Task 7: Learn to dance the lindy hop with Andrew and put video clip on You Tube

Be honest, this is the task you've secretly been waiting for isn't it. The sight of Andrew and me gazing despairingly into one another's eyes whilst elbowing each other in the solar plexus and crushing one another's toes. Well here it is at last. Before I give you the magic link, let's just do the usual scene-setting....

If your memory is sharp as sharp you'll recall that the decision to put Task 7 on the sixtyat60 list dates back to Andrew's godson Tom's wedding last May when Andrew and I dad/mum-danced our way through the evening's festivities, after which I thought 'Things have got to change'. And the choice of the lindy hop was thanks to lovely Liz, who unlike the majority of guests at my birthday lunch didn't write the dreaded words 'Argentine tango' on the back of her name place (we owe you big time Liz).  

After the big dance reveal on my birthday, Task 7 was kept in dry dock for 6 months whilst I focused attention on other energetic challenges such as the 10k run. Then come November, just as the decks were all clear for some dancing action, Andrew tore his hamstring during a tennis match (hmm....could this have been an elaborate avoidance strategy?), and so lindy hop classes had to be put on hold again.  Finally in February, Andrew was given the all-clear by the physio. No more excuses Hunots - dust down those dancing shoes!

The first challenge was how and where to source a patient, talented and kind-hearted lindy hop instructor.  Cristina instantly came to my rescue. Cristina is a fabulous young dancer in the Brighton area (her company the Hiccup Project is doing great things) as well as being the daughter of my friend Kara, and is a mine of information about the great and good in the dance world. 'Matthew Blacklock at Dancefloor Activist would be perfect' she said. We looked no further. A flurry of emails later, Andrew and I were signed up for 6 weekly classes with Matt (see photos below) at a dance studio in the Brighton Youth Centre. 

The next challenge was for Andrew and me to banish our inhibitions and get our bodies and minds moving.....in synch.....with Andrew leading. Now that's a massive ask. And in truth one of us (no names mentioned) found the whole process especially tricky.  However a breakthrough occurred in Week 4. 'I've just realised' Andrew announced, 'it's much easier if I relax.' Matt was elated. 'Andrew, you've just experienced a paradigm shift' he said.   

Matt proved to be everything we had hoped for. He praised, teased, cajoled, joked, empathised, supported and pushed us gently but firmly towards our goal.  We learnt turns, changing places and swivelling - and we tried very hard to 'pulse'. We danced to glorious jazz-based music (I shall never again listen to Ella Fitzgerald singing Once Too Often without thinking of our lindy hop lessons) and bit by bit Matt taught us a very simple and understated routine, using a beautiful Leonard Cohen song called 'Dance until the end of love', sung by the sultry-voiced Madeleine Peyroux. 

The plan was for us to dress vintage on Lindy Hop Day, if nothing else to draw the viewer's eye away from our dodgy dance moves. Matt signposted us to Gladrags Costumes in Moulescoomb, an absolute goldmine of vintage clothing and costumes for hire at low cost to local community projects. Andrew and I spent an hour or so there last week trying on outfits. Andrew was extraordinarily well behaved - no grumbling, yawning or threatened walkout. Very curious. Was he on Valium?

Lindy Hop Day arrived and the weather was quite stunning, if a trifle parky. Andrew and I eased ourselves into our very snug and unforgiving vintage finery and had a quick snap taken in the garden before heading down to Brighton for the final lesson, dress rehearsal and photoshoot with Matt. I was feeling jittery and so was Andrew. Would we forget our steps? Would Andrew's trousers split? Would my non-elasticated St Michael's petticoat fall down around my ankles? 

Matt warmed us up with a bit of Charleston (not a pretty sight) and then started filming our lindy hop routine. We did a series of clips at the Youth Centre against the backdrop of some edgy graffiti....

