WE HAVE a bit of a long lie then, after breakfast Matty heads into Glasgow and Mikey back to Dundee.
I check the Ikea website to see of I can find a better, more stable coat stand. The new one Margaret picked up has couped a few times with all the stuff we have on it.
I can maybe use the crappy one in the studio.
It’d also sense to replace the table/TV bench that sits beside it with something smaller.
I find what I need and decide that if I’m going to Ikea I may as well visit the Apple Store and pick up a new iPad. I’m keen to see if I can replace the cranky old laptop and ‘go iPad’.
Lesley packs the car and leaves for Edinburgh and I brave the traffic and go to Braehead.
It’s after 6pm when I get home. Matty’s back – we chill the rest of the night.
CATRIONA, Will and the kids head off after breakfast…about midday…and I get busy with some stuff on the studio.
Mikey and Matty follow on – they’re seeing their dad at Catriona’s and will be back later.
There’s a little admin and socials to get busy with then I play guitar for a while. Lesley and Margaret do a bit of tidying up and stuff on the house.
I go back to then house after they’ve watched Doctor Who and we chill until the boys get back. Dinner, blethers then a film – Kneecap – which we all enjoy.
UP EARLY to rinse the brined turkey and dry it off a bit while the smoker gets up to temperature.
Margaret’s hoping we can have Christmas dinner around 3pm so timing is everything!
Family gifts are a secret Santa kinda thing so we’ll wait’ ’til Catriona, Will and the kids arrive – but there’s a few ‘extra’ bis and bobs we exchange after breakfast. Then there’s heaps of other prep to get busy with.
Catriona, Will and the kids roll up soon after 1pm. We hang out and the kids play before Christmas dinner bang on time at 3pm. I’d planned to set up a family photo with everyone – including myself – but folks get antsy when. it looks lime it’ll take more than a minute so sadly the idea is abandoned. Personally I’m not fussed about a pic…but it’s an unusual occurrence for everyone to be in the same place at the same time and have the opportunity for a decent family photo and I thought folks would appreciate a nice family memory. Ah well, best laid plans.
We set up buffet-style with all the food on a big fold up table I usually use for pop up sales – that makes it easier to get nine folks round the dining table. Margaret and Lesley have done a great job with all the veg and trimmings, my cherry stuffing and smoked turkey hits the mark and there’s a beef joint too.
AFTER breakfast I edit some ‘Santa paddle’ into a short ‘happy Christmas’ reel for my socials and Margaret goes to Stirling to pick up a new coat stand following. last night;s collapse of the old one. She also gets some extra shopping in. just a little.
There’s quite a lot of prep for tomorrow (Christmas day) and Les arrives just in time for lunch.
One of my first jobs is to make cherry stuffing, Once it;s done and pretty much ready to go tomorrow start making a brine for the turkey.
When the initial brine is cooled enough I put it over the turkey, add more water, a cinnamon stick, some halved oranges and a load of peppercorn. Some ice packs on top of the turkey ensure it stays under liquid then the bucket is put in the shed.
Mikey and Matty roll up and we have a nice evening..and manage to have not to late a night. It’ll be chaos tomorrow when the kids get here!
A fantastic evening celebrating my pal Jim’s 70th in Perth…a wee impromptu jam on Homesick & Blue with Jim on harp on the left, Ian McLaren, Alan Sutherland on bass and Hacko on drums….
UP early to get out for a paddle. I wanna go out on a Santa suit and get some pix with a guitar.
I get dressed up and take to the water in Balmaha – Margaret takes a camera and a guitar up to Milarrochy and I meet here there.
All goes to plan and I don’t fall in the water with the guitar. Then it’s back home for a quick shower and ready just in time for midday online guitar student.
Back at the house my usual 4pm guitar student arrives – rescheduled for 1pm as we’re off to Perth mid-afternoon. Her mum and step dad come along to and we have a grand wee session.
Then it’s off to Perth for my pal – and Radiotones’ compadre – Jim’s 70th birthday celebrations at the Abbotsford. I’ve been away from Perth for more than 20 years but it feels like yesterday and it’s great to catch up with so man y old pals…and, of course, Jim and Hazel.
