THE ALARM goes off at 6.30am – not only do we have the heat pump guys coming to start the install today, but I have a 9am appointment at the hospital in Glasgow.
I get to the hospital in good time for my ‘ultrasound-guided biopsy’. The surgeon and nurse are fantastic and make the process as ‘comfortable’ as I can reasonably expect given that the tumour they’re sampling is on a nerve sheath.
Twenty-minutes or so later and I’m done, patched up and pick up plenty painkillers and some shopping on the way home.
There’s radiators, pipes and cylinders everywhere when I get back and the fitters seem to be making reasonable progress. Margaret’s unhappy with a couple of the radiators – looks like the installation engineer was pretty prescriptive in what we could get and we’re not sure he gave Margaret the correct options. In fact, he didn’t give her any options! We’ll deal with that later.
I have a couple of online guitar students, and one in-person then I get some work done in the studio. Too cold in the house with no heating or hot water.
The WIldcats’ livestream on Facebook is a banjo fest tonight with three songs I haven’t played in a long, long time. A bit rusty but fun.
I’m back home for dinner soon after 9pm then we have an early night – there’s no heating or hot water!
WHILE Margaret’s sorting breakfast I put some stuff up in the attic – and take a notion to see if I can find an old demo cassette mentioned by someone on Facebook in response to some old studio pix I posted last week.
In a storage box I find it! The Denim Elliots. A three song demo recorded in 1992 in my Kirkcaldy studio with Dave Sinclair on drums, Ronnie Bookless – who had written the songs – on bass and vocals…and yours truly on guitar.
Finding the cassette is one thing, but playing it is another. Now I need to find my 40-year-old cassette deck to see if (a) it might still work and (b) the cassette itself is playable.
I decide the procedure might make a fun livestream and I’m like an over excited kid when I find the deck works…and the cassette plays.
Sadly my pal – and the drummer – Dave Sinclair died a number of years ago…and I lost touch with Ronnie a year or two after we made the demo. I search for him on socials and it’s a goose egg. A bit more online research and I find a tenuous link and fire of an email…I hope it works.
I’d like to put the tracks on Bandcamp or something but only if I can find Ronnie and he’s in agreement. Otherwise I guess they’ll be for private sharing only.
All this discovery, excitement and resulting detective work has taken over a lot of the day and I still have some things on my to-do list.
First, I need to create some slide to go in a presentation for next week’s local hydro society AGM, Then I need to make some notes to aid my part in the presentation.
There’s some information to be added to the poster art for March’s show at The Muse in Brecon and some ticket links to be added to various listings.
Been good to have busy day and take my mind off tomorrow’s early morning trip to hospital for a ‘ultrasound guided biopsy’….
WE WAKE to to a nice layer of snow…but stay in bed and drink coffee!
After a (very) late breakfast I go outside and clear some of the snow fm the deck and front path then sort out the pizza oven and stuff that’s been ‘cooling down’ since last night.
I’d hoped for a paddle later once the wind dies down but it’s showing no sign and it’s really misty out on the loch.
Instead I do another edit of the guitar workshop promo video – a square format this time – and post it around my socials. I also send a link to a folder with all the assets (videos, photo and news release) to the Oak Tree Inn, the venue for the workshop.
Next job is finalising poster art for the Mid-Wales Rhythm & Blues Club show on 1 March and send it, align with a news release, to the promoter.
With poster art now at the forefront of my mind I pull together artwork for some other shows and put in a folder to send to the printers. I tried printing some A4s for a local show in the office but the quality isn’t up to it!
BEFORE I hit the studio I order a load of laser materials – some that I need for Manson Glass packaging stickers and a few other things I wanna try out.
I call the supplier to make sure all the stuff I want is in stock – the company website is great, but never shows if something is out of stock. In the past I’ve made an order only to get a call the next day to say some/all the items are out of stock and might take a few weeks!
There’s a few server issues to sort out for the Black Bull website – I’m having to move the website from Wix to the company the Black Bull’s domain name is registered with and put up a holding page while I revamp things. I need to change some nameservers and install an SSL certificate…and doing it myself due to awful customer service from the (inherited) hosting company. The lcn.com hosting packages are good, but I wouldn’t be recommending them to anyone given my experience with the support team.
There’s also some ticketing and event info to be sorted for an upcoming show at the Black Bull.