  
For the second set of clips, Matt took us down to the beautiful birdcage bandstand on Brighton seafront, where the sea was glimmering and shimmering in the sunshine and the West Pier was looking as poignantly iconic as ever. The wind swirled around the bandstand like crazy, our music didn't work properly and my hair took on a life of its own, but in such a magnificent setting, who cares!

Matt did an eye catching photo for my blog and we took the all important selfie. Then Andrew and I headed to the nearest pub for a small celebratory glass of prosecco.   

 

Later on at home I took a deep breath and looked through the clips. I say 'take a deep breath' because I always find it very painful to look at videos of myself - and of course these ones were no exception. I thought Andrew looked great (rather debonair if I may say so) and so did the scenery. But there I was, flat-footed, round-shouldered, stiff-necked, wind-swept and, oh dear, definitely lacking pulse. 'Stately as a galleon....' by Joyce Grenfell echoed in my ears.  But Lucy Hunot, video editor extraordinaire, bravely took charge of compiling the best bits of the video clips to put on YouTube, in order to comply fully with the demands of Task 7, and Andrew and I agree that she's done a grand job of making a tiny silk purse out of the footage. 

So with no further ado, I'm delighted to announce that you can now access the video clip (remember it's short and very understated!!) on YouTube using the following link:

https://youtu.be/UPhJ_VUWCUw

So that's one especially tricky task finally in the can, and as such, requires an Oscar-like list of thank yous. Firstly a big thank you to Cristina for recommending Matt to us, thus saving us from the clutches of an instructor who might have run away screaming after the first class. Our sincere thanks, too, to Vania at Gladrags Costumes for helping us to find outfits that fitted the bill perfectly (as long as we held our stomachs in).  A huge pat on the back to Lucy for an amazing editing service, especially given the challenging material. And a massive thumbs up to Andrew, who has been an absolute revelation during the last 6 weeks - as he openly admitted, this task was probably his biggest challenge ever, but he stuck to his guns, never once complained (like I say, very curious) and learnt to do some nifty footwork. 

One final and absolutely vital thank you  - and that's to Matt from both Andrew and me for being the best dance instructor EVER!! Poor Matt can't escape me yet, as I'm going to be attending one of his Zumba classes in a couple of weeks' time with my friend Kara (thereby ticking off another task).  

Oh and did the task go well enough for Andrew and me to carry on and learn the Argentine tango, as indicated in the sixtyat60 list? What do you think Andrew?  That's strange, he was here a moment ago.....


  
I'm doing the sixtyat60challenge to raise funds for Shooting Star Chase children's hospice care in memory of a special little girl called Thea Redford. 

For further information or to make a donation please visit my JustGiving page at https://www.justgiving.com/sixtyat60challenge/

If you would like to follow this blog click here for information on how to do so      

Task 22: Complete 2000-piece jigsaw - I've finished it at last!!

I know, I know - 'completing a jigsaw' doesn't sound exactly sexy and scintillating does it. But my goodness, this task has proved to be a massive threat to my emotional stability.  Let me just remind you of my initial post on this beautiful Starry Night jigsaw nearly 3 months ago, when I'd been working on it for a mere 2 weeks. 

I was already frothing at the mouth with frustration. Andrew was pleading with me to ditch it and buy an easier one. But I dug my heels in. I wasn't going to be beaten by Starry Night. I was going to stay true to Van Gogh. 



The weeks rolled past and I continued to sit at the dining table several times a week and wrestle with that juggernaut of a jigsaw. Slowly....... very slowly.....it began to take shape.  

 

Then one morning in late February I walked into the dining room and spotted one of the jigsaw pieces lying on the floor. I picked it up and noticed that it had - gasp!- small teeth marks in it. Did this mean that Alfie or Mabel had started using the puzzle as a supplementary snack?  For the next 6 weeks I struggled to let go of the idea that some pieces might have passed through the dogs' alimentary canals into the Sussex countryside. At least once a week I'd fail to find a particular piece and throw a medium-sized wobbly. The dogs would keep their heads down. And then a few days later the missing piece would miraculously turn up. That jigsaw played some serious mind games with me, I can tell you. 

