After work today, I was tired and just wanted to go home. But Ryan and I had made plans to go square dancing for my new thing, so I dragged myself to Bryant Park and screamed, ‘I hate todaysthedayi!‘ when I met him.

Thankfully, it turns out that square dancing is the best remedy for a bad mood.

We grabbed free cowboy hats and watched hundreds of couples swing, gallop and do-si-do. When Ryan pulled me up to join them, the band was talking through instructions for a massive dance around the perimeter of the park.

We’d ‘promenade’ by walking forward holding hands, then swing around using one elbow before using the other and doing the do-si-do (crossing our arms and circling our partner back-to-back). Then we’d move to the next person along the line and repeat the moves with them, and so on.

The dancing was easy and fun but my favourite part was interacting with a stranger for about 30 seconds before meeting another. Some were shy, some wanted to cram in a chat, others just wanted to spin you the fastest you’d been spun. One woman said to me, ‘Bryant Park is the friendliest place in the city’ and I felt like she could be right.

We took part in another large group dance – this one involved hopping and clicking heels – before Ryan and I wandered around the square to check out some lassoing.

(And then we tracked down the photo booth, of course.)

Before I headed up to the park tonight, I didn’t feel like going – but I also knew I’d be out of my slump within moments. And that’s exactly what happened. In no time, I was do-si-doing like the best of them, chatting to strangers and grinning like a fool. This is what the blog is all about.

So I lied, I don’t hate todaysthedayi, I actually quite like it.