Christmas Lead In

It's been quite a busy and sociable lead in to Christmas for me this year, which makes a change.  Mainly on account of work and dancing. I seem to have been out for several nights in a row this last week and it feels good to stay home now and just chill.

Last weekend, I had five consecutive days off work from Thursday to Monday, so I decided, as mentioned in a previous post, to do some cleaning around the house.  I started with our bedroom, which hadn't got cleaned last time around, so it was pretty dusty. I then proceeded down the stairs to the living and dining room, giving them a good clean through, in readiness to get the tree and decorations up.

I have to admit that I don't really enjoy putting the tree up.  I know I should, but it takes quite an effort to attach all the branches (it's artificial) and then decorate it. I would almost be happy to not bother and just put some twigs in a jar and decorate them, but I'll keep on doing it for a few more years and then maybe reconsider. I was happy once it was done and it does make the living room feel cosy with all the lights.  I haven't put the chocolates on yet, because they disappear too fast.  Maybe the week before Christmas for those.

Having done this job, I felt free to enjoy the social activities of the week. On Wednesday I was at my dance class and we stopped off for drink in a local wine/cocktail bar afterwards.  I wasn't too impressed with the pricing, £27 for 3 drinks and mine was only a bottled lager. It wasn't my turn to pay this week, but I felt bad for my fellow dancer who, all credit to him, took it in his stride, bless him.

Thursday, was the day of our work Christmas meal and we were going to a Turkish restaurant in Bloomsbury, Central London, which we went to a couple of years ago.  There were about 17 of us in the end, which was a good number and the food and service were great. I think we all had a good night.

I wasn't working on Friday and had arranged with a dancing friend to attend a beginners social dance on Friday night, which was exciting.  We'd never been before but decided to give it a go before Christmas. The way it works, is that there is a lesson at the beginning of the night for an hour, followed by a few hours of social dancing to practice your steps.

I took most of the day to get ready, as I got LB to do a wet set and put my hair in rollers to see how it turned out.  I then had to walk the dog in them, which was a bit embarrassing. I should have thought that one through. I really liked the results of the rollers, my hair was so curly and I could style it much better. I just put one side back in a comb and arranged the other side in a 40's style.

I was hoping to wear a new 40's style dress I had ordered on eBay, which was a great price, brand new and just £13, but unfortunately it had been taken in by next door and they weren't around to retrieve it, so I had to make do with my navy floral blouse and a black wrap style skirt I bought in a CS last week for £5.  I paired them with black ankle boots for comfort and ease when dancing and they seemed to work well for the evening. I know that I should really post pictures of myself wearing my vintage outfits, but in all honesty, I'm not really that confident in my appearance to do that on a public internet platform.

Anyway, I had to be out of the house by 3pm, as I had a Mammogram booked at Bart's Hospital at 4pm, so I jumped on the bus and just got there in time and then decided to stay in town and meet my friend later at 7pm when the event began.

I haven't been to Bart's for many years, since I started my nurse training there in the mid 90's.  It is a lovely old hospital and the area around there is so interesting. Here's a picture of the view from the window of the Breast Screening clinic.  So pretty.

When I got out from my appointment, I rekindled old memories wandering around the streets of the city and slowly made my way over to Liverpool Street, where I was meeting my friend.  I decided to treat myself to supper in Leon's restaurant in Liverpool Street station and before long it was time to go dancing.

The event took place in a lovely big ballroom and the lesson at the beginning was attended by at least 60-100  people.  We were taught some basic Lindy Hop steps and rotated around partners for the hour to practice them.  It was quite challenging to be honest and by the end of the hour, my mind and focus had completely gone and I was making all sorts of mistakes. 

Anyway, after the lesson, you are free to dance with whomever you want for the next few hours. There was a bar with very reasonably priced drinks, hand fans on the tables in case you felt hot and needed to cool off (very thoughtful) and two teachers who stayed all night to help you if you needed it.  All for the great price of £10 for the evening. (£8 if you pay online beforehand).  I thought it was super good value for a night out and great fun. You don't need any experience, as they keep it quite basic and there's lots of repetition.  You could just go for the lesson and then go home if you wanted to and it would still be good value.  I'd definitely go again. They hold one event per month for beginners and various other events in different parts of London for more experienced dancers too.

Being a total beginner at Lindy Hop, and not feeling very confident, my friend and I chose to dance together that evening, until we felt we'd got to grips with the steps.  I'd chosen to learn the leader role and my friend learned the follower role, so we were able to dance and practice together, not very sociable of us, but hopefully next time, we'll feel more confident.  We then practiced quite a bit, but also did a bit of solo dancing to the music, which people probably thought a bit odd, but I really enjoyed doing the solo dancing, it's good to get the opportunity to put steps together that you've learned and improvise to the music. To be honest, I don't care too much what others think of me anyway.

There was a performance by a Swing Patrol dance troupe during the evening which was good and a small solo routine that most people took part in, but most of the evening was Lindy Hop partner dancing. By 10pm, we were feeling pretty exhausted, had had enough for our first event and decided to go home. It was a good experience though and not half as scary as you think when you actually just do it.  You can go alone or with friends, as for the lesson it doesn't matter. It's pretty friendly. I'm glad we did it anyway.  There's also a good mix of men/women, ages, sizes, etc. too, which is reassuring, (although slightly more women than men!).

So, it was a pretty interesting week and just for your benefit, here's a picture of the dress I was going to wear but didn't.

It's from Lindy Bop and fits slightly loosely, which I prefer, as it was a larger size than I would normally buy, but the brand I find come up slightly small in my experience of ordering from them directly and I didn't want it to feel tight.  I really like it, as it is slightly oriental in style, modest, lined, comfortable to wear (which is important for dancing) and very flattering, even on a larger figure. I'm looking forward to wearing it, probably on Christmas Day initially.

I hope that you are all having an enjoyable lead in to Christmas.  I have one more dance class this week, a trip to watch LB acting in her college production of Chicago and a possible meet up with some friends at a restaurant next week and then that is my pre-Christmas festivities done.  We may venture into Central London one day to see the windows in the large stores and do a bit of last minute shopping, but otherwise that will be it for this year.

Yesterday afternoon, I began wrapping presents, as they all have to be done and packed ready for us to travel up to Yorkshire in a couple of weeks. I left half a dozen or so, because I got fed up, but they shouldn't take long to do when I next feel the urge. I should start on my Christmas cards too really. I'm also need to start work on a patchwork quilt for the dog's basket. I have lots of doggie fabric that I want to use. Not sure if I'll get it done in time, but am hoping to.