Dancing Queens

We have had a busy few weeks socialising. Cousin Stella and her mum and dad came for lunch. I cannot believe how much my little niece looks like my brother, she really is the spitting image of him. We all went for a walk into Whitstable after lunch and she looked so cute in her baby sling and hat and drew attention from many passer-bys. There is an old fashioned sweet shop in Whitstable which was used to furnish the re-make of Charlie and Chocolate Factory. It is an obvious claim to fame of the shop owners who got to meet Johnny Depp on the set when they were supplying the film with all their sugary delights. I have taken Charlie in there loads of times when he was a baby but somehow managed to avoid it over the past year or so but this time there was no stopping him. It really was the epitome of a child in a sweet shop - eyes wide open, mouth wide open and almost transfixed to the spot. Not for long...we managed to escape with a quarter of white mice and some sherbert pips for me.

The following weekend, my sister and I donned our dancing shoes and took off for the Salsa Club night in Canterbury. Every since Strictly has been on the TV i have always longed to go back to my childhood passion and get dancing again. So I found a company who run salsa classes and club nights and we turned up having had a couple of glasses of wine and feeling a bit giggly. The classes started and they divided them into 4 groups and beginners were in the bottom corner which consisted of just me and Lou. However, not to be shamed into the new starters we were lucky to get a one on one lesson from the instructor. Dave was not your average salsa dance instructor. Think of Joe Pascale and an east kent accent and there you have it. He was brilliant and taught us so well. After the lessons, the 'freestyle' session started where you sit around the edge waiting for the men to ask you to dance like something out of the 1950's. It was important to adhere to the etiquette which meant that you could turn down the offer of a dance due to a) poor dance skills, b) poor looks, c) poor hygiene however you could not then take up the offer from someone else. It was hilarious as both Lou and I got asked to dance by many men, some of the instructors who were so excellent and quite literally spun us around like nutters. It was a brilliant and hilarious night.

Finally Charlie had his best friend Niamh over for a play date on Saturday and i couldnt resist putting this photo on as it makes me laugh so much.

Bonfires and E numbers

Charlie had his first experience of full blown full on E numbers at a child's party a couple of weeks ago. Held in a church hall, 30 or so kids were running around to the dulcet tones of Loopy Lisa who talked so fast and so loudly it was a wonder if any of the kids understood her let alone found her remotely entertaining. She bounced around the hall gathering the children round to watch her balloon bending tricks and magic show. I have to admit i looked on feeling rather bewildered at her skills and delivery of this. Still the children seemed to enjoy it.

The E numbers had actually kicked in by this point as Charlie had consumed large numbers of biscuits, chocolates, skips and cheesy wotsits all washed down with a large carton of blue bubblegum flavoured drink. It was a far cry from the usual falafels, hummus and elderflower water that he usually requests. And so i watched as Charlie got faster and faster on the dance floor spinning round and round like a loon, it was hilarious. And the grand finale, a large party bag full of haribo sweets (of which Charlie has not experienced) given directly to him. So with much bribery i was able to get him in the car seat with just a couple of cola bottles and wriggly worms. Unbelievably, that night he got into bed and was completely comatosed for 13 hours as obviously the descending sugar rush had rendered him devoid of all energy.

Last week we had a great bonfire party here with friends and neighbours. We had bowl fulls of chilli, hot jacket potatoes and gallons of mulled wine. The men did the macho thing and lit the fireworks which i have to say were really good and we stood around with the kids waving sparkers. It was a great evening and a late night for the children. It was brilliant though as we were able to watch the fireworks displays on the ebach from the lounge window and so were treated to a double show.