Valentine Shenanigans

Was at CasaKeza, my local, the other night with my friend Solv and they had some traditional dancing. First time I'd seen flutes being played. Apparently, it's called a urusengo and it's made from umusave, which is the same local hardwood we used to make the piano. You can see more traditional dancing here.

It was a beautiful night with a big full moon to light our way as we stumbled home. 

 

I am still loving my local swimming pool, though it's best when you get there early in the morning as afternoons tend to be family time. I was the first one in the other day. Nothing like having a whole pool to yourself. Free to do pull-ups on the diving board without an audience.

Had a very interesting week. Lot of editing work coming in from a company I forgot I had a contract with. They hadn't called me in about a year, then suddenly two jobs out of the blue. One responded, 'thank you for your excellent edit.' Always nice to be appreciated. 

Also got a call to go tune this lovely 40-50 year old Nieer piano. Originally from Shanghai, now belonging to the American Ambassador's family. Gave it an overpull and will pop back in a couple of weeks to see how it's holding.

So, then we come to Valentine's Day. 

I suggested me and S call it quits last week. You can't expect such a new relationship to survive when you're both on different continents. Christmas wasn't fantastic, he left on New Year, I knew he wouldn't be back for Valentines or my birthday. No idea when or if he was returning, and 90% of our communication was in emojis. Being in a relationship was exactly the same as being single, so thought it was probably best just to call it. But we parted as friends, which is much better than the way it originally ended. He's a really nice guy, but we just have completely different priorities and expectations. 

So, that left me free for Valentine's, which can be a bit shit if you're single. Luckily, all my friends are too. My first group of friends, the Friday Girls, decided to get together for Fuck Love Friday, then a second group of friends invited us to Singles Awareness Day at Soy, which is an incredibly pretty restaurant in Kimihurura. There were around thirty of us and we filled two tables. 

We were discussing dress codes and I decided to go with cross-dressing. Took my favourite hat with me and put on a dandy tie.

Got there in time to meet my date...

I wasn't entirely sure I was in the zone as I headed out. It had been quite a long week and I was a bit tired, but it ended up being, without a doubt, the best Valentine's Day I have ever had. It was mental. So many fun people. One weird French guy who insisted on attempting to swing dance with me, throwing me around the room - it was a miracle I stayed upright between the alcohol and my mashed ankle. Got into a deeply political debate with lovely Lawrence. Licked salt off Solv's neck and drank far too many tequila shots. Then we all ended up at Sundowner, where I stayed dancing until 2 a.m. when someone threw a margarita over me and I turned into a pumpkin.

It was just a seriously good night where a whole group of people had a really fun time. Thanks to Odette for organising it. And, weirdly, I got a free pass this morning. No hangover at all. That means the next night out is probably going to sting.