I WAKE around 6am in the hospital and feel quite a lot better. Not good, but better. Then go back to sleep.
Next thing I know is the nurse coming to check blood pressure, temperature etc and replace one of the drips.
When breakfast comes I feel well enough to have a slice of dry toast and a glass of water…and it all strays down.
The doc stops by for a chat and is just as flummoxed as everyone else has been over the last 20 years. Apparently there was mention yesterday about trying an anti-migraine drug that can sometimes be effective dealing with cyclical vomitting syndrome. This has been mentioned in the passing before…but my symptoms ad personal profile don’t the norm for cyclical committing thing.
We chat about it but agree that there’s not much point in trying it if I’ve stopped being/trying to be sick and feeling a lot better...but the doc says he’ll note it in my discharge notes. I’ll arrange an appointment with the doc to discuss further in due course.
Meantime, when the drip’s done he’s happy for me to get picked up. Margaret arrives and I have a sandwich and wee tub of ice cream, get my cannulas out and off we go.
Back home I go straight to bed and sleep until evening. I’m still feeling poorly but have a sandwich and one of the phosphate replacement drinks then try and reorganise the three guitar sessions Margaret had to cancel yesterday.
I’M SICK all night and by 10am or so we submit and Margaret calls the doctor. We thought we’d try to wait it out but things are getting worse rather than better.
The doc agrees I need the hospital and arranges for us to go direct to the CAU at Forth Valley Hospital and we get in the car for the hour-long drive.
Within half an hour of getting there I’m triaged and on a bed…a lot better than out past seven or eight hours waiting in A&E for something that’s neither an accident nor an emergency.
I’m fucked though, and despite all the IV stuff things don’t improve much as the day goes by. Poor Margaret’s with me the whole time and I suspect it’s worse having to watch me going through all this than actually go through it as I’m largely away with the fairies.
I have a high temperature to boot and have to be given IV paracetamol - not sure if it helps, but I think Margaret leaves about 11pm and I don’t remember much after that.
MAIN job today is to top and tail promo videos for all upcoming shows – and make up a posting schedule as well as work out some kind of advertising campaign for each on my socials.
There’s also some more news releases to be sent out and other bits and bobs for next weeks shows in Sheffield and Huddersfield.
After a session with an afternoon guitar student I start prepping chicken enchiladas for tonight’s dinner…Betty’s coming round and it’s one for her favourites.
We have a nice evening but just after I finish eating I get ‘that feeling’…ten minutes later I’m sick and things ain’t looking (or feeling) good. I’m sick every half hour and, true to form, starting to lose the plot.
We decide to try and wait it out and see if I’m any better int he morning…I’m pretty distressed and no sleep…
Ground-breaking at the Balmaha affordable housing site…a historic moment and the result of over 30 years’ effort
THE USUAL Monday sourdough routine is followed by breakfast before I hit the studio for a session with one of my online guitar students.
As soon as I’m done I grab the camera and head into the village to take some photos of Margaret signing the agreements for the community-owned key worker housing that forms part of Balmaha’s affordable housing project. The signing complete, we move to the site for the official ground-breaking.
This is a historic moment for the village since the need for affordable housing was highlighted by the community, and championed by our pal the late Joe Twaddle, more than 30 year ago.
As secretary of East Loch Lomond Community Trust, Margaret took over from Joe when failing health prevented him carrying on and her determination to see the project come to fruition despite some incredible challenges has paid off.
After the groundbreaking there’s a local reception. I hang out for a wee while then go back tot eh studio to sort the photos and get some pix and news on local special media and WhatsApp groups.
My usual Monday afternoon guitar student is on holiday this week but one of her pals, who usually comes later in the week has asked to take her slot….we have a good session then I go back tot eh studio and prep for this evening Wildcats’ livestream on Facebook.
Margaret signs the development agreement for the community trust-owned key worker homes with solicitor Joyce Moss, right.
ANOTHER very long lie…in my defense, I get a fair bit of work done before I get up!
There’s another batch of pizza dough to be sorted out and some prep for my sourdough. Trying to be ahead of the game now I’m outta bed.
I spend the rest of the day, and evening going through the pix form Betty’s party and make up a slideshow she can share with folks as well as a Dropbox folder of lo-res versions of the images.
It’s all done by the time dinner’s ready and we settle down to watch Bill and Dorothy’s livestream from Florida.
AFTER a lazy morning I get back on the case with the website/hosting issues then prep some pizza dough for later.