I’m watching Black Friday deals like a hawk and spent the last two or three months researching options for adding another laser to my merch production. There’s so much conflicting information on everything…so after assessing responses to my questions on some specialist forums and taking YouTube and other posts from (probably paid) influencers with a large pinch of salt I find an unmissable Black Friday deal, pull the trigger and max out the credit card (again!). Watch this space…
Next I sort the pizza dough for later then head for a walk up the lochside.
Back in the studio I run through a few songs and new ideas then create some poster art for my March show in Brecon for the Mid-Wales Rhythm & Blues Club with my Estonian pl Andres Roots.
It’s after 9pm when I get back to the house and fore up the pizza oven….
Great show from Jill Jackson at the Black Bull, Gartmore…
AFTER my guitar student heads off I hit the studio and start a claim for a missing pack of foreign currency I sent off to TravelFX – the folks we use for foreign currency buy back.
The special delivery, guaranteed delivery by 1pm next day enevelope with a significant amount of currency was sent on 8 November. Tracking stopped on 10 November at a local delivery office down south. The claim process is a pain in the ass, but hopefully I’ve supplied all the stuff Royal Mail requires.
I have some Manson Glass stickers to finish off for Will then I head out for a quick walk up the lochside.
We’re now half full for the January guitar workshop – just four places left and I make up some ‘you’re in’ acrylic cards so folks booked on at least have ‘a thing’…I’ll post them off tomorrow…
We have an early dinner then head to Gartmore to see my pal Jill Jackson…and other pals Duncan and Cy. We have a great night 🙂
Duncan and Cy play a cracking set opening for Jill…
Chinatown lunch with a bunch of pals including Jill Jackson and John Cavanagh….
AFTER some video editing and other routine stuff I head into Glasgow.
First stop is an optician appointment where I find I don’t need a new prescription…it’s cataracts that are messing up my vision. I have an appointment with a consultant at the eye hospital next month so I’ll discuss with them.
Next stop is the Chinatown restaurant for lunch with a bunch of pals – an annual get-together originally organised by our mutual pal, the late, great Rab Noakes and continued in his memory. Great to catch up with everyone – and great dim sum to boot.
Margaret had planned to drop me and get some shopping while I have lunch – but the heat pump installation engineer is there so she’s stayed home. Good news is the heat pump install is set for next week!
I go first to Costco, then Tesco before getting stuck in a. traffic jam for an hour or so. It’s dark when I get home – and Margaret’s not only dealt with the heat pump stuff and booked a couple of gigs but also managed to clear the pipes and drains out front. Our shower’s not been draining very well and an unwelcome swamp (don’t ask!) has appeared in the front garden – some fine roots had found their way onto he pipe and caused a blockage.
In the studio I finish editing another promo for January’s guitar workshop then head back to the house and make dinner.
AS USUAL a busy day full of in-person and online guitar lessons…no sourdough, tho’ – I was late sorting the starter yesterday so it’ll get prepped this morning and baked tomorrow (Tuesday).
I need to make a shorter, snappier promo video for the upcoming guitar workshop so in between Zoom sessions I tidy the live room at the studio and start setting up for some filming.
WOKEN UP full of the cold – no time to wallow in it tho’…lots to get done today!
A West Highland Way Gifts’ order for earrings that I don’t have leads me to search the office for the right colour of acrylic to make some up. Luckily I find some and get busy.
I hit the studio while Margaret starts fitting a patch of carpet into the space where the new stove is getting installed tomorrow (Monday).
While the video from the Czech trip is being ingested into the editor I take some pix of old camera gear that I’m keen to sell then get it listed on Facebook Marketplace.
Back in the house I help Margaret with the carpet cutting. It’s a difficult job and probably best left to an experienced carpet fitter but we have no time – or money…so it’s a DIY job.
We take a break from the carpet and I go back to the studio to record some guitar ideas for the co-write Elaine and I are working on.
Then it’s back to the carpet, dinner ..then more carpet….
I’M KNACKERED despite a good night’s sleep…and head straight in to the office to sort out some West Highland Way Gifts’ stuff to take along to Anna’s.
The office is a bit of a bomb site with music merch and stuff from the Czech trip but I get some stuff sorted and head along to Anna’s a couple of villages away. Anna sells Tropic stuff and is hosting an open house/drop-in Christmas gift event and has invited me along.
We have a grand few hours drinking coffee, eating cake and chatting in between visits from locals and pals.
It’s 6pm when I get home and Margaret’s busy cleaning the carpets having done some prep on the space where the new stove is to be installed on Monday.
