Well this last week has been eventful, to say the least!
If you read my last post, you'll see that Alison and I were set for the seas, off on a little adventure together around the world, dancing on a luxury yacht.... well that has kinda changed.... and by kinda I mean, completely changed.
Last weekend was probably the most emotional weekend of my life, I said farewell to my friends in the microbiology lab on Friday, then Saturday I said a teary goodbye to my bestest friends and on Sunday I said bye bye to my lovely family. It was so upsetting, I was really excited but at the same time, devastated that I wouldn't be seeing my loved ones (apart from Alison of course) everyday. My parents gave me a diary and my Dad told me that they bought it because they didn't want to miss one single day that I was away, they wanted to hear all about it when I returned home. It was a simple yet completely perfect and touching gift. I promised them both that every day I would make an entry and tell them how it was going.
After squeezing them both so hard, I said goodbye and set off to collect Alison.
When I got to Alison's, the mood was much the same in her house. I helped her load up my car with her luggage and then we were off to Northampton.
We arrived in Northampton and were shown to our flat, which was lovely! Really nice and spacious rooms, and positioned right in the middle of the town, perfect for us. We were sharing our flat with two of the singers who would be boarding the ship with us. When they arrived we all bonded straight away. They were lovely, bubbly girls and we all had a lot in common. We spent the most of Sunday night, chatting about what was to come and getting excited about stepping foot onto the glamorous ship and setting sail.
Monday morning, the first day of our contract. Alison and I woke up, eager to get dressed and prepare for our exciting day ahead. The butterflies were in full swing in our tummies, but full of positive energy. We couldn't wait to get started.
When we arrived at our rehearsal location, we met the other cast and crew and of course, our choreographer. She was great, such a happy and charismatic person. The first routine she taught us was a Viennese waltz, it was beautiful. The music, the moves! They all flowed and we both fell in love with it. Every time the choreographer turned her back on us, Alison and I would quietly jump around and grin in excitement, obviously when she turned back around we sharply returned to our professsional composures. Lunch time came around very quickly, and we had finally finished the waltz. We sat with our singer friends at lunch, and spoke of how excited we were and also how in pain we were, the rehearsals were very tough but great all the same.
Once lunch had finished, we returned to our rehearsal room and began to learn a new routine, this one was a lot more what Alison and I were used to, a contemporary routine! With lifts!! Everything was going well, until.... in walked the owner of the agency, I won't mention any names... lets just call her Linda Queen. She was a scary lady, her face had obviously had a lot of work done, it was as tight as a badgers arse. Straight away the atmosphere changed, there was a huge amount of tension in the air. She walked over to the choreographer and asked if she could see what we had done. So the choreographer turned to us both, smiling but with a serious and slightly scared look in her eyes and asked us to get into position for the Viennese waltz.
Alison and I, took to the floor and although I was absolutely bricking it inside, I tried my best to give off a relaxed and confident manor, not only for the owner's sake, but also to put Alison at ease. We danced the waltz, and naturally it didn't go as good as it should do because we had only just learnt it, but it didn't go horrifically wrong. Afterwards the owner turned to us both and said "See you soon" and walked out, beckoning the choreographer to follow her.
A few minutes past and the choreographer returned, smiling and carried on as normal. We spent the rest of the day learning the new routine which was brilliant. The choreographer was high-fiving us, and cuddling us, telling us how well we were doing. So we both got really good vibes from the day, well apart from when the scary witch woman came to investigate.
When we got home, we both began to prepare our dinner and during this my mobile rang. It was a lady from the office. She phoned to tell me that after watching us dance 'Linda Queen' felt that we wasn't going to progress enough in time for the contract and that they had to terminate our contract with them. My heart sank, I was completely shocked, I didn't know what to say. So I stuttered my way through the conversation and hung up. I then broke the news to Alison. She couldn't believe it either. It was the worst feeling ever, we both felt completely hollow. What was we to do now?? We had both given up our jobs and lives back home, now after saying goodbye to everyone and receiving such lovely cards and gifts we had to return home and say that we had lost the job!!!? How humiliating!
We called home and spoke it through with our parents. That night Alison and I didn't sleep very well, it was impossible too, we couldn't switch off.
On Tuesday (Valentines Day), we woke up, packed our things and set off for home. I couldn't wait to get back home and pretend like it had never happened.
When I got home, I straight away got in touch with the microbiology lab and explained everything that had happened. Luckily they had held my position for me and I got my job back. Alison got herself back into dance college too. So everything went back to normal.
Was obviously a tad embarrassing going back to work and having to explain to everyone what had happened, but everyone was so sympathetic and lovely so it made it all a lot easier.
So here we are back to "normal", a week ago today it felt like our world had been turned upside down, but now it has all been put right again. It's times like this that I appreciate what loving friends and family I have.
As for Linda Queen, I'm not sure I'd ever want to work for her again. Although in the contract it stated that the rehearsals are a trial period, it just didn't feel like we were trialled. We were given half a day to learn and routine and show it to her. Fair enough if she thought we needed work, but tell that to us (to our face!!) and ask us to work on it, give some time to improve!
A lot of people have said that they think she had someone else lined up, that we will never know. A lot of people have also said that everything happens for a reason and that something good will come out of this for me and Alison.... let's hope they're right!
Onwards and upwards!
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