There’s a revolving line-up of local musos playing and later on I get summoned to the stage to play a song or two with the guys. It’s fun 🙂
STILL no break in the weather and the wind has wreaked havoc in the garden.
After breakfast we brave the elements and try and fix things up a bit and weatherproof the stuff that isn’t wrecked.
There’s a lot of updates to be done to my socials – new cover/banner images and posts with the fist shows of 2025. Once they’re all done I start working on a landing page for my website. Then there’s a power cut.
Oh well, looks like that’ll have to wait ’til tomorrow. We light the stove and I play some guitar….
MARGARET heads to Catriona’s first thing…they’re taking the kids to Edinburgh to meet Lesley and go to a panto.
I have a load of stuff to do here and spend the morning dotting between the studio, office and house then heat up some leftover pizza in the air fryer for lunch.
Main job of the day is topping and tailing my accounts and getting my tax return finished and submitted. It’s quite a weight off my mind once I hit that ‘submit’ button.
Back in the house I prep some Italian sausage sugo for tonight’s pasta then spend some time running through a bunch of songs in the studio before Margaret gets back.
Haven’t made pizza for a week or two…long overdue!
AFTER breakfast I have a few invoices to send out and Margaret goes off to a hospital appointment.
Once she’s been to the hospital she’s going into Glasgow to get all the Christmas food and other shopping so I do an inventory check of the freezers, fridges and cupboards and make up a shopping list to send her.
Suddenly it’s lunch time.Salt and pepper tofu, then into the office to finish off a couple of Christmas presents I’m making.
A break in the rain entices me out for a walk up the lochside where I do a quick livestream into my Wildcats’ Facebook group – I realised there’s won’t be a weekly livestream on Monday as we’ll be away in Perth. I need to let the ‘cats know!
As well as doing the livestream I bump into a couple of folks for a chat on the way back and end up trying to find my way home in the dark.
There’s a bunch of emails and admin stuff to be dealt with, a eNewsletter to put out then I have a nap for ten minutes before Margaret’s ret gets home and we put all the shopping away.
IT WAS after midnight when I got the merch orders finally packed and postage labels sorted…so. too late to have the parcels collected today.
I take them to our nearest post office which is about eight miles away..so a 16-mile round trip! I’d hoped Margaret would drive and I could walk part of the way home and get some fresh air but I’m outta time as I’ve to be in Gartmore early afternoon.
In Gartmore I sit down with some of the team from the Black Bull to show them how to make minor changes to the website. For some reason the wifi/router in the Black Bull won’t let us access the back end of the website…it has me scratching my head until I realise I can log in with my phone using data – so I suspect there’s something with the network.
We move next door to the village hall and everything works fine and everyone gets logged in.
Back home I pack the car with some stuff for the dump which we drop off en route to a new office/Christmas ‘do’ with friends in Balfron.
MARGARET’S off to Edinburgh early to get her hair done and have lunch with. Lesley and Catriona.
My regular Thursday morning guitar student arrives on time and once we’re through I do some finishing work on a custom brass gift I’ve been busy with.
There’s some last minute merch orders for both my own music stuff and personalised West Highland Way Gifts‘ items. I need two get them started so they can get posted off tomorrow to arrive before Christmas.
After lunch I want to swap out the defunct fluorescent light in the shed with a new LED fixture. I need to switch of the electricity to be sure it’s not live, but there’s a big job processing. on one of the lasers in the. office. I take the oppoortunityto go for a walk.
Of course it; ls getting dark when I get back so I have two use a head torch to disconnect and remove the. old light fitting and get the new one up.it works!
A couple more merch orders have come in, including a couple for my ‘blues comes in many colours’ mugs. I;ll get onto them once the other stuff is all done.
We take a wander along to Betty’s to put up a picture then back home for dinner and off for a local meeting.
When e get back Margaret does all the sewing on the leather orders and I pack stuff up and do the mugs, They turn out pretty weird tho’ and it seems the printer I use for dye sublimation has a blocked nozzle. Finding the fix and carrying it out takes me ’til after midnight, so it’s a late one….
