Great paddleboard tips from Paul Richardson from Calamity Kayaking 🙂
AFTER a bit of long lie I take a wander to the village shop to see how they’re doing for West highland Way Gifts‘ stock. They need a load of fridge magnets 🙂
Breakfast’s ready when I get aback home then I order up supplies to fulfil the magnets order and realise that I’m almost out of West Highland Way Gifts business cards. I dig out the artwork and order some up.
Catriona an Will bring the kids over – Freya’s gonna stay tonight – so I have a coffee with them then get my paddleboard gear ready to go and meet Paul Richardson of Calamity Kayaking who’s kindly offered me a free coaching session.
We have great session on a very choppy Loch Lomond then I head back home. Fiona and I are planning to get out for a decent paddle tomorrow (Sunday).
Matty stayed last night and is off to Arran for a hill race…he’s staying again tonight so I finish off a batch of pizza dough ready for this evening.
I spend a few hours in the office catching up on some work thence-bone and rub some chicken thighs to go in the smoker tomorrow…then it’s time for pizza and beer 🙂
Nice update on our fundraising – page two in today’s Stirling Observer 🙂
AFTER a bit of a rush to get through the routine stuff I hit the studio and login to the Academy of Music & Sound ‘teams’ page in time for the first day of a music branding course.
The course has been offered to MU (Musicians’ Union) members at no cost and runs all day every Friday for six weeks.
Microsoft Teams is kinda flaky platform – I much prefer Zoom – but we muddle through. the first module’s content is all about the music industry, how it works and the different roles. All old hat to me and I’m not quite sure how it relates to branding for music. I suspect the SVQ assessors’ criteria wants some academic knowledge imparted!
In the lunch break I prepare and marinade the chicken so it’ll be ready for the grill along with the burgers to take along to Betty and Joe’s later.
The course is meant to finish at 4pm but overruns and we’re not done ’til after 5pm then I quickly share/post the Stirling Observer’s update on our fundraising paddleboard efforts.
I get the charcoal lit for the grill, make up a dressing for the chicken then start grilling. We manage to get everything ready to take along to Betty and joe’s for 7.15pm before the other five guests arrive 🙂
First time making lamb shish kebab…and til;s great!
MARGARET heads off into Glasgow to get her hair done just as my Thursday morning guitar student arrives. She’s not long gone when Betty drops by for a coffee and a blether.
Betty’s ‘commissioned’ me to make dinner for ten at her place on Friday evening…it’ll be grilled chicken and burgers plus all the extras which I’ll grill on charcoal, pack in a faux cambro and take along before everyone arrives.
I start making the burgers which can go in the forge until tomorrow, then make the poolish for pizza dough that I’ll make tomorrow for Saturday night.
After lunch I get on with some work then have a good Zoom session with another of my guitar students.
I finish cleaning the grill then marinade the lamb for shish kebabs later…Margaret drives to the village hall to prepare for tonight’s community trust meeting. I finish of some jobs then walk along to join the meeting.
It’s after 9pm when we get back home and I fire up the charcoal and open a beer. My first time making lamb kebabs…success – and we both thoroughly enjoy our dinner 🙂
FIRST job of the day is to write up a news release and sort some images to send to the local papers chronicling our fundraising efforts so far.
Hopefully we’ll get a little more media coverage as a result.
For some reason the wifi in the studio isn’t working. I think maybe the power going off the other day might’ve ‘done something’ although the network stuff is all plugged into an UPS (uninterruptible power supply) so hadn’t gone down…plus, it was working later on that day. Mysterious!
I reset everything and manage to get the wifi back up…but my ethernet connection has stopped working. Takes a while to get it all sorted then I go and make some chicken ramen for lunch.
A courier delivers a special dongle I need to program the audio info-point in the village. I take it along and manage to get the play stats down. Interesting to see how many plays (nearly 15,000) and what the most popular ‘programmes’ are.
There’s some more work to be done then I head out for a walk up the lochside, getting back just in time to help Margaret unload and put away the shopping.
I make dinner – Asian salmon, sprouting broccoli and cold soba noodles then we chill and watch some telly. I get a Facebook message from someone who’s caught an episode of The Deadliest Catch with my ‘Scottish sea shanty’ version of Bon Jovi’s Wanted (Dead or Alive)…they saw the credits, tracked me down and wanna know where they can get the track. Then another similar message comes in…then another…
I send an email to the producer to see what we can do…
Second paddle of the day…our pal David joins us for a wee jaunt up to Loch Drunkie
UP AT 6.30am to try and get a some paddle miles in before the wind’s due to kick off around 9/10am.
I start heading up the east side of the loch past the sailing club but realise the wind behind me – while a welcome aid – is gonna make things hard going back. I divert up between Inchfad and Inchcailloch and make for Torrinch where I do a wee livestream update and have breakfast.
While drinking my coffee I see the waves are getting a bit stronger as they hit the shore and decide to start my paddle home. The wind has picked up much earlier than forecast and the paddle home is hard work. I have to stop to finish my coffee and have a rest on the side of Inchcailloch!
