Even though we didn’t dance in stilettos in the snow.

We sure did stomp in our boots in the hall.

More than once.

Look, the photos are going to be crap. Because everyone and everything was a hot, sweaty blur.

And because when things are really really fun, I tend to be less great about setting up a shot.

A couple of days into December, I met up with Giulia and two of her charming friends at a Ceilidh organised by her graduate research programme.

I have strong memories of going to ‘Bush Dances’ as a kid- a couple of times at our school, and at least once with some family friends up in the hills. There was a whole lot of clapping and dosey-doeing, and I remember my dad dancing a lot.

In any case, Bush Dancing, as it turns out, is just the Australian version of US Barn Dancing, or more accurately both are offshoots of British folk dancing like the Ceilidhs, which in themselves are probably pretty similar to a whole bunch of other European and world folk dances.

And in any case, my memories from Bush Dancing as a kid were positive enough that when Giulia suggested the Ceilidh I was instantly in.

By December I was already feeling pretty fully myself again, post-breakup, largely due to an incredibly brilliant mid-November European Pilgrimage which saw me pass from arm to arm of a few of people I love the most in the world.

But it’s now my full belief that ‘feeling pretty darn good’ can still be improved immensely by throwing yourself around a room with a bunch of sweaty strangers, and stomping with all of your might in time to some tunes.

With some occasional breaks outside to cool off.

For those of you who have never tried it, the greatest thing about the Ceilidh is that you don’t have to know how to dance at all. The band will tell you what to do, and keep on reminding you throughout the song. In any case, the ultimate aim seems to be to have as much fun, and produce as much Chaos as is humanly possible.

Which is something I can very much get behind.

It was immense fun.

The day after the first Ceilidh, I was immensely tired, and my feet hurt from all the stomping. Giulia immediately got sick for two whole weeks.

But dear god, was I happy.

So we decided to try it again.

As luck would have it, the Big British Annual Ecological Conference (not its real name), was held last December in Edinburgh. As further luck would have it, both Giulia and I planned to attend. And as the furtherest of all the lucks would have it, the social event of the conference was a Ceilidh.

This time, complete with extra Scottish men in kilts.

Unfortunately in this case, the room was very very teeny. So while the band was good and the vibes were excellent, it was a little harder to fully get into the swing of things.

But we still did manage to dance a couple of rounds, and also enjoyed watching the others dance around us.

(Huge shout out here to the man who was dancing like a drunken baby bird. Excellent form, no notes).

Our third and so-far-final Ceilidh was part of a Burns Night event- held in Giulia and I’s place-of-meeting, Walthamstow.

Burns Night is an annual celebration of the life and poetry of Scottish poet Robert Burns. Generally speaking, it involves food (haggis, turnips and potatoes), as well as drink (whisky), but also recitations from various members of the floor.

Unfortunately, our event didn’t feature the recitations, and we had to forgo the whisky, so we’ll have to try another Burns Night some time in the not-too-distant-future in order to get the full experience.

But it did involve haggis, neeps and tatties:

This one was also an incredible amount of fun, only slightly dampened by both of us realising that we really have to work on our cardio, and that we also really need to dance on non-school-nights.

But we also realised that, by now, we are pretty much ceilidh experts- and some of the dances are starting to feel familiar.

Thanks to Giulia for being my Stomping Pal! Looking forward to the next one soon!

Anyone want to go back through this and see how many times I misspelled Kaylee/Kayleigh/Cedlidh/Caielddly in the post?

Early December, late December, Jan and hopefully many many more times. 2026