Well, at least we were warm and my toes didn’t feel frozen when they got out of bed.
We headed downstairs to the basement for a very nice breakfast. On offer was cereal, juice, tea and coffee, fresh fruit and then Paul took the cooked breakfast orders. “The works” was egg, (fried or scrambled), bacon, hash browns, sausage, baked beans - and for those who like such things, black pudding. Judging by the reaction of some around the various tables, this was not on their favourites list or they’d never seen it before. It was a very nice breakfast and nicely cooked and to finish off, Nutella on toast for me!
Our first task was to walk to the Winter Gardens office to grab a programme. Our hotel is right opposite the south wall of the Winter Garden’s complex. To explain, the term ‘Winter Gardens’, is a little confusing, as it is a massive, totally enclosed building, containing the Empress ballroom, café, restaurant, juice bar etc. We walked down the street to the first corner and turned right, which is the west wall, facing Blackpool Tower and the sea – where you’d expect it to be the main entrance. No such luck. To the top of the street to Church Street where we turned right and found the Box Office and the front entrance, where we were able to purchase the programme, which was £7 and is so heavy, it will shift probably shift our luggage allowance over the top.
I have to say, that as an occasional event organiser, communications from Blackpool were less than ideal. No map. No running order. No competitor number. just a time for each major session.
With Trish and Barry, we headed back and into the Hounds Hill shopping centre for a coffee (Costa’s of course), then a walk down the sea front again, before walking back to the Boomerang, where the ladies all tried to work out what their timings were, from the programme. That took some doing!
We then headed to Pizza Express for lunch, again, with Trish and Barry.
Kingsley arrived from NZ and then Simon from Bournemouth. I warmed to Simon immediately, as he introduced himself to the ladies and before they all headed off to the practice venue. Once they’d gone, I headed to the room to try and catch up with the blog. I went out and grabbed a sandwich, a couple of yogurts and cold drink, as we expected that no one would really want to go out again after practice.
Generally, the practice went very well, considering the pressures of time and complexity of original routines. A couple of the ladies weren’t very confident about competing with some of their dances, but Paula had a great attitude and was determined to do all that she’d entered. There was a point where Kingsley might have stepped in and danced the American Smooth, but he wisely decided not to.
Simon stayed at the Boomerang for a drink or two and he seemed very settled with the group and just exuded confidence so people turned in before 11am. Paul was fantastic by saying he’d have breakfast available early. Most wanted to eat about 6:45am and some wanted to be at the hall, sorry, ballroom, by 7:30am, to have a warm up.
So, tomorrow is THE big day of the whole trip. Fingers crossed that it is a good one.
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