dancing in the street

Went to Portabello Road today with BADA people. Yknow, the place with the song in "Bedknobs and Broomsticks?" Good time all around. We were a bit worried since the circle line tub was closed, but it meant a free bus ride there, hacha!

Potabello Road is awesome. It's a huge outdoor market that sells just about everything from coffee and crepes to cleaning solution, (I bought iced tea for the first time in London, that's saying something, since they don't believe in it here!), but mostly it specializes in antiques and clothes, so we did a lot of weaving around china tea cups, military gear, and leather coats. There are real stores, and then there are all these stalls that squeeze themselves in wherever there's room. So after getting separated from people (very crowded), I wander down the street, hoping to find them. Then my ears prick up, hearing the familiar sound of an accordion and guitar. These two guys are just whipping out one Irish tune after another. And they're pretty good. So I figure I'll sit and listen to them, and hopefully catch my friends as they walk back towards the bus. I'm dying to dance along, but these guys are trying to earn money, I don't want to intrude.

Then, at a break, the accordionist turns to me and says, "Come and dance, I know you know how, I can see you counting the music." So I set down my bag, ask for a reel and go to town, right in the middle of the street. My sweater's falling down, I'm stumbling in my trainers, and I'm out of shape, but it's a blast. And not gonna lie, it felt cool to have people watching. The accordionist (Kevin, by the way, the guitarist is named Peter), buys my a bottle of water, and we sit and chat for a while. They compliment my dancing, and there's the oh-so-subtle jokes about how high I can kick my leg and how lucky my boyfriend is because of it (... hah.), but in the end Kevin hands me his card and says, "We're playing the 16th, if you want, come and dance. I just might... anyways, yeah, that's my Portabello Road story. It was fun to dance again.

Then I came home, (bus driver was a jerk who refused to let us off "I just opened the door..." but then didn't move away from the pavement for 5 minutes because of traffic...), and we watched LOTR, The Two Towers. I ended up being one of the experts, that should tell you something...