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Thread: Blush - The Aftermath (Feb 2011)

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    Forum Bombshell - Our Queen! Lory's Avatar
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    Blush - The Aftermath (Feb 2011)

    Blush Feb 11. The Aftermath

    The good the bad and the Ugly, in reverse order!

    The Ugly..

    My Feet - I had to finally give up at 5-30, due to the immense pain I was experiencing from my 'bleeding' feet.

    The Bad -
    The weather

    Having a chalet with a Sea view might sound nice but believe me, it wasn't worth the walk in cold and rain!

    The floors - the worst being the main floor in the Blues room.

    I think it was down to being damp but some people were convinced it was because it was left filthy? I don't know, all I know was, it was tough going and the only saving grace was the little piles of talc that some kind people had dotted around!

    The Chalet was so cold when we first arrived, I actually thought the sheets were wet! Thankfully, I'd taken a fan heater and my electric blanket, plus I had a stream of very welcomed visitors, which helped to warm the place us pretty quick but I don't know how people who weren't so lucky survived?

    A few of my favourite people were missing

    The GOOD

    Everything else!!!

    The weekend was quieter than the past few Southports I've been too but for me, this was definitely a major plus factor.

    The music was TOP CLASS! All the DJ's were brilliant and managed to create different vibes throughout the day!

    Personally I'm not a fan of 'dancing' to the music during the Swingers hour but I still really enjoy it... as a spectator.

    My personal favourites were Warren and Oxo's afternoon sets. Track after track of pure heaven!

    An enormous cheer went up when Warren finished his afternoon set and I turned to Oxo's, who was about to start his set, and said, EEK follow THAT! And he did!
    I also enjoyed Tiggerbabe's set very much too! I love it when the DJ's throw some of the old classics in, it all adds to the weekender atmosphere!

    Too many dancers to mention by name but a special mention has to go to Tigerpants, as he did a valiant job, trying to keep all us demanding women satisfied! Doing Dave Hancocks share as well as his own! And my dances with Trampy, The Tag boys, affectionately known as 'Kave', And The Wanderer (who's nearly perfected option 2 now )

    All in all, this was a fabulous weekend, full of fun, laughter, warmth and happiness
    MODERATOR AT YOUR SERVICE
    "If you're going to do something tonight, that you know you'll be sorry for in the morning, plan a lie in." Lorraine

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    Smile Re: Blush - The Aftermath (Feb 2011)

    The worst:

    Ummm.. Nope, nothing that bad. So it was a bit damp, only outside where I wasn't dancing or sleeping.

    The less than perfect:

    The main floor in the blues room. Though I don't wear suede soled shoes so it probably wasn't even as bad for me. I danced with someone who had put duck tape on their shoes to make a 'spin spot' and she said she could dance fine on all three floors in there with that.

    The really good:

    Everything else!! Plenty of my favourite dancers, seemingly a bit less busy so I got lots more dances with them than usual, plenty of music I liked too. This Southport I hadn't been working stupid hours in the weeks before it so I actually stayed awake in the night instead of falling asleep in the corner.

    Our chalet was also fine, we covered the bed in the supplied duvet and then put our own sheet and duvet on top and will be doing that again next time. There were no slugs, the shower worked ok, I was able to cook in the kitchen and seemingly not poison anyone and the noises from next doors bedroom were entertaining. I hear renovations by the new owners start next week too?

    Oh, and Pricess Fi's Spankathon brekkie party was excellent, as I'm sure you'll agree Lory!

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    Re: Blush - The Aftermath (Feb 2011)

    Quote Originally Posted by Lory View Post
    The Chalet was so cold when we first arrived, I actually thought the sheets were wet! Thankfully, I'd taken a fan heater and my electric blanket, plus I had a stream of very welcomed visitors
    To warm your sheets?
    Lory!


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    Forum Bombshell - Our Queen! Lory's Avatar
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    Re: Blush - The Aftermath (Feb 2011)

    Quote Originally Posted by Gav View Post
    To warm your sheets?
    Lory!

    Listen, if I'd forgotten my electric blanket and my extra heater.. I think I'd have taken any measures!
    MODERATOR AT YOUR SERVICE
    "If you're going to do something tonight, that you know you'll be sorry for in the morning, plan a lie in." Lorraine

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    Re: Blush - The Aftermath (Feb 2011)

    Quote Originally Posted by Lory View Post
    Listen, if I'd forgotten my electric blanket and my extra heater.. I think I'd have taken any measures!
    After seeing your brilliant video, i can not wait until May...... when are tickets up for sale... not missing that one.

