It can be as hard to find exactly the right turn in a dance as it is to find the right turn of phrase in an advert.

A woman asked me to dance last night.

The dance was more dangerous and more exciting than any I had ever experienced before. It made me feel that all I had ever known in the past was mere loneliness.

At the end she said, “That dance meant a lot to me.”

I said, “Can you describe how you feel?”

She said, “I haven’t got anything to say that would interest anyone.”

And I could see her point.

Explaining how one feels, explaining why something is so good that you want to tell the world, is very hard.

Of course there are ways of doing it, but such ways with words can take a little while to learn. Indeed this is not the sort of thing that we are taught in school or, come to that, even in taking a degree course in English (unless it deals with creative writing of a very particular type).

But one need not despair, either on the dance floor or in front of the computer. You can always ask me for my thoughts. And sometimes I might even reply.

Tony Attwood