I found out yesterday that there is an advantage to being unable to pronounce anything. Previously I always saw it as being an affliction that made me the laughing stock of my A Level History class. But how was I meant to know how to pronounce complicated Russian place names? (Cue quick internet search to find most difficultest Russian place names but fail to find bizarre-enough one to emphasis my point.)

How did everyone else know? I blame (I've always got to blame someone as it's never MY fault) my schooling. I went through primary school when it was unfashionable to learn grammar, so I barely know what a noun or a verb or an adjective is. Umm, this doesn't really help my journalism. But, hang on, everyone else in my class was the same age as me and they still knew how to pronounce these things...

Anyway I received an email last week telling me about a fund-raising event for Trade Action and Debt Injustice Leeds (TIDAL) with the Tom Havoc Ceilidh Band. However being totally unable to read, (not sure I should admit this anymore...) I did some internet research to find out what ceilidh meant and told H it was traditional Irish music which sounded like it might be quite fun. I invited Vanessa and told her it was c-e-i-d-h-l-something. It took her a while to cotton on to what I was talking about and then she said: "Oh, you mean a ceilidh!" And once it was pronounced properly, I knew what it was...I just wasn't sure I wanted to go.

However Vanessa persuaded us and we took part in a couple of dances, one of which H and I totally messed up (co-ordination isn't my strong point). It reminded me of country dancing at primary school which was much more fun than learning grammar without learning it properly.