Naked Tea Party - Tuesday

The Naked Tea Party continues to be fun, but it continues to to deviate from the plans that were set.  Today, I arrived at 11AM again, and spent the early parts of the day tweaking the environment a little.  Taking down posters and pictures to rehang them in different places.  It made sense, because a couple of them were a little wasted in the original placings.

Later, everybody got into character once more and we all took to our places.  Which meant I returned to the Tea Party Room and got undressed.  It was cool, I curled up on the couch with a book (Ecstacy by Irvine Welsh, if anyone's interested) and waited for members of the public to turn up and socialise with me.  Sadly, the charms of the Sapphire Rooms escaped the busy, thronging passers-by on Lothian Road.  I think I sat on that couch for nearly two hours, while a couple of the girls drifted in and out, concentrating on their own duties - and occasionally commenting on how chilled and relaxed I looked.

Eventually, I got dressed and stepped outside to talk to a couple of the girls.  We sat at a table on Lothian Road, talking about what could be done to improve the concept and draw people in.  Part of the problem is that Edinburgh's infamous "Pubic Triangle" is just around the corner on Bread Street and that's a very different environment - much seedier than this place - and as a result, it kind of tarnishes the Sapphire Rooms' reputation with its proximity.

The "Pubic Triangle" consists of three tiny little pubs that offer strip shows and lap dances.  They're all right next to each other, albeit on three different corners - hence the "triangle".  I admitted to a couple of the girls that I had always prejudged the Sapphire Rooms fairly harshly until last week and until I had met the girls.  A couple of them told me they had briefly worked in the Triangle, but moved on.  The clientele, they said, were disrespectful and openly rude.

It was interesting and funny to listen to the dancers' stories.  And to offer my own stories, from my experiences with the hen nights in return.  I don't do the same job as them, but there's just enough crossover going on, that I was at least able to contribute to the conversation.  The main difference is that my clients are always respectful of what I do, while they - even in the Sapphire Rooms - have to occasionally deal with people who anticipate something a little more "hands-on" than what's being offered.

Another really cool element about sitting at that table on that busy street in that beautiful sunlight (very different to the weather we've been having until yesterday) was the fact that I was sharing it with a half naked girl and nobody was paying any attention at all.  It was the girl in the black corset (Remember her? She hugged me yesterday.) and I was very amused by the fact that everybody was so cool about it.  They just kept on walking and never paid any attention to her at all.

Hopefully, we'll be able to tempt more people in tomorrow.  We've come up with a couple of possible strategies that might work.  The main difficulty, I suspect, is that other people might be prejudging the Sapphire Rooms in the same way as I did.  It just needs to be made clear that there's a show going on - a tongue-in-cheek exploration of sex and nudity, rather than a seedy and grimy strip joint.