The Dance Class Part 5

Can you believe that I've been at it for five weeks now? No, neither can I. Of course I am referring to my tango lessons! I was a little wary of going this week due to the fact that I'd missed a week and that I would be completely lost, but fear not, they don't appear to have learnt a lot more to the routine, so I managed to cope fairly well.

We've now learnt four different bits to the tango, that we put all together and well, I was alright with the beginning and the end, just the middle bits that I'd completely forgotten by the time, it came to dancing it!

Mr Olympic champion appears to have his favourite dancer and stuck with her all night. I was left, very much like the fat kid in gym class, waiting for someone, anyone to dance with me, but thankfully the only person left was the dance instructor and that meant I got one-two-one lessons all class!

Next week will be my last week and therefore, hopefully, another task will be crossed off the list!

Facing My Demons

I used to be a really, really, big football fan. In fact there was a period in my life, when I ate, slept and breathed the beautiful game and nothing else in life existed. So, it came as no surprise really, that my first book was based on that period in my life and that reminiscing brought back so many memories. No more so, than the 1991 FA Cup Final. This period was at the pinnacle of my adoration, but also signified the decline in my love for the game.

I can remember the build up like it was yesterday. The fact that we have to play nearly every match twice to reach the Final. The fact that Stuart Pearce scored for us, with a fantastic free kick, that I saw from the other side of the pitch, where I was standing on my seat for a better view. I remember crying from the second half onwards, knowing that we were slowing being pushed out of the game and then when the final whistle blew, I cried some more, knowing that we would never get the chance to get there again.

Although it was a couple of seasons after that, that I stopped going to matches, I never felt the same after that match, so watching the dvd on Friday, brought back a whole host of memories, including remember the sort of person I was, eighteen years ago. It also gave me chance to check the accuracy of the chapters I'd written.

I wasn't looking forward to watching the match, fearful that it would evoke all those emotions that I'd kept hidden for such a long time. I'm glad I did though. Perhaps the Forest team of today, could do with watching it, may just give them tips on how to play the beautiful game as it should be played. I, in the meantime, I'm off to add some more detail to my chapters and reminisce somewhere.

Dance Anyone?

I was all set for dance class tonight, even though I feel as rough as houses, but then when we got there, some muppet had polished the floor. After deciding against partaking, for fear of falling A over T, I gave up trying to watch the brave few and called it quits. I'm now at home, sipping lucozade, feeling sorry for myself. Funny how your feelings change in twenty four hours...

Anyone For Tennis - Part 2?

I came home from meeting yet another friend last night, to a letter with a Wimbledon postmark. I was literally shaking as I undid the letter, hoping that it would be, what I thought it would be.....

There in my hands was a letter confirming, that I had received tickets courtesy of the public ballot that I entered into. I am now the proud owner of two centre court tickets for this years Wimbledon championships! Which means I now get to go and see it live, after watching it on TV, since I was a little girl and of course that means another task ticked off my list for this year!

At last some good news for this year!

Lollipop - A True Story

Last night, I went to the pub with a friend, who we will call Doris*. We drank and then caught up with each other's lifes, me explaining about my recent appearance on Radio Nottingham.

"Did I ever tell you about my radio stint?" Doris asked.

"No" I replied

"Mmm, well I was on the radio quite a bit" she explained and paused for effect.

I willed her to continue....

"A brother of one of my friend's runs a radio show and was struggling to get people to phone in" she began to laugh...

"So I had to pretend to be a caller on a show, where the discussion was about, dressing up to please your partner".

My mouth fell open at this point.

"I had to say that I dressed up in my Mother's Lollipop Lady's outfit to turn my partner on, but that it hadn't worked" Doris explained nonchalantly, as if it was an everyday occurrence.

We swiftly changed the conversation after that.

*name has been changed to protect the identity of the one involved

My Book

There are a pile of papers on my Living Room floor, carefully arranged in chapter order, awaiting for me to start my first edit. I keep looking at the papers in the vain hope that the edit will write itself, but knowing deep down inside, that once completed, this will signify the next step of other people reading my words. I have every confidence in the storyline that I have created, but is my writing strong enough to carry it through? Only time will tell, I guess.

Radio Nottingham Appearance

I made my fifth (I think!) appearance on BBC Radio Nottingham yesterday. Unfortunately they were running late, so I only managed to fit in three very fast news stories and very little was mentioned about my blog.

My other half, however, has managed to put together, a few of my appearances all onto one player, which is on the right hand side of the blog. So you will be able to listen (hopefully not laugh!) to my dulcet tones. I will also add any future appearances on there too, as and when they happen.

It All Came Together....

Do you know those moments in life, when something clicks and everything just appears to slot into place quite nicely? I had one of those moments at dance class on Thursday night.

We began with the Samba for a change. Not a fan of the old Latin type dance, prefer the ballroom personally and couldn't get to grips with this one, last week at all. Not so this week. I got the whole rhythm and even managed to get the whole change over pattern (ish!). As for the Tango well, I heart the Tango. The Tango is my new best friend and apart from the odd wrong head movement, I get the whole dance sequence so far that we've learnt. I love the dramatic feel of the Tango and the way it makes you feel whenever you dance the steps.

I've even, gulp, made friends with the guy who warms up like an Olympic champion and had a couple of dances with him. So all is well in the land of the dance and I'm looking forward to my fourth lesson next week.

Radio Nottingham

For those of you that haven't been following my Twitter updates, I will be on Radio Nottingham tomorrow at around 8:15am onwards to do the paper review and to also talk about my blog. Note to self, will not be reviewing the Financial Times......

Lesson No. 2

I know, I know, it's taken me nearly a week to blog again! Even though, I finished 'the book' on Sunday, I've been busy reading 'The Secret History' at every available opportunity, due to the fact the Library wanted it back by today. That's finished now, so hopefully no more deadlines to meet this week and plenty of time to blog....hopefully!

My second dance lesson was on Thursday and the guy that warms up like an Olympic champion is seriously freaking me out. When we partner up, he homes in on the 'spare' ladies. I'm sure he's only trying to help, but he makes me feel very uncomfortable and the only way I can avoid him seems to be, by looking down at my feet and not making eye contact, or alternatively pushing my friend H forward, which seemed to work quite nicely this week!

We have learnt three sections of the Tango now. All of which I can do and I even got a thumbs up from the instructor this week, who I don't mind partnering in the least! However, it does appear that I'm not at one with the Samba and I struggled to get the moves correct. I just don't seem to get the wriggle right. According to H, it's all in the bounce, but I don't think that I'm destined to do Latin and will stick with the ballroom, it's probably safer!

The End

I would just like to tell everyone, that on the 1st March at 16:50pm, I have officially finished the first draft of my novel. Can I have my life back now please?!!

Facing Your Demons

On the floor in my lounge is a package. In the package is a dvd. The dvd is enticing me to watch it, but I can't. This is something I've ordered for research purposes for my book. I've already written the chapter in the book that this relates to, but it's based on a real life incident that happened 18 years ago and I'm not sure my memory serves me correct in remembering the finer details. The only problem is, I know it will upset me if I watch this. I've never, ever watched any footage since it happened and I always swore I wouldn't. But I know at some point, that I have to watch it, if my book is to be written correctly. So, at the moment, it's buried under a stack of mail and that's where I intend for it to stay, for a little while at least. Then I may, just may have to force myself to watch it. I will order the kleenex in especially for that moment.....