Steve the Mambo King!
Last night I got invited to London to take part in the second heat of the Tropicana Salsa Competition. Unfortunately it would mean committing to taking wednesday and thursday off and having 44 hours to come up with a routine and rehearse it! Juliana, a new girl in class, had won the Leeds heat and then her partner had flipped out and decided not to play anymore. I was flattered, and sorely tempted, but she and I dance different styles and, well, it was a crazy idea anyway!
Boo hoo!
Lubi said goodbye today, sometime object-of-desire, long time dancing partner. We had a sort of symbiosis whereby she got lifts to salsa clubs and I got to dance with a gorgeous young thing who knew how to move… I’ll miss that get-offa-your-ass-and-get-out-dancing element she brought to the last couple of years.
Hahah
Brring
“Hello?”
“…”
“Hello?”
“… ah hello, I’m calling from the AA, is the member there, a Mr. S. Carter?”
(Oh god what now?) “That’s me”
“Good evening Mr. Carter, how are you?”
“…”
“…”
“Fine”
“Mr Carter, as a member you will be glad to hear that we are now offering an improved service to make your [blah blah I switched off] we are offering parts & labour cover to make your life easier”
(Not phoning me in the middle of cooking would make my life easier)”…”
“Mr. Carter, to see whether you can qualify, can you tell me the age of your car, or it’s registration?”
“It’s 1965″
“1965? ah… right. Can you tell me how old it is?”
“It’s 38 years old”
“Ah.. er.. do you have any other cars in the household;-”
(uh-oh)
“… that are less than 10 years old?”
(phew! the other one’s about 14)”No.”
“can you tell me Mr. Carter when your MOT is due?”
“last week, I just had it done”
“ah… uh… ok… er… thankyou for your time”
“thank you, bye bye”
So much more stylish than a “piss off, I’m busy and in any case not interested” which can come across as a little curmudgeonly…
Well, I seem to have been for one of those special holidays that I know I take but am powerless to avoid. This is the reason for my inability to keep houseplants (though I’ve managed 3 years now with 2 hardy houseplants, a bonsai and a potted tree that lives outside): I haven’t touched the ground in the last month! There’s so much I coulda/shoulda blogged and I just haven’t. I’ve completely run out of money and my home is in a shocking state of disarray, and it’s September! How did that happen? Quite nicely as it happens. I’ve spent the heatwave driving my little convertible, picnicking, day-tripping, flirting, dancing and drinking, and feel like I’ve spent about 20 minutes in the house in as many days. Now’s the time to back off the social stuff I think. Despite having been to no juggling conventions recently I’ve been able to treble and quadruple-book all my weekends and it’s high time I acknowledged the turn of the year and started looking toward autumn and the “make and mend” phase that I always seem to start too late, clashing with the xmas spending time.
These hiatuses (hiati?) seem to come on unexpected and last for weeks. With luck I’ll be able to use this blog to keep track of them and discover some sort of pattern.