Sombreros

I forgot the feedback book for this class.  I was absolutely gutted when I realised that I hadn't mentioned it or produced it.  I actually was winding the class down and was just about to mention it, when someone said something to me, I answered and forgot all about it.  Which means I don't have a photograph of one of those colourful pages to help illustrate this blog.  One of those pictures full of glowing praise and testimonials to my capacity to entertain.  I'm going to have to hope that my own words and these other photographs will tell the story instead.

It was a class held in a private venue and as we were walking towards it, I told Alison that I thought it was on the same street as a class we'd held before, more than a year ago.  As we turned onto the relevant street, and the details of that other class started coming back, I remembered that it had been a venue that a large group of girls had rented specially for the weekend.  And once we got inside, it was confirmed - this was the same venue.  It made me wonder about the possibilities of hiring a place like that for the weekend and providing a group with a place to stay as well as a nude male model - or group of models - to entertain them for the duration of their weekend.  The price for such a weekend would be incredibly high, but it would definitely be a fun weekend.

We got to the front door about five minutes before the class was due to start and Alison noticed someone look out the window at us, even as I dialled the number of the girl who had booked us.  I make a point of calling ahead, rather than ringing the bell, just in case the girls want to sneak us in past anyone who doesn't know what's going on.  And once again, it was the right thing to do - someone was hurrying downstairs to meet us, already.  We were ushered in and shown to the kitchen, where I got undressed and Alison started getting the sketchpads ready.  And then she went into the sitting room, while I lurked by the closed door and waited for my cue.

While I stood in the hallway and waited for my cue, I saw a couple of piles of sombreros and couldn't resist the opportunity to grab an extra prop for the class.  So when my introduction came, I was wearing one of them as I entered the room.  Comedy props are always fun and they're even more fun when they're provided by the girls themselves.  And anyway... who can resist putting on a sombrero when they see one just lying around?  Quite clearly, the only people in this world who can resist are people with no sense of fun in their souls.  And to walk into a room full of women, completely naked apart from a comedy hat... moments like that come round all too rarely.

Sometimes there are classes where Alison and I barely even have to work.  We just turn up and I take my clothes off, start the drawing challenges and barely get a chance to settle in before the questions, jokes and laughs start flying.  Those are fun classes and this was definitely one of them.  Words like "raucous" and "bawdy" would probably be appropriate here.  A couple of the girls might have been a little shocked at the sense of humour of their friends, but I wasn't.  I was really enjoying myself.

One of the girls was taking pictures on her iPad.  She told everyone that the pictures were being streamed directly to the Cloud, where the bride's future husband would be immediately able to see them.  Alison and I thought that was funny and were talking about this afterward.  Did he get an immediate alert every time a new picture was taken, and did he look at each one with trepidation?  Technology is amazing.  To be able to share something so quickly - even as the event is still going on - is incredible.  I'm amazed that, so far, nobody has ever set up a Skype connection so that unseen people can observe in an even more "live" capacity.

When the classes finish, Alison and I always like to conclude with a couple of group pictures, just for a final laugh.  This time, someone decided it would be fun if we used the  couch and if I lay across the knees of some of the more adventurous girls.  That was interesting too, but I had to figure out the best way to do so.  It would have been much easier to lay down face first, but then there would have been too much potential for a bit of "brushing" against the knees of the girls, so I had to figure out how to sit on someone's knee, then lay down backwards - all without crushing anyone in the process.  I managed it with a little difficulty, but then the challenge was to get up, turn round so my head was at the opposite end and do it all over again.

Thinking back, I can't help wondering if anyone would have taken genuine offence if I'd gone for the easy option and moved in face-forward - which would have provided more PG versions of the resulting photographs as well - but it's moments like that where common sense prevails.  Although I'm reminded of one of Tyler Durden's early lines in Fight Club - "Now a question of etiquette - do I give you the ass or the crotch?"

And in yet one more twist, I was asked to pose for pictures with a cut-out "mask" of the bride's husband over my face.  He definitely looks like he has a sense of humour.  I certainly hope so, anyway.

I may have stolen a book.  That's the final detail.  While I was getting ready to start the class, I noticed a pile of Adam Lyall's Witchery tales books on the kitchen table and thumbed through it briefly.  A couple of minutes later, I saw another one in the case where I keep the sketchpads.  As we walked to the bus stop later, I asked Alison if one of the girls had given it to her and if she'd stuck it into the case for safekeeping, but she didn't know about it.  Which means someone either stuck it into the case for us, or it somehow managed to get in there accidentally.  Either way, I assumed at the time that it had been a gift.  But just in case, I better get in touch with the girls and make sure.  I'd hate to ruin a good class by becoming a thief right at the end.