Final London tune-up for Blackpool

January 28, 2007

“Tickets please,” asked the agent of the train company. As I fished out my ticket I said, “I have a slight problem." I continued, "I accidentally bought a single ticket when I meant to get a cheap day return ticket.” The agent looked at my ticket and asked me to show my rail card. I did. He asked, “You are returning tonight?” I replied, “That’s right.” He punched in some information on his ticketing device and said, “That would be 10 p.” I put away my credit card and instead reached my pocket for one pound. I said, “Thank you very much,” when he gave me nine 10 pence coins in change. When the agent passed by, I turned to the passenger seated next to me and said, “That was nice and convenient. I was so annoyed when I got only one ticket out of the machine. I decided I needed to hurry up and catch the train.” She replied, “I hate pressing all those buttons too. And it would have been really annoying to buy another ticket.”

About 50 minutes later, I faced a closed door and a man standing in front of Mary Ward House. He said, “It’s at the Royal Sonesta Hotel - on the right side.” I asked, “Is that the North or South side?” He replied, “North.” I said, “Good. I might have gone home instead if it were on the South side.” Last year, I thought the North side of the Royal Sonesta Hotel was rather nice – possibly better than the Mary Ward House. I wondered if I still would think the same.

The wood flooring in the North side of Royal Sonesta Hall is smaller than the Mary Ward Hall. However, the total floor space is larger. Although it lacks fans, heat is not as big a problem as it is in the South side. I found that having one dance followed by a break for the next song was almost but not quite enough for me to stay reasonably dry. So it meant that I sat out of more songs than I might have at Mary Ward Hall. However, the venue ran to 11 PM instead of 10:30 PM. Not bad overall. It’s definitely worthwhile if it’s held in the North side even if it’s not quite as good as the regular venue.

Amir was the DJ. I generally like his choice of music. Tonight’s was one of the more interesting and often nice job by him. Among other songs, I recognized Avisale A Mi Contrario (Roberto Roena), Mi Ritmo Es Bueno (Bobby Valentin – I had wondered if this song would be nice to dance to… I am still not completely sure), Chin Chon Chow (Louie Ramirez), Me Voy Pa Cali (Oscar D’Leon – Too familiar for me from Club Salsa), Lluvia Con Nieve (Mon Rivera), La Llave (Grupo Latin Vibe – Perhaps too slow for SOS), Un Puesto Vacante (Eddie Palmieri – Definitely too fast for me… even at SOS), La Palomilla (Joe Cuba Sextet), Guaguanco Del Gran Combo (El Gran Combo – last song of the night… the song before this was ... an awkward ... Rumba maybe? I was amused by this “Rumba”). I also had the chance to glance at his CDs. I was highly amused to see entries such as “Unknown – Unknown.”

My first dance was with Natalie. My last dance was with someone I had turned down for Cha Cha few minutes before this dance (simply because I am not comfortable dancing Cha Cha). In between were all positive dances – useful learning experience at worst. The only embarrassing moment involved almost falling down twice while dancing with Helen during La Palomilla. In any case, it felt like a nice tune-up for Blackpool, and it was nice to have the feeling that I am still making tangible improvements from one month to another. Too bad not everything (work and life in general) is as simple as getting better at dancing Salsa right now.