Also saw some of the Northern Lights crowd including Paula and Pete.
Just before the buffet started , Chris went up on stage with a couple of friends to open the party with trilingual greetings (Polish, English and sign language) and birthday wishes. Our group were sat conveniently close to the buffet so we ended up near the front of the queue! There was a good spread - sandwiches, quiche,pizza and salads followed by some lovely desserts. After this Chris blew out the candles on his cake and we sang Happy birthday. He then presented his Mum and his neighbour Jean with flowers to thank them for all their help in organising the party. DJ then got all the girls who could dance up on the floor and gave Chris the opportunity to dance with us all in turn. We then had a pot luck dance. Anyone who wanted to bought a raffle ticket and then danced with the partner who had the same number ticket. I danced with an older guy who turned out to be quite a good dancer. Later on in the evening I finally got the chance to have a proper dance with Chris to the swing number - "Beyond the sea" -it went quite well. I also danced with Pete.
The party finished just after midnight. We thanked Chris for an excellent party and then Kay and I made our way back down the motorway to Manchester. In all it was a very enjoyable evening.