The trainees at work, somehow I’ve picked up honorary trainee status since I always seem to be attending their events, had a Roller Disco night tonight. We had a decent group of about 8-10 of us turn out although only 4.5 of us decided to get into the spirit and dress up. I think half the fun in these sorts of events is taking the p!ss out of yourself … I mean come on, how often does one get to wear bright yellow shorts and not look too foolish.

I was a bit nervous walking the streets of Vauxhall in my get up especially considering the bar where we were meeting up before hand seemed to have a lot of very well-dressed business sorts in attendance so I saved the bling for the venue. I would have felt less self-conscious if I’d been confident that other people would have made an effort too (which most didn’t!)

The venue at Vauxhall had two roller skating rinks (one slower than the other) and what seemed to be about three bars spread out. The later it got the more crowded the rinks got and also the scarier it got to skate – not only from the sheer masses on the rink but also the state in, shall we say, inebriation most people had gotten into. I must admit I was very wide-eyed at a few points during the night with admiration at the effort some people had put into their outfits. In addition to a few superheros (pecs included) such as Superman, Batman, Robin, we had some genuine disco outfits – with the ‘fro included. Next time I’m definitely going to get me a ‘fro.

Roller Disco is a lot of hard work on small rinks where you go around and around and around. If I’d had more skill I would have liked to have joined the instructors (there are lots of them milling about on the rink ready to help you) in the centre with their dance lines. Looked pretty cool. The music could have been a little improved – the fast rink seemed to have a lot of house when I was expecting a lot more disco, or at least disco mixes of current hits. Otherwise it was a really fun night. It is an improvement on the usual just going to drinks … and if someone catches your fancy is really conducive to meeting someone – all involved was an “oops. so sorry I ran into you and ended up in your arms.” Ha ha.