In mid-March I became gripped by a second anxiety. Every spring, without fail, rooks attempt to nest at the top of our chimney. For 2-3 weeks during March-April the fireplace in the dining room rains twigs and sticks.  And every spring a rookie rook eventually falls down the chimney into the dining room, where it flaps madly, knocks ornaments flying and deposits piles of poo. Can you see where I'm going with this? Within days my worry proved to be well founded, as twigs started their annual cascade down the chimney (see 10 days' worth in photo).  I resorted to covering the jigsaw with a tablecloth whenever I left the room, whilst praying to the great puzzle gods in the sky that this year the rooks would manage to remain roof-based.

Yesterday dawned and finally, weeks later than I'd hoped, but there again, weeks earlier than I'd predicted in my darkest moments, I had just one last piece to place.  Of course it was vital to have witnesses to observe this momentous moment. And who better than Lisa and Sally, an amazing pair of sisters who between them have kept The Gate House spick and span for 25 years, thus helping me to maintain some semblance of sanity, and as importantly, are both avid supporters of this blog!  As I put the final piece in place with trembling fingers, Lisa and Sally were on standby to stop me from making the same mistake as a man who attempted to slightly re-position a 40,000 piece wall puzzle he'd made in honour of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, only to watch the entire puzzle collapse onto the floor. Andrew was waiting in the wings with glasses of Prosecco all round (any excuse). And Alfie and Mabel were hiding under the table with their paws tightly crossed. 

 

Were either of my two key anxieties realised?  Well, as you can see below there wasn't a single piece missing - yay!!! So the dogs are breathing easy again. And although a rook has indeed paid us a visit this week, it decided to cut its journey short and landed up in Jonathan's bedroom. Phew.  

The Diane Hutt Gallery in Uckfield has bravely agreed to frame Starry Night. I have to confess that there was a moment of panic when it occurred to us that the piece of board on which the jigsaw was assembled was so huge that we might not be able to squeeze it through the doorway in a horizontal position.  But I've received some excellent advice from Diane on how to carry out this tricky manoeuvre and the jigsaw will be duly delivered to her next Tuesday.  Once framed, it'll be hung in Michael's bedroom, which is where I do my saxophone practice. Who knows, perhaps it'll inspire me to nail that riff?

You may be interested to know (or there again, you may not) that I've already caved into my masochistic and addictive tendencies, and am about to start another jigsaw, just 1000 pieces this time, which Jonathan gave me for Christmas. Will I have finished it by the time Palace win the FA Cup final? No need to answer that.

HOT OFF THE PRESS!! I've just ticked the box for Task 60, which is to raise at least £600 for Shooting Star Chase Children's Hospice!  That's in addition to the £1800 raised for Alzheimer's Research UK. I'm so grateful to you all for your generosity and kindness. I'm going to carry on fund-raising for Shooting Star Chase for the full six months, just as I did with Alzheimer's Research UK, and have very boldly increased my target to £1000. Fingers crossed guys!  




I'm doing the sixtyat60challenge to raise funds for Shooting Star Chase children's hospice care in memory of a special little girl called Thea Redford. 

For further information or to make a donation please visit my JustGiving page at https://www.justgiving.com/sixtyat60challenge/

If you would like to follow this blog click here for information on how to do so      

Task 3: Cycle 60 miles through the Garden of England from Folkestone to Hastings

My husband Andrew has been trying to entice me into cycling for years. But I've remained pretty resistant to it as a leisure activity, mainly because I worry about the dangers of riding on open roads.  It seems clear that to be a cyclist these days requires a combination of bravery, chutzpah and kamikaze tactics. And that's so not me.

