MY Thursday morning guitar student had changed to Friday this week…but the snow has meant she’s not able to come. So we have a long lie!
I take care of routine business for the remainder of the morning then her to the school in Balloch where I help kids with music stuff a couple of hours a week. The roads are pretty treacherous but the scholol session is good.
I pick Margaret up in the village on the way home..she’s been at the dentist..and also slipped on the ice. She’s fine now, but got a fight.
Back home we hunker down and light the fire…then I make tofu goring noodles for dinner….
UP EARLY to get the paddleboard inflated and gear ready – Fiona and David B coming at 9.30am to go out.
They arrive with the news that the bay is frozen, so we have to resort to plan B and pack everything up and head to Milarrochy in the cars. Luckily the water isn’t frozen there and it’s a lovely day.
We have a great few hours on the water and stop on Inchlonaig for coffee…I’m in a Santa hat while the other two are in reindeer hoodies!
I’m home in time for a late lunch, shower and get ready for my guitar student…who doesn’t show up. A message to the parents explains and we re-schedule for between Christmas and New Year.
I carry on finishing and packing up some mercy orders then we take some paella along to Betty’s and catch up over dinner and a few glasses of red….
MORE West Highland Way Gifts’ orders to be made up…along with some of my own merch, I get some of it all packed up but there’s postal strikes today and tomorrow (Thursday) so they won’t actually go out t’ill Friday 🙁
After lunch I finally make it onto the computer and take a (slight) start on my accounts. I’ve left this all so late that it’s becoming a even more complex nightmare!
I’m still at when Margaret gets home with the shopping…and I’ve only scratched the surface.
I get some flank steak in to sous vide then find that the leather key fobs I cut and engraved earlier are a mess. No reason why the engraving is so crap….I head to the office to re do them. means they can’t be dyed, sewn and finished ’til tomorrow tho’ 🙁
INTO GLASGOW early to drop Margaret off and take the car to the garage for the second ‘half’ of its service. Apparently it’s going to ‘take the best part of the day’.
I pull on my bonnet and wander into town for breakfast at McDonalds where I also manage to get a couple of hours’ work done.
Next stop is the bank, then the Apple Store for a new watch band. The cheapo third party leather band I got a few weeks ago isn’t very secure. I bag a ‘trail loop’ intended for the ‘ultra’ watch but fits mine fine. Very comfy and secure. Shoulda gone straight for this when the leather one started to burst.
There’s a few bits of Christmas shopping to do then half-price bowl of ramen at Mikaku…bargain!
Margaret meets me in town then we go to pick up the car, drop off a Christmas present then onto Blackfriars for a Musicians’ Union social event….
A still from the Wildcats’ Facebook livestream….check it out here
THE usual Monday rush to get on top of everything before the Zoom guitar lessons.
After session one I get busy with a couple of social videos to help my pal Dave of The Music Cable Company who’s made me a bunch of great cables – an instrument cable, a custom cable for my wireless system and a patch cable for my stompbox. This is the least I can do in return.
After lunch I put together my final report and accounts for Help Musicians – the organisation which has lent a lot of support to the new album project,
I have to think about tonight’s livestream into my Wildcats’ group on Facebook and then sort out hoodie and t-shirt stocks in my online store.
Another Zoom session with a. guitar student then straight into the livestream.
Margaret has dinner ready when I get back to the house then I spend some time setting up a garden concert for between Christmas and new year.
Beautiful light on the loch as I walk home at dusk
WE HAVE a long lie, drink coffee and chat then drag ourselves out of bed.
I have some West Highland Way Gifts’ orders to finish off and get ready for posting…and also some other stuff that needs dropped off locally.
Margaret drives me to the next village where I do some deliveries then I walk back as darkness falls.
My pal Chris is playing an early evening set at the local pub so I nip down for a couple pints, enjoy his set and have a blether before making for home, getting Margaret and wandering along to Fiona’s for Barbara’s birthday drinks.
THE kids are but at the crack of dawn…Margaret takes them through to the living room and gets them some breakfast.
There’s a community lunch at the village hall so I get some work done after breakfast then wander along. Margaret’s gone in the car with some community trust info and Catriona’s taken the kids to feed the ducks…she’ll see us along there.
After the lunch I walk back and get hime just in time for Margaret, Catriona and the kids going swimming.
There’s a few orders in for West Highland Way Gifts’ stuff and also some CDs and music merch so I get busy with that while the chicken’s on the smoker. I’ll use some chicken on tonight’s pizzas and freeze the rest for jambalaya.
We have an early dinner then head to Drymen village hall for the Tenement Jazz Band gig where we have a great night…
Great paddle on the loch despite a spill and minor injury!
I’M in the office working on some gifts orders and packing some CDs to go out when the roofing guys arrive.
There’s a black – previously grey – patch on oiuyr bedroom ceiling and when I investigated it looked like the roof boards were sodden.
To cut a long story short, after a bit of poking around we’re told we need an entire new roof…and it’ll be £15k. Fuck sake. Aside from not having the money or access to a loan of that amount, guess we need a second opinion…
A customer comes to pick up some custom hip flasks then I have some lunch before getting ready to go for a paddle with Fiona and David B.
It’s windier than forecast on the loch but we have a good paddle…I come a cropper when one of my fins catches a rock under the surface and I bash my shin on another rock. Ouch.
Back home I have a shower then make a batch of breakfast patties before Jeanetta pops in for a chat and drink. Catriona and the kids are coming to stay to night but won’t be here ’til after 8pm. I need to make a batch of rub and prep some chicken thighs for the smoker tomorrow.
Finally, I make pizza dough with the polish I made yesterday.
It’s after 10pm but the time I have the mushroom risotto ready…then we sit up til 2am blethering…
THERE’S an online order for a bunch of different West Highland Way Gifts‘ stuff so I make a start on that before heading to the studio to get on with the routine stuff.
I make good progress then get some gear ready and head off to the school in Jamestown where I’m spending a couple of hours a week doing music with some of the kids.
There’s a few odds and sods of shopping to pick up oil the way back then I get back onto the gifts production.
In the kitchen I make a batch of poolish for pizza dough then head to the local village hall for a community hydro scheme meeting…
THE morning is spent editing regular and social versions of the video for (Looks like you’re) Walkin’ on Water.
Nothing fancy, just a montage of paddleboard videos from last week with a creative ‘filter’ or two on them. They’ll stay under wraps until next week’s Wildcats’ livestream then go public.
I get all set for a midday Zoom session with a guitar student but she doesn’t;t come online. I call to find she emailed me last week to say she wouldn’t manage this week. Mmm…there’s deffo something amiss with some of our email addresses…and when she didn’t hear she sent it to another address that got caught in a spam filter. Jeez!
I recorded the ‘remembering Joe’ speeches and my song from the church on Monday for Betty…the recording’s a bit boomy so I spend some time working on it to remove some of the ambience and tweak the EQ. The result is pretty good.
Late afternoon I head out for a walk in the woods then Martyn drops by to pick up a monitor I ordered for him…then Margaret has a meeting about local place plans.
Evening time we have a quiet night and check our pal Betty’s OK – her first night alone since Joe’s funeral.
