Dancing

There are lots of candidates for the moment when society changed for the worst.  Some people say it all started to go wrong when TV arrived, others choose when women were allowed the vote.  For me, it was when people started to dance apart.  Yes, I think we began to lose our way when the cha cha took a hold, and we lost the ability to do the waltz and the fox-trot.

We were married for about eight years before S.W.M.B.O. and I found ourselves (with her mother no less) at a place where there was a small quartet playing dance music, and one or two couples were gliding around the floor.  It never occurred to either of us that we couldn't dance as we are of that age where lessons were all a part of the growing up process.  The only hiccough was as I stood there softly counting.  "Can you do this?" She asked imperiously.  "Of course," I replied.  "I'm just trying to get the first step going and then I'll be fine."  And so it was; we were away and I even took her mother out for a spin. although it was a bit like driving a London Transport bus through rush-hour traffic.

We regularly take to the dance floor on cruises, although I have to say my repertoire is diminishing.  But it is an activity, the loss of which has not benefited society, I think.