However.......it was just one week before my sixtieth birthday and I still had a couple of gaps in my sixtyat60 list. By then the fund-raising aspect to my challenge had really grown legs, and I wanted to ensure that I had plenty of tasks on the list that would push me well outside my comfort zone.  As I sat in a leisurely fashion in the kitchen at breakfast enjoying a calorific pile of toast and jam, I happened upon an article in The Times called Get on your Bike. The article listed 20 top cycle routes. Number 1 was 'Garden of England', a route that takes the cyclist along the Kent and Sussex coastline, using a mixture of 'quiet lanes and off-road sections'.  

The words quiet and off-road had a reassuring ring to them. It got me thinking.  A bit scary....endurance test.....calorie burner.....keep Andrew happy.....it was certainly ticking a lot of boxes. Five minutes-worth of thinking later, Task 3 made an appearance on my sixtyat60 list. An eleventh hour entry it may have been, but given the 80 kilometre distance between Folkestone and Hastings, it was a pretty significant one.

In early March I borrowed a hybrid bike from our fab neighbours Rebecca and Mark. Andrew removed the mothballs from his own bike. And we acquired ourselves another key essential - gel-padded cycling gear. Yes, hard as it may be to imagine this, Andrew had finally become a Mamil.   

Over the next 4 weeks we hit the local lanes and beyond to activate our cycling muscles and toughen me up for dealing with evil car drivers. We arranged to hire bikes from a company in Folkestone to do the Big Ride itself. We agreed upon the date of 1st April. The weather was set fair. And then Andrew went down with a virus. We consoled ourselves with the thought that if we'd completed the task that day, no one would have believed us.

Thankfully Andrew shook off his lurgy quite quickly and our cycle ride was re-booked to take place a week later. And so it was that bright and early last Friday morning we donned our lycra, drove to Tonbridge, caught the train to Folkestone and found our way to Dover White Cliffs Tours, where owner Richard was awaiting our arrival with two fine-looking bikes. I was feeling very nervous. Had we bitten off far too much......? I tried to keep in mind the positive messages I'd received from friends and family whilst on the train.  We checked the time. It was 9.30am. We mounted our bikes and off we pedalled, albeit rather cautiously, down the road. 

We were due to follow National Cycle Route 2. After a false start or two (minor lapse into headless chicken behaviour) we found our first official sign. A small moment of celebration ensued.

We cycled along Folkestone seafront to Hythe. The promenade was bathed in glorious sunshine. Local people were out and about, walking dogs, jogging, flying kites, pushing buggies and eating ice-creams. It was a timeless scene. We passed a kiosk selling Andrew's favourite ice cream. Andrew resisted the temptation....

 

At Hythe we joined the Royal Military Canal (constructed during the Napoleonic Wars to protect us against invasion by those French Hunots) and cycled along it for 12 miles. Our hearts were high - what an idyllic trip this was proving to be!  

 

We left the canal and cycled our way along the quiet lanes through Romney Marsh. The countryside was flatter than flat - perfect for beginner cyclists. Although it did mean that there was no opportunity to stop pedalling and rest the pins.  As we reached Lydd I began to experience serious cramp in my upper legs. Putting a positive spin on it, it meant that I no longer noticed my grumbling nether regions (let's face it, saddle and comfort are not two words you would usually put together). But Andrew was forging ahead and so I kept pushing on. 

Our plan was to pause in Camber and have lunch at The Owl. The Owl is the most special pub in the whole of England as it's where Jonathan held his pre-wedding drinks 18 months ago before he and Liz tied the knot at the nearby Gallivant Hotel. We finally reached the Owl at 2.45pm, and discovered that they'd stopped serving food at 2.30pm. So we guzzled several packets of crisps instead and the cramp in my legs gradually eased off.

We left The Owl at 3.30pm. The sun was out, the sky was blue, we were two-thirds of the way through our journey and we were feeling pretty good. We navigated our way around Rye where I confronted my fear of evil car drivers in a big way (Rye is very pretty and quaint, but it was one big traffic jam that afternoon). 