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    Re: Blush - The Aftermath (Feb 2011)

    For some reason that is completely unexplainable to myself; I seem to have had the one of the best weekenders ever. It all just seemed to have worked. The atmosphere was fantastic from the moment we arrived, I walked straight in the bar few kisses and cuddles and then danced from the off.
    Good:
    • Atmosphere, everyone seemed relaxed and up for fun.
    • Dances just had some brilliant fun.
    • Music, just really enjoyed most of it especially Mike Sailsman’s really bluesy set and Waren’s urban anthems, in fact I much preferred that to S’Funk as it felt more edgy to me.
    • Nice to meet Pretzel Meister (fab dancer), Lemon Cake (fab cake maker) and Lynn (thanks for our roommate).
    • Doing a girl on girl 3 way tag with Battlecat and Batgirl, thanks girls was a great laugh.
    • Getting a buy one get one free with the Essex boys
    • Sitting around chatting and laughing in the blues room
    • Making it fora half an hour for the milonga and actually dancing!!!
    Bad:
    • The state of our chalet. Dirty, fridge that was broken, really uncomfortable bed. Considering this was a club, how bad were the others? Looks like because it was in administration they really are only doing minimum maintenance.
    The main floor in the blues at first needed a good clean but I think getting a good soaking by the rain helped it.
    • Incessant rain and wind(plays havoc with my hair!)
    • Having problems with back (which I should have got sorted out before I went).
    Thanks:
    Thanks to all the guys and girls I danced with but special thanks to Tiger Pants for taking on the Dave Hancock role, you were brilliant, just hope you are feeling better and that us Essex girls did not wear you out too much. Nick C for being my partner for the Tango workshop, got some valuable practice. Everyone for making me laugh and making such a fun weekend. Ceroc provide the music and facilities but it is the people there that make weekend. Watch Lory’s video, for me that sums up the weekend

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    Re: Blush - The Aftermath (Feb 2011)

    Inverse order (as that's the precedent).

    The ugly: That bloke in the mirror. Seriously, nothing awful happened all weekend.

    The bad: My poor knees! Missed half of Sunday trying to recover, had to finish early on Sunday night anyway. Spent yesterday limping The main culprits were a couple of classes, particularly the "American Smooth Style" one with three different lift/aerial moves in it when I'd expected a class full of silky smooth links and no lifts at all!

    The good: Everything else. Some highlights below.

    The 'American Smooth Style' class. I walked in 30s late to what looked like a demo dance by the teachers. Turned out that was the routine we had to learn. Clearly too hard for an 'Int+' audience, to teach inside an hour - it had footwork, some fast movement, three lifts.. Somehow pretty much everybody got through the class, managed to complete the routine, and managed to do it choreographed to music! Amazingly brave thing to teach, and impressive to get the whole class through it in an hour. (I still have sore arms from it, but it's the "I just put on muscle" good sort of soreness). Made it a challenging but very fun class.

    The Blues room. Full of inspiring dancers, lots of great music and at one point some gorgeous women in fantastic dresses with fluffy petticoats flying all over the place. I know that always happens at Southport but that doesn't stop it being wonderful

    The main room. Lots of excellent music, no shortage of great followers to dance with and I thought the main floor was far better than in October.

    My chalet. I hate sharing with strangers so I'd booked a single occupancy; ended up with the raw decadence of a two bedroom chalet to myself. Five beds to choose from and enough on the meter that I kept it warm all weekend for free!

    The classes. Only did five, but all were well taught, enjoyed four of them a lot, improved technique and got to practice some things I'm not so good at and learned a couple of new moves that I've already used to delight followers in freestyle. Who'd have thought ladies would enjoy you leading a fake manspin on them so much, where you just turn to your right instead of completing the turn to your left. I know it's about as basic as a 'new' move could be but that's the sort of thing that helps me turn a 'dancing by numbers' dance into something a bit more inventive, interactive and fun.

    The teachers. Lots of positivity, some inventive classes, quality teaching and all very visible and available in the freestyles. (I'm not saying that isn't normally the case, but - perhaps because it was less crowded - I spotted them more this weekend).

    Big hugs to the forum members I danced with and/or waved 'hi' to - apologies for not stopping to chat at times.

