26th January - Big Jive Night at Stockport

Had a fairly easy journey to Stockport tonight. I arrived just as they were opening the doors. The lesson started a little earlier than usual tonight. I managed to master the moves by the end of it. At the end of the lesson I ended up dancing with Jack who I know from Prestwich. I had quite a few dances tonight both with people I know and those I don't. Tim arrived at about 10.30pm. I had a couple of dances with him. He says he is planning to go to Greenbelt this year which is great news. I left at 11pm as I don't want to be too tired for church tomorrow.
Really enjoyed tonight. I'm glad I went.

23rd January - Meal at Tampopo and an Ideal Husband at Royal Exchange

I met Claire and Phil outside the restaurant tonight. We went inside and were shown to a table. Not long after we were joined by Janet, Ed , Sarah and Graham. We decided to order from the special menu which entitled us to a free starter as we were eating before 7pm. I had veggie spring rolls and the others had little dumplings. For main course I had chicken with lemongrass and coriander with rice. It was all delicious. Everyone enjoyed the meal.
We then walked to the theatre where we met Alex. Our seats were in the front row in the top tier.We had a good view from up there. We enjoyed the play. The costumes and scenery were impressive as usual. In the interval, we met Paula who had come to the play with a friend. In all it was an enjoyable evening. We must make sure we go to other plays there this year.

20th January - Coffee afternoon at Cafe Rouge

Brian and I turned up at the cafe to find John waiting for us. We ordered coffee and were presently joined by Alan. We decided to move to a different table in the centre of the cafe and pulled two tables together. Presently Jenny, Kay and Vanessa arrived and we chatted about what we had done since we last saw each other. Then Paula turned up closely followed by John. Paula showed us the proposed route for the walk she is doing at Easter in Marsden. It looks quite good. I may go on it though at the moment I'm not making any firm plans for what I'm doing after my trip to Florence.
After about an hour people started leaving. We decided to stay until 5pm and were glad we did as Camille turned up late as usual and we had the opportunity to chat with her before going home.
I was disappointed at the low turnout today but was glad I went as I did at least get to see a few people.

12th January - Highs and lows

Today was a day of highs and lows.

Highs -
1)having a fairly successful journey to Rotherham - we only made one wrong turning.
2)Seeing Keith, Sandra Chris and Adele again and having a successful Northern Lights committee meeting where much progress was made.
3)Seeing the brochure for the hotel we are staying in in Florence - looks very impressive.
4)Hearing that Man Utd won 6-0.
5)Meeting Vincent and Flavia of Strictly Come dancing fame

Lows
1)Vincent was ill so him and Flavia were only able to do one dance. Naturally a lot of people were annoyed and left early.
2) The feeble apology we got from the event organisers. I don't think I will be going to any more of their events.

On reflection this was quite a good day,but it could have been better.

11th January - Alan's birthday meal at St Petersburg Restaurant

I was first to arrive at the Old Monkey tonight, but Neil was not far behind. Brian and Alan arrived next closely followed by Jane, Mike and Debbie. When we arrived at the restaurant we met four more friends of Alan's. The restaurant was fairly quiet so we expected to get served promptly. Unfortunately that wasn't the case as it took over half an hour for the food to be served. However when it came it looked good. Debbie and I seemed to do the best. She had cod in wine sauce and rice and I had chicken in a tomato sauce with rice. The ones who had goulash seemed to get the worst deal as their portions were smaller than the rest.
Most of us left straight after the meal, but a few stayed behind to try out the flavoured vodka. I don't think that I'll be going back there in a hurry as the food was somewhat overpriced.

7th January - First Jive Class of 2008

It was good to be back at Prestwich tonight after 2 weeks with no jive classes. As is usual with the first class of the year there were quite a few new people. One brave new woman volunteered to lead and did fairly well.
The moves in the beginners class were Shoulder slide, Lady Spin, Comb and basket - a nice simple sequence for the beginning of the year. I ended up dancing with Jack at the end of the lesson which made up for not getting the chance to dance with him at Christmas.
The intermediate moves tonight got progressively easier for a change - they started with a basic backhander and ended with a double comb. I was pleased to see that Stuart mentioned the fact that he is hoping to do a drops and dips workshop in the near future - hope it is before the ball in March.

1st January - Final day of New year weekend away

I somehow managed to get up before 10am this morning and went down to the dining room to find a few people having breakfast. It was announced that the walk along the Chirk Aqueduct was starting at about 10.30am. I decided not to go as I was still very tired. Instead we sat around in the lounge and chatted to each other. Some of the guys went outside to play football and we watched them from the window. At lunchtime we went into the dining room for an enjoyable lunch of roast lamb with all the trimmings. This was followed by Angel delight and chocolate flake. We then returned to the lounge. People started leaving. Most of the Manchester crowd decided to leave at about 3pm. Phil gave me a lift home. I'm afraid I was to tired to be very talkative, but we had a good journey anyway.
In all, it was an excellent weekend away - the best we have had in my opinion. I'm glad I've taken tomorrow off to recover.