By the time we reached Fairlight, 4 miles from Hastings, it was 5.30pm and we were beginning to flag. Richard had warned us that we would have to encounter 'a hill or two' on approaching Hastings.  But we didn't reckon on Battery Hill - the Hill from Hell. The Bikely website describes it as 'a challenging long steep 170m climb, stand-up steep in parts. It includes a full km of 1 in 10 with no respite'.  Reader, Battery Hill was so nearly our nemesis. Twice we stopped and said to one another 'Shall we get Richard to come and pick us up?' But we were determined to reach Hastings under our own steam and we kept pushing our way up and up.....

Finally, at 6.30pm, we reached the top of Battery Hill and received our just reward - a downhill descent all the way into Old Town Hastings. We stopped for a moment during our descent to take a picture of the old town bathed in the evening sunlight. 

And as we reached the bottom of our descent, I spotted a very special sign. What a moment that was.......

Richard and his wife met us at Old Town Harbour and collected the bikes. By then It was 7pm and we were stiff, cold and exhausted, but we were also totally elated - goodness, we'd actually managed to cycle 80k!

As we walked towards a local hostelry to celebrate, a seagull thought it fitting to mark the occasion by dropping a massive dollop of poo on my jacket shoulder. My mood was so glass half full at that point that I just said to Andrew, 'Wow that was lucky, it could have landed on my head.'

Did we suffer the following day? Do you know, much to our surprise we sat at Selhurst Park and watched Crystal Palace win (at last) yesterday without having to resort to the use of soft cushions. So that gel really does work!

 A huge thank you to Richard at Dover White Cliffs Tours for providing us with an outstanding service and an excellent pair of bikes.  And my sincere thanks to Mark and Rebecca for offering to lend me Mark's bike so that I could ready myself for the Big Ride. Andrew and I are in agreement that Task 3 turned out to be a stand-out experience in the sixtyat60 challenge. Oooh, I'm so close to approving the idea of having a bike for my next birthday....   



I'm doing the sixtyat60challenge to raise funds for Shooting Star Chase children's hospice care in memory of a special little girl called Thea Redford. 

For further information or to make a donation please visit my JustGiving page at https://www.justgiving.com/sixtyat60challenge/

If you would like to follow this blog click here for information on how to do so     

Task 23: Mastering the Google Map app

Mention the idea of 'mum map-reading' to my family, and you'd see a momentary flash of trepidation in their eyes. That's because I've always been a hopeless, disinterested and resistant reader of maps, and this attitude has led to moments of what might politely be described as friction between Andrew and me on family outings in the car.  I'm no better if left to my own devices on foot. 'Headless chicken' is the only way to describe my modus operandi as I emerge from a tube station in an unfamilar area of London. 

In recent years the appearance of a sat nav device on our car dashboard has resulted in more tranquil family journeys. However my headless chicken routine on foot has continued unabated. 'Why don't you just use the Google Map app Mum??' various family members have suggested, bewildered at my last century stance. But to me, the Google Map app is still, well, a map. Which means lots of confusing lines to decipher, together with a yawning conceptual gap between what I see on a page and the 3D landscape around me. And hence I've rejected its potential to help me. Until, that is, the sixtyat60 challenge loomed and I reluctantly acknowledged that it was time to embrace 21st century technology and confront my cartophobic tendencies.

It was Lucy who stepped up to the plate to help me complete Task 23.  As someone who describes herself as having zero sense of direction, the Google Map app is a total godsend to her, and she's a real whizz at using it. All of which made her the ultimate guide and companion on this task.

In June 2015, I started my uphill battle to conquer the Google Map app. Lucy demonstrated its' basic principles and I tried my hardest to pay attention. Then to my consternation I was informed that if I wished to tick Task 38 off my list, I'd have to take an official Google Map app test.  I gritted my teeth, accepted these harsh terms & conditions, hung L-plates on my iphone and over the next few months started forcing myself to use the app on open roads and pavements when no one was looking.  