Laurie – Betty’s granddaughter – pops up to get some paper for some last minute prep and decoration down at the Roastery for Betty’s 80th birthday party tonight.
The website still isn’t playing ball but I need to get some social ads running for the Sheffield and Huddersfield shows so link the ads to the Facebook event rather than a landing page on my website. Hopefully it’ll work, but it means I mis. A few tricks re web visitors and also tracking analytics.
I get the pizza oven on and we have an early dinner before heading out to Betty’ party. I’d promised to take some pix so alternate chatting with folks and snapping. A grand evening….
AFTER breakfast I call the hairdresser to see if I can get a haircut sometime. She has a cancellation this afternoon, so I grab the slot.
Our pal Fiona was 40 a couple days ago and we’re going to the pub tonight with a small group of folks to celebrate. I make a couple of engraved insulated wine cups and we drop them off on our way to the village rather than take them to the pub later.
Margaret has an audiology appointment at the hospital and drops me in the village on the way. I’m a bit early so I drop into the deli for a coffee and a sandwich…and bump into lots of folks and enjoy a chat. Then it’s haircut time.
I’m halfway home when Margaret stops the car and drives me the rest of the way.
I get a little work done then we have some tacos and jump on the bus to the village to join Fiona and the others at the pub.
Smoked beef tacos…with pickled red onion, coriander and crumbled ‘salad cheese’…
ONCE I’M done with my guitar student I deal with a couple of emails then we head to the village to go for a swim.
Then we carry on into Glasgow for shopping – including a lunchtime snack at Costco, Tesco and Waitrose.
I picked up a small piece of beef for tonight’s tacos so as soon as we’re home I get it in the smoker then prep some Mexican pickled red onion.
Our pal Jeanetta is stopping by for some hep with her phone and laptop – we have a coffee, chat and I (think) manage to sort the issue/s.
The meat’s doing OK int he smoker although iut’s gonna be a late dinner. Meantime I make some poolish for pizza dough then wait for the beef to finish then let it rest while I prep the corn tortillas, coriander and cheese. I can’t get Mexican cojita but research threw up feta as an alternative with the preference for the slightly off-kilter supermarket ‘salad cheese’ version. It works!
AFTER an early online session with one of my remote guitar students I get back onto the website/hosting issue.
My next idea is to update Divi – one of the core building blocks on some of my sites – to a new version. It’s still in beta, but promises to be less resource hungry so it’s gotta be worth a try. I get all the sites that use it migrated fine…except this one, which throws up constraint errors in the process. Interestingly when I try to export all the posts from this blog in xml format for my archives the process crashes out. Mmm… yet another rabbit hole to go down. And again I’m out of time…
Today’s priority job is calling round the journals and radio folks in Sheffield, Huddersfield and surrounding Yorkshire before sending them news releases etc. My media database is pretty out of date, not least because of the changing nature (definitely not for the better) of the ‘traditional’ media.
A lot of the local and regional press has either fallen away or been bought over by bigger media organisations, and many of the staffers have been made laid off and it made impossible to reach anyone directly. A lot of radio has gone the same way and a lot of the music blogs that rose so rapidly have declined and/or disappeared even quicker.
Still, I get to chat with a few folks then move onto some social media stuff….then a walk yup the lochside before it’s dark.
THE website/hosting issue is really starting to piss me off. Thankfully it doesn’t seem to have interferred with a bunch of orders come through from folks in my Facebook Wildcats’ group ordering some of the ‘new old solid out stock’ I brought back from NYC and added to the web shop yesterday. I haven’t spread the word beyond the group yet.
Once orders are all packed up and ready to go I get back onto the website stuff and one by one, go through each site deleting any unused plugins and scripts in case they’re adding to the resource usage on the server. It seems to lighten the load a little, but things still aren’t right. I’m out of time for today tho’ and need to move on to other priority stuff…I’ll revisit (again) tomorrow!
Next job is edit promo video for upcoming shows in Yorkshire, Aldershot and Brighton as well as the fundraiser on 28 February for our local village hall. I need widescreen, square and vertical videos for each.
The videos take a while then I write up a news release for the Sheffield and Huddersfield shows coming up in a fortnight.
Betty’s daughter Kirsty and granddaughter Laurie are visiting from the USA and we’ve got to know them well having spent time with them both here and there…so we’ve invited them, along with Betty’s other daughter Shona, for dinner and have a grand night of laughs, food and drink