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    Registered User carollloyd's Avatar
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    Re: Blush - The Aftermath (Feb 2011)

    ugly:
    rain
    and pain
    (in my next life i'm going to start dancing when i'm 19 so it won't hurt so much)!

    bad:
    usual chalet gripes - elements on cooker had sunk so low no heat got to pans, couldn't close bathroom door if alone in chalet as lock jammed and could only be opened from outside.
    but i don't expect any more from pontins to be honest and it doesn't spoil the fun

    good:
    chalet dead near to blues room
    excellent dinners - esp Caroline's pavlova
    only did one classs - Phil Webb's American Smooth and I echo the comments above: it looked way too flash in the demo, yet he got us all swanning round the floor feeling like pros. It was brilliant!
    Friday late afternoon in the Blues room : just loved walking in and seeing so many of my favourite dancers there.
    Paul Fosters set on Saturday.
    Finally got the sleep/dance timing sussed. Went to bed after dinner on Sunday. Went out at 2.30am and had 4 hours feeling great!
    Remembered to take my hat and brolly :-)
    Amazing deep tissue massage
    Magic in the air - and on the dance floor

    :-)

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    Re: Blush - The Aftermath (Feb 2011)

    The bad - wind, rain and freezing cold chalet. 5 of us in there plus an electric radiator from home and visitors each night for food/drinks, couldn't get the living area warm. We used £25 of electricity! (I think our meter was feeding everyone else's!) The only place that was snug was in my bed as I'd taken a sleeping bag with me.
    Tango/Milonga taking up most of Saturday & Sunday night in the Latin room and no WCS to speak of.

    The good - floor in main room far better than in October, also less packed than usual so room to dance and had some fabulous dances, especially on Sunday night.
    Seeing lots of friends & even more brilliant young dancers than usual.

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    Re: Blush - The Aftermath (Feb 2011)

    The good- loads of Tango in the latin quarter Sat and Sunday a couple of great Tango lessons with Moondancer and Maxine, in fact I danced more Tango than Jive on the weekend.
    The bad- the chalet, no hot water to start with and no TV all weekend, and the carpet, I've seen cleaner fields.
    The ugly- the F**king weather, coupled with the state of repair of my chalet.

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    Re: Blush - The Aftermath (Feb 2011)

    The Ugly
    Rain and more rain! Also my Chalet had no water (how ironic),but that was resolved quick enough. My feet, not a pretty site after 3 days of dance abuse..

    The Bad
    Blues Lounge Main floor

    The Good
    Really everything else! Never really had one bad dance. Meeitng loads of new dancers over the Weekend. My Dances with Lisa G were just....WOW!
    Everyone was so mellow and happy, a real joy to watch happy people dance.
    Warren's & OXO's sets on the Sunday were great, tune after tune!
    Love Marc Forsters set Sunday Night / Monday Morning (Thanks for the Brekkie after the gear was put away!!)

    Roll on May

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    Re: Blush - The Aftermath (Feb 2011)

    I get the impression from the feedback that the chalets are in quite a bad state. I expect this from Camber but have not experienced it at southport before. Ive been a few February dances at southport and chalets have been fine.

    I know we all expect to have basics but it sounds as though even that has been ignored.

    Not good is it.

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    Re: Blush - The Aftermath (Feb 2011)

    We were in a basic chalet, we put all of the heaters on, and it was warm and toasty all weekend.

    We had very hot water available from the taps and the shower, and the toilet door actually had a working lock on it (think that's the first time, ever!).

    There was a TV, but thankfully it wasn't attached to the wall this time, so we moved it out of the way to make more space.

    The cooker worked and despite adding the coffee maker, the waffle maker, the iPod Hi-fi etc etc we used around £10 of electricity over the weekend.
    "If you rebel against high heels, take care to do so in a very smart hat.'' George Bernard Shaw

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    Re: Blush - The Aftermath (Feb 2011)

    Quote Originally Posted by Trouble View Post
    I get the impression from the feedback that the chalets are in quite a bad state. I expect this from Camber but have not experienced it at southport before. Ive been a few February dances at southport and chalets have been fine..
    I had the coldest night's sleep of my entire life on Thurs when we arrived late after teaching at Newbury. The venue hadn't been used since Xmas so everything took ages to warm up and that also meant that when people checked into their chalets and put the water on etc. they found that some of the pipes had burst.

    Pontins are supposed to check everything before we arrive, but of course they didn't, despite it being part of the action plan and despite being sent numerous reminders. The result was that Mike spent over £3,500 getting in emergency plumbing repairs to try and alleviate the problem as much as was practical on such short notice.

    Our room (and no, the teachers and organizers don't get Club chalets that often) had massive gaps around the windows - so my top tip for Pontins weekends (until the refurbs kick in) is to take a large roll of gaffer tape with you. It really does work wonders in keeping what heat you can generate in the chalet, but is a little bit of problem if you actually want to open any of the windows...

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    Re: Blush - The Aftermath (Feb 2011)

    Quote Originally Posted by Trouble View Post
    I get the impression from the feedback that the chalets are in quite a bad state. I expect this from Camber but have not experienced it at southport before. Ive been a few February dances at southport and chalets have been fine.

    I know we all expect to have basics but it sounds as though even that has been ignored.

