Slow, Slow, Quick Quick Slow...

A few years ago, <3 and I decided to learn to dance. We signed up for a jive class and kept going, on and off, for a couple of years. As time went on this became more off than on for various reasons, until we moved house a year ago and fell off the wagon completely. Since then we have been meaning to learn some more dancing together — <3 has been doing bellydancing, but we haven't managed to sort anything out for both of us.

Well, on Friday we got ourselves to a "social dance" class: a short course over six weeks which teaches the basics of a number of dance styles. So now we can (just about — slowly) waltz and foxtrot, and did a bit of rock 'n' roll (the latter seemed a bit trivial after the earlier jive lessons). This was loads of fun and the class had a great atmosphere. Over the coming weeks we look forward to learning to cha cha cha and quickstep, and possibly other stuff too. Look out Fred and Ginger...

Incidentally, <3 put a smile on my face by noting that Ginger Rogers was reputed to have pointed out that she did everything Fred did, but backwards and with high heels. Good point...

Seeds of Change

It's getting towards the planting stuff season, so I've been digging patches of the garden and planning this year's planting. We have a selection of spuds chitting away on the windowsill, a load of broad beans already planted out under cloches and (by way of this year's exotica) a few pots containing globe artichokes which are in the process of germinating. Hopefully I'll end up with enough decent artichoke plants to get a few out in the garden and trade a few for seedlings of other varieties. It'll be next year before we get a real crop, but I'm looking forward to that.

In addition to the small heap of fresh seeds acquired over the last couple of weeks I still have some left over from last year. No idea if they'll germinate OK, so I've put a few of each (leeks, carrots, lettuces) into small pots to grow indoors. If they work out on the windowsill I'll be able to plant the rest out later. If not, I'll just haveto get some replacements...

Respect

Yesterday evening we stumbled across the Olympic pairs figure skating on TV, where the couples were going through the free programme part of the competition. In a classic piece of sporting drama, Zhang Dan (of China) landed badly after a big aerial move, apparently doing some serious damage to her leg. After some four minutes of uncertainty the couple resumed their routine and, thanks to an impressive bit of skating and the new scoring regime which did not heavily penalise them for the fall, they managed to secure a silver medal.

Today there is a great deal of controversy about the whole event. How can athletes that botch their routine so badly only be penalised a single point? Was it fair that they were allowed four minutes of recovery time before resuming? In most other events, if an athlete crashes and burns on their single attempt then tough, that's it. A downhill skier who falls is not given a second chance. This is top level competition, not some school sports day.

However, for me this controversy is not the real story. Forget for a moment the arguments over the scoring and whether Zhang and Zhang should have been given a silver medal for a routine that had a four minute break in the middle. What I will remember is that a young Chinese girl took an injury that would have benched any professional footballer for a couple of weeks at the least, got up and finished the job she started, despite the fact that if she had another fall on the injured leg it could have ended her career. Sheer guts and determination. Surely this is what the Olympic spirit is all about. Do, or do not. There is no try.

Different

Wow! I thought it was cool that the Science Museum built a replica of Charles Babbage's Difference Engine No. 2, but now some nutter has gone and built a (miniature) difference engine out of Lego!

Thanks to David Bau for the link to this.