Dance, run, coffee, run, cake!

I’ve had a great weekend. It started off with a trip to Glasgow with Mum on Friday night to see Matthew Bourne’s ‘Lord of the Flies’. Mum prefers more traditional ballet but she’d thoroughly enjoyed Bourne’s production of ‘Swan Lake’ (you know the one? It was an all male, totally original version), so I thought his new show would be something we could enjoy together. I’m not really in to traditional ballet and much prefer contemporary dance, but sometimes that can be a bit of a hit or a miss. In fact, my poor family has been subjected to some pretty awful stuff at the Fringe over the years when I’ve insisted that we make a contemporary dance show part of our programme of ‘must-see’ events! Not so for ‘Lord of the Flies’ - it was certainly very different but, thankfully, it wasn’t awful! I loved the fact that Bourne had recruited young lads - from workshops in schools around Scotland - who had never danced or performed before. The professional dancers were brilliant and the performance was just about as far removed from traditional ballet as you could get. I did feel sorry for the ladies sitting behind us who leaned forward at the interval and asked Mum if she knew when the real dancing was going to start! Bourne was actually in the foyer at the end of the show, asking folk if they’d enjoyed the performance and happily giving out autographs to the youngsters who’d been in the audience. I thought it was a lovely gesture.

On Saturday I let a friend down – that really wasn’t so good. I’d been back through to Glasgow having fun watching Ross and Gordon do the Park Run in Pollock Park. It was brilliant to see Gordon running, and enjoying it (making his auld maw very proud) after losing his running mojo for the past wee while. Anyway, in the car on the way home I received a text from my friend Hazel, along the lines of: ‘Where are you and why aren’t you here?’. SHIT! I was supposed to be meeting her for coffee at 10.30; it was now 10.40 - and I was about 20 minutes away from Stirling. What an absolute eejit! I had completely forgot. I phoned her immediately, apologised profusely and asked her to hang on till I got there. Ross dropped me off in town with unwashed, unbrushed hair; NO MAKE-UP; my old muddy jeans; and my manky cross-country jacket on – but my only concern was making sure that Hazel received - and accepted - my big fat piece of humble pie! Being the good friend that she is, I was duly forgiven and we had a lovely blether and catch-up. Hazel was the first person I really got to know when we moved to Gargunnock, 15 years ago. On the first day of playgroup, she took my hand, led me in the right direction and introduced me to all the other mums (like all playgroup mums to new outsiders, they were a pretty scary bunch!) and we’ve been firm friends ever since. Our daughters, Amy and Gemma, have also been friends since that first day of playgroup, though - as a sign of things to come - ever-confident Gemma went off skipping and jumping with Amy while I stood like a rabbit in the headlights at the door being gently coaxed in by Hazel!

Speaking of Gemma, yesterday was topped off by some good news when she phoned late on (obviously having enjoyed the free wine on offer) to let us know that her team had won third prize at the Red Rose Business Weekend in Lancaster.  It’s an event held at the University but sponsored by some big companies. Gemma hadn’t expected their team to feature as prize-winners and was looking more on the event as an opportunity to gain some valuable experience; meet some high-up folk from the likes of Saatchi & Saatchi and IBM; enjoy an all-expenses-paid weekend away; and come away with another prestigious event to add to her CV. But, I think she gained a lot more than that and I got the impression that beating teams from the likes of Cambridge, Imperial and Durham had made the success all the sweeter! (And made her auld maw very proud!)

Today I was at Rosewell (near Edinburgh) to support Alex and Ross in the Lasswade 10 mile Road Race. Ross had a great run and met his target of completing the race in under an hour (making his auld maw very proud!). Alex’s not at his fittest (poor soul’s recovering from a chest infection) so was just happy to get round the particularly hilly route on a freezing cold day in one piece! As usual, I loved watching them run but the best thing about the event was the post-race spread: tasty sandwiches, massive cream scones and delicious home baking. Mmmmmmm! Technically, I didn’t qualify for any of this lovely stuff as a running number had to be handed over before you could fill your plate, but I reckon supporters have a very important role to play at these events (we’ll say that anyway), so I had no guilt in demolishing some of Ross and Alex’s plentiful rations. Sometimes, you know, it’s the simplest things can make us feel really good!