    Not good is it.
    Yes - there do seem to be more-than-normal level of complaints about them, don't there? It sounds like the chalet maintenance, such as it is, was ignored during the uncertainty about the future direction.

    I'm also a bit surprised this thread is so quiet - was the event itself less-attended?

    Maybe we need to stir up some controversy by slagging off someone.

    Over to you Trouble.

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    Re: Blush - The Aftermath (Feb 2011)

    Something I forgot, which I found quite amusing..

    On the way home I had an itchy ear but when I scratched it, I discovered I had an ear full of sand No joke!

    As I said before, we were practically on the beach and every time I walked down the stairs from my chalet, I got sand-blasted but I didn't realised it was quite 'that' bad!

    One more thing, I spoke to quite a few people over the weekend, who all said they felt the same as me.. None of us seemed to have had any pre-conceived expectations of this particular weekend.
    And for me, it was all the better for that reason
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    Re: Blush - The Aftermath (Feb 2011)

    Quote Originally Posted by Trouble View Post
    I get the impression from the feedback that the chalets are in quite a bad state. I expect this from Camber but have not experienced it at southport before. Ive been a few February dances at southport and chalets have been fine.

    I know we all expect to have basics but it sounds as though even that has been ignored.

    Not good is it.
    I have always found the chalets at Southport to be the best (have only stayed in a club) but there was definitely a decline in the standard of accommodation this time. I do think it was due to the uncertainty of Pontins though.

    I have never had a problem with Camber either but find Brean Sands to be awful, very cramped and badly laid out and just a stupid breakfast bar to eat at.

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    Registered User Lynn's Avatar
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    Re: Blush - The Aftermath (Feb 2011)

    Quote Originally Posted by Rocky View Post
    I had the coldest night's sleep of my entire life on Thurs when we arrived late after teaching at Newbury. The venue hadn't been used since Xmas so everything took ages to warm up and that also meant that when people checked into their chalets and put the water on etc. they found that some of the pipes had burst.

    Pontins are supposed to check everything before we arrive, but of course they didn't, despite it being part of the action plan and despite being sent numerous reminders. The result was that Mike spent over £3,500 getting in emergency plumbing repairs to try and alleviate the problem as much as was practical on such short notice.
    Yes it did seem to be a case of putting people in chalets and finding out about the problems that way - some of our NI ones had to be moved twice but were all sorted a few hours after arriving.

    It did take a good while for our chalet to warm up, mainly cos the main room oil radiator had been replaced with a tiny convector heater not big enough for the room and the bathroom 'heater' was only blowing cold air! But we just put the heat on all the time and I'd brought a hot water bottle.

    Accomodation aside - my review...


    Ugly
    The weather - all that rain!

    Bad
    Floor in blues room esp Fri night.
    Shop running out of things - especially milk - had none left by Sun afternoon!
    Missing some sets I wanted to hear due to being away eating/resting.

    Good
    Did a few classes - M&R's masterclass, V&D's blues and F&S's pivots - enjoyed them all and watched a few others.
    The 'Irish party' on Fri night - such a fun bunch!
    The milongas on Sat and Sun.
    Afternoon dancing - didn't do this really on Sat but had a lovely few hours on Sunday.

    Excellent
    The music - especially Marc's last set on Mon morning.
    Have worked out a 'dance - eat and rest - dance' pattern from 10pm - 7am that works for me and meant I was really able to enjoy the last night.
    Catching up with some folk I've not danced with for ages - some lovely, lovely dances!
    Good company.

    Overall this was a fab weekend for me - really enjoyed it.
    Last edited by Lynn; 9th-February-2011 at 03:47 PM.

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    Forum Bombshell - Our Queen! Lory's Avatar
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    Re: Blush - The Aftermath (Feb 2011)

    Quote Originally Posted by Rocky View Post
    take a large roll of gaffer tape with you.
    Good tip! That's definitely going on my list, plus, if I remember, I'm going to buy an 'overthedoor hook' for the bathroom for next time.
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    Re: Blush - The Aftermath (Feb 2011)

    As a dance event it was pretty good, as always, music mostly OK, floors a bit so-so at times and my knees hurt a lot more than usual on Sun night. Nonetheless plenty decent dances to be had.

    Pontins were less impressive. Damp, cold, pi55y-smelling chalet with a leak in the roof, a warped bathroom door so it wouldn't even close fully, let alone lock and a permanent puddle of standing water outside. By far the worst chalet I have had at SP and I have been in budget many times. The issues were reported to reception twice and FA was done about it. Also got treated like a criminal by the security on the gate when taking back a £5 leccy card as it gave a 'Card error' on meter. Took two minutes of intense study under the lamp to ensure we weren't defrauding them before they swapped it.

    No doubt I'll be returning in May though

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