Back home I spot a message from Fiona suggesting a trip up to Three Lochs Drive when she’s finished turning round the rooms at the B&B…in about half an hour! I pack up my gear, make some sandwiches and am ready when she comes to pick me up. We collect our pal David en route and have a great paddle on Loch Drunkie.
It’s 4pm by the time we’re back and I’m pretty tired but it’s great top have some more miles in.
The flank steak I took out the freezer earlier is defrosted so before I hit the shower I put it in the Instant Pot to sous vide for a few hours.
In the studio I sort out out some of the other bits of my guitar lessons website then go back tot he house and make some pepper sauce to go with our sous vide steak….
I ‘go public’ with this week’s Wildcats’ livestream….
THE power’s going off for ‘maintenance’ this morning so I try and get as much work done as I can before the 10am shutdown…which also means I had to re-schedule my usual 11am Zoom guitar student’s session to 1pm.
I use the downtime to mess with guitars in the studio then the opera comes back on – earlier than expected – just before midday.
Before the 1pm session I manage to get some more work done on the guitar lessons’ website then, once the session is done, I make chicken ramen for lunch.
Then I’m back on the website before some prep and promo for tonight’s Wildcats’ livestream which is going out on my Facebook music page rather than the private Wildcats’ group. I do this on occasion to try and attract new folks into the free-to-join Wildcats group.
Still way too windy to go out on the loch, but there’s a wee window early doors tomorrow that I might get out for an hour or two. Instead, I go for a wander up the lochside in the rain.
I’m back in time for another Zoom guitar session then set up the livestream and go-live bang on time… 🙂
UP early for another paddle. Aching all over from yesterday’s efforts battling the wind really don’t feel like it but I don’t wanna fall any further behind schedule o the fundraising mission.
Once again it’s windier and choppier than forecast and by the time I get to Manse Bay it’s getting treacherous so I head for shore where I have my fruit and yoghurt and a coffee before making my back close to shore.
Everyone’s up and about when I get back. I wash down my board, grab a quick shower and have ’the rest’ of my breakfast – a bagel with a breakfast pattie, egg and cheese.
Margaret goes back to Doune with Catriona and the kids – Aaron has a pre-op appointment and Margaret’s looking after Freya while Catriona and Will take him along. He’s to get a wee operation on his tummy button this week.
I defrost some chicken and make a marinade for grilling later then get back to work on the guitar lessons website. Starting to come together. As usual I get engrossed and it’s after 8pm when I get back to the house and light some charcoal for the grill.
Grub’s up just in time to watch our pal Bill’s – now monthly – livestream…and instead of coming from Florida, it’s from Invergowrie as they’re over here staying in their second home here in Scotland 🙂
It’s a bit windy and choppy but I persevere and make it to – and along the side a bit of – Inchailloch. I’m back home in time for breakfast then it’s time to hit the studio.
Main task on the to-do list is to out together some kinda website for my online and in-person guitar lessons, masterclasses and workshops. I accidentally deleted the original website when migrating all my websites to a new server back in September and had forgotten I’d just put up a holding page.
Betty drops by the garden for a coffee, closely followed by Catriona and the kids who’re staying tonight.
I get back to the website building and, after I’ve made some headway, go out for a another paddle.Tthe sun’s shining but it’s blowy…and even choppier than this morning. I make it to Port Bawn at the far end of the island and by the time Ilm home the kids are asleep.
A quick shower then I get the pizza oven fired up and we enjoy our evening meal outside 🙂
STILL blowing a hooley out there – and it’s set to be like that all day, so no paddleboarding for Scottish Mountain Rescue 🙁
Still, lots to get on with in the studio and office.
First I need to get a personalised leather airtag holder finished and in the airmail to Australia. Shoulda been done by now but I managed to spoil the first one. Once the final finish is cured and the snap and eyelets installed I give it to Margaret to do the sewing. I;ve sewn a few of them but I’m nowhere as good – or fast – as Margaret.
After lunch I have a Zoom session with one of my guitar students then I set about making a new promo video for the online and in-person lessons. The pinned video on the Facebook page is kinda out of date…and I need something for the website which I hope to rebuild over the weekend.
There isn’t really time to do anything fancy’s it’s a kinda warts’n’all production but it’ll do the needful.
By the time time I’m finished it’s after 8pm so I head back to the house and sort dinner.
I’M still running around getting routine stuff out the way when my Thursday morning guitar student arrives.
The lesson goes well then I get the pizza dough out the fridge. My cousins Ian and Zila and Zila’s partner John are coming for lunch.
They arrive just after midday. We sit in the garden and enjoy a drink and blinis – Margaret’s doing and very nice they are too – while the pizza oven warms up.
It’s a bit windy so we put up one of the old gazebo walls which does the trick.
We have a great afternoon and evening catching up then they hit the road just after 8pm and we get tidied up.
Neither of us are hungry so we have some snacks and watch a few episodes of Bosch:Legacy before falling asleep on the couch.
