A GUITAR session with an online student first thing then I get some bits and bobs sorted before we head off to Edinburgh.
My second appointment in Edinburgh for a heart research programme is at lunchtime – a CT scan – then we’re gonna stay over at Les’s.
Margaret and Les are getting their hair done tomorrow, so we’re killing two birds with one stone.
After dinner, though, I start to feel a bit queezy…then I’m sick. I’m hoping it’s not going to get worse, but it does. The old familiar pattern – first time in two-and-a-half years.
Glasgow Art Club – Dave, Kathleen, Cilla, Artie, Fraser, Jill, John, yours truly, Duncan
RIGHT after breakfast I nip along to help Betty with a wee techie issue then back home to pack up some merch orders.
I get the bus to the village to meet Duncan and we head into Glasgow for lunch at the Art Club with a few music pals. Our late pal Rab was always part of this annual lunchtime meet up and after he died we’ve kept the tradition. Nice to see everyone.
Duncan and I head to Costco then he drops me back home just in time for my 6pm guitar student.
EARLY rise to get the sourdough in the oven…then back to bed for coffee and online stuff ’til the oven bleeps.
I have an online guitar student mid-morning then hit the office and finish off a bunch of packaging stickers and stuff for Manson Glass.
After lunch I get a quick walk before my afternoon guitar student arrives then we get things prepared for tonight’s local community trust AGM…Margaret is secretary. Actually, she IS the community trust!
I take some pix of proceedings – Stirling Lord Provost Rosemary Fraser and some other council folks are guests and the meeting is a great success.
Betty comes back to ours for some dinner..then I sort out the pix…
EVERYONE’S still asleep when I get my stuff together and go out for a paddle. The loch’s pretty calm and it’s a lovely morning despite the cold and frost.
Breakfast’s ready when I get back and out the shower then I get busy with some video editing in the studio.
Mikey leaves late afternoon and I spread the news on my socials that Still Friends is featured album on BBC Radio Scotland’s Iain Anderson Show this week…so there’ll be a few tracks played tonight (Sunday) and tomorrow (Monday).
I decide to try the chicken thighs I prepared yesterday in the electric pellet smoker…the ease of reparation makes it a potentially better option than setting up the kamado for a meal for two. Indeed, the chicken is done in under an hour and every bit as good as when smoked over charcoal and fruit wood in the kamado.
NOW things have calmed down post-album release and launch shows we have a long lie watching Saturday Kitchen in bed, drinking coffee and generally just chillin’.
First job is vacuum sealing some flank steak for tonight’s sous vide steak in pepper sauce. Mikey’s coming later for the night.
I pack up the rest of the flank and put it in freezer then trim up a pack of Costco chicken thighs, give them a rub with some ‘Memphis dust’ and leave in the fridge to smoke tomorrow.
All the gear I dumped in the studio earlier needs sorted out
It’s getting dark earlier and earlier so I head out for a walk up the lochside. When I get back Mikey’s arrived.
The sous vide takes a good few hours so I get it on the go and we sit and chat before dinner…
WE HAVE breakfast in our room at the Premier Inn and get a few bits and bobs done then pack the car and start the journey home.
A stop at a Tom Horton’s – never been to one before – for lunch and I take over driving until Glasgow.
First stop Costco for fuel and some shopping, then Tesco, then home.
Betty’s invited us out for dinner with some of her family and we have a lovely evening, back to Betty’s for a nightcap then home for a (relatively!) early night.
Fantastic night at Darlington’s Forum – my last show of the year!
UP AT a decent time to get the car packed and on the road to Darlington.
We split the drive and get to the hotel just after 4pm – just in time for a coffee before we carry on to load in at the Forum.
Manager Kirsten and soundman Matt are there to welcome us…it’s a nice room and Matt is an ace engineer. He’s looked after my sound here before.
Doors open at 7.30pm but showtime isn’t ’til 8.30pm so I chill in the dressing room then play the same two-set show as the previous album launch shows…first set being the full album and the second a ‘normal’ set.
There’s a good crowd in and it’s nice to see some familiar faces. All goes grand and we’re back at the hotel by midnight 🙂
TWO back-to-back guitar student sessions this morning. The first online, the second in-person.
Once I’m clear I hit the office to finish a big batch of paperweight stands for Manson Glass which takes me to lunchtime.
There’s a some brass guitar pins to be made to replenish the merch stock for tomorrow’s (Thursday) show in Darlington and some last-minute promo fro the show.
It’s a bit damp and grey but I need a walk so head up the lochside and get back just as darkness falls.
Margaret’s off to a neighbour for a ‘girls’ night’ meal so I make some pizza and have a glass of wine in front of the telly…
I DECIDED to head into Glasgow early and get some fuel at Costco before my appointment at the optician to get new lenses put in my clic-frame reading specs.
After the optician I go to the bank, pick up some shopping and get home in good time for lunch.
The plumber comes to fit the new kitchen tap. Between he call outs, work and the new tap we’re £350 worse off. All because of a bust thread somewhere in the old tap that meant it kept coming loose from the worktop.
In the studio I record some radio idents for a radio show in Ireland then get busy in the office – I have 100 paperweight stands to make for Manson Glass.
I’m back in the studio when Betty arrives for dinner….
THE USUAL Monday routine of an early alarm to get the sourdough in the oven…then, once it cools, breakfast and off to the studio for a session with a Zoom guitar student.
There’s a load of stuff needing done in the studio – and some gear to check/sort before we head to Darlington later in the week for my final show of the year.
I edit up some video clips for tonight’s Wildcats’ livestream on Facebook and prepare for a Help Musicians’ focus group meeting…which is subsequently postponed.
Darkness starts to fall and I finally mange a quick walk before the livestream.