Last Saturday, my Test Day finally arrived. I met my Examiner Lucy at London Bridge Station. I was wearing suitably warm and waterproof attire. My fully charged mobile was poised ready for action. 'OK Mum' said Lucy 'I'm going to give you a route to navigate. I'm going to walk alongside you. I shall say nothing. Where you go, I go. Your task is to navigate your way from London Bridge Station to the Draft House (a watering hole of course) in Seething Lane via Leadenhall Market'.  Then she twisted the knife. 'I'm imposing penalties,' she announced. 'The estimated journey time is 25 mins. If we fail to reach the Draft House within 30 mins, you'll have the pleasure of paying my train fare back to Haywards Heath. If we don't arrive there within 35 mins, we're having lunch on you.  And if we run over 40 mins, you're paying for the family Indian takeaway this evening'. These were seriously high stakes.....

We checked the time display on our phones. When the screens showed 13.30, I fired up the Google Map app, entered the required info and we set off. Except we didn't, because I defaulted to the usual headless chicken routine and went round in circles for 5 minutes trying to work out which direction to go in. I was watching the moving blue blob on the map so closely that fellow pedestrians had to jump out of the way. Bad start. 'Don't just look at the screen Mum,' Lucy said 'Start walking and look around you for clues'. 

All of a sudden my route began to click into place. I marched Lucy double quick over London Bridge (those time penalties were playing on my mind in a big way). Within 10 minutes, there was Leadenhall Market before us. 

I savoured this small moment of triumph. I keyed in my next destination. Whoops....I started looking at the wrong end of the route. Big-hearted Lucy couldn't stop herself from pointing out this basic error to me and off we went again.  Then I was thrown a curved ball - a through route that was shut for the weekend. 'Look at the bigger picture' said Lucy. I took her advice, thought outside the box (apologies for the plethora of business management cliches popping up in this paragraph, must be the effect of walking through the City) and took a detour, thus prising the blue blob on my screen away from its recommended path.  Two minutes later I was back on track and in next to no time our destination was in sight.

We checked the time on our mobiles. 14.07........so the journey had taken me 37 minutes. Hmm - would that time be sufficient for me to be allowed to cast off my L plates and complete the task? Lucy was looking very perky. 'Time for a fat lunch on you' she said, rubbing her hands together in glee. 'And then I'll give you my assessment of your performance.' Blimey, I'm surprised she wasn't holding a clipboard.

And her assessment?  Over to Lucy......

All in all, a strong, dedicated performance. Falling at the first hurdle trying to leave London Bridge could have thrown her, but she carried on unabated through increasingly nasty conditions - bad weather, traffic and tourists - to arrive triumphant at her destination. She even managed to appreciate some of her surrounds (during the few minutes when she actually looked up from her phone....). My final scores?

Enthusiasm - 8
Focus - 7
Awareness of surroundings - 5
Flexibility - 7
Learning from mistakes - 9
Acceptance of her assessor's self-motivated penalties - 10

Overall - 45/60

A solid pass!  (Ed's note: hurrah - thank goodness I was so accepting of the penalties!)

We left the Draft House after a sustaining lunch courtesy of my long-suffering credit card. By now the skies were darkening, the rain was upon us and Storm Katie was waiting in the wings.  As Lucy and I scuttled back to London Bridge Station, I took a quick snap of the Thames towards Tower Bridge. 'What a brilliant city London is' I thought to myself. And now that I'm more adept at using Google Map app, it looks like I'll be able to spend more time appreciating its many delights and less time flapping my wings and going round in circles...... 

I'm doing the sixtyat60challenge to raise funds for Shooting Star Chase children's hospice care in memory of a special little girl called Thea Redford. 

For further information or to make a donation please visit my JustGiving page at https://www.justgiving.com/sixtyat60challenge/

If you would like to follow this blog click here for information on how to do so