Jarkko Lehmus Diary

I'm a dancer... a poledancer.

Does anyone know a good accountant who could make my alcohol bill look tax deductable?

Glasgow week came and went like a teflon coated koala: very relaxed and smooth. The reception was great every night. I had lovely time dancing with Mara. Such a shame to see her go. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed she'll come back some time. The keep things interesting we had another first night on Friday 9th January with our own Soonja Lee and brilliant Tamas Nagy from Het Nationaal and me steering them along as Drosselmeyer.

Next week the company stormed His Majesty's Theatre in Aberdeen. Small stage, next to none wing space, a rake and music with random tempo. Never a dull moment on stage... The audience was a bit on the stiff side to begin with but warmed up considerably towards the end of the week.

If life wasn't boring on stage it was even less so off it. It turned out that some of the guys in the company had interesting contacts in a place called Private Eyes from previous years. If you've never tried poledancing you should. It's a fantastic way to keep fit. I only did one song after closing time and was aching all over the next day. It's possible it was just a hangover though...

Plenty of fun and games all through the weekend. Most of the people stayed in Aberdeen for Sunday so just imagine all the things your mother told you not to do, and a big stack of stuff she never mentioned, and you won't be far off the mark.

A little get together. Photo by Lexie ©

The week after was Inverness. The Eden Court Theatre is very nice indeed: big, if slightly hard, stage and plenty of space in the wings and a good auditorium. Audience was the most subdued so far. I got the impression they had to be tricked into fully enjoying the show. As usual it picked up during the week though.

Inverness is a lovely little town. A very nice place to retire to. It's fair to say I don't appreciate all it's finer points at this time of my life. After Aberdeen it was rocking about as hard as a sock full of porridge. I was sleeping in the ultimate pornstar bed, a fourposter waterbed, and instead of having all kinds of activities going on, being filmed, sent to Hollywood and being a millionaire, I spent most of my nights sipping whisky and reading! The grand total of the week was a few evenings in a karaoke-pub, Thursday night spent causing heart attacks to locals dancing about in Mr G's, finishing Jack Kerouac's On The Road and starting and finishing Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett. Mostly due to a breakfast at 8am I still managed to deprive myself of proper night's sleep. That's a huge compliment to the breakfast though. I think the B&B was called Glenrossie. Very good service and food.

It's needless to say I was looking forward to getting my own bed in Glasgow and having a couple of days off. Did it happen? No. Saturday night, invitation to Liquid Lounge, lock in, house party, home 9.30am, straight off to Edinburgh to see my old teachers from London and a few refreshments in the swanky piano bar in The Balmoral. When I finally was in the position to drool on my beloved pillow the clock was telling me it was Monday already. And I still didn't learn my lesson. I't 2.10am now so please appreciate the lenghts I'm going to to bring joy to your lives. An entertainer by nature or just plain stupid?

Tomorrow we're off to Hull. I'll be taking my sax and plenty of books then.