THE KIDS, of course, have us up at the crack of dawn – no bad thing as we wanna get on the road from Doune to Turriff via Dundee early doors.
Will gets back from night shift just after 7am And we manage to get the cr packed with stuff and the kids to meet Catriona and Mikey in Dundee for a breakfast rendezvous. I wanna get Mikey’s new iPhone sorted for him.
We say cheerio to Mikey, head north and get to Matty’s in Turriff early afternoon.
It’s a beautiful sunny day. We take the kids to a nearby play park then rake a drive to Banff where we have a really good meal sitting outside at the Banff Springs Hotel.
Next, a wee drive further to Port Soy where the kids paddle in the sea and jump the waves, then ice cream, then back to Turriff.
WE HAVE a lazy start to the morning drinking coffee and dealing with emails and socials.
I have a couple of gifts I made for pals that I wanna get parcelled up and ready for the post office then hit the studio to start tackling my accounts.
After lunch I’m back on it and make some progress before we leave for Doune. We’re staying at Catriona’s and looking after the kids tonight then going to meet Catriona in Dundee in the morning before we all drive up to Turriff to see Matty.
Margaret stays in the house with Aaron and I take Freya to Fred the ducks.
Back at the house Margaret orders some Chinese food then puts the kids to bed while I go to Dunblane to pick up the grub.
MARGARET’s off to Edinburgh to meet Lesley for hair-dos…and I have a 9am online guitar student.
There’s a couple of items to be designed and made in the office. While the first one is ‘processing’ I get busy with some stuff for the local hydro society.
I take some time to sit down with a guitar and run through some songs…and mess with some ideas for some new ones.
There’s time for a walk in the sunshine before my in-person guitar student arrives then we sit outside and have some pizza for dinner.
MY 9am online guitar session has been moved to tomorrow (Thursday) so I have a little time before Dawn arrives for her lesson at 9.30am.
By the time I’ve got all the adminy stuff out the way it’s time to join a Help Musicians’ ‘insiders’ forum session where. Few of us give Help Musicians’ staff an insight into various aspects fo the music industry and discuss various topics.
An occasional in-person guitar student rocks up – he’s keen to explore some acoustic stuff and we spend a good hour-and-a-half covering a range of ideas.
The new lock for the garage door has been sitting siting to get fitted for weeks – the old one is attached to the struts with rivets and I’d been unsure how to remove them. A quick search on YouTube reveals some tricks of the trade and amazingly I get them removed without a hitch…and the new lock in place.
Betty joins us for dinner and we have a grand evening chatting, eating and a few glasses of red.
AFTER uploading the three videos I edited yesterday to my YouTube channel for scheduled release over the week I get busy with some more promo for the release of Still Friends – the fourth single and title track of the upcoming album on 8 August.
Most of the work has already been done with just a. few bits and bobs and loose ends to tie up…including a video canvas and pitch to Spotify.
An online ‘working with promoters, agents and venues’ workshop is next but really doesn’t bring anything new to the table…although at least it validates our approach. ironically I follow that up by doing some work on our housekeeping budget!
THE USUAL Monday morning routine is broken as I didn’t make my sourdough yesterday…but resumes with my regular Monday morning Zoom guitar student.
It’s dry and slightly breezy. which means I can get the gazebos from Saturday’s garden gig out from under the smoker shelter and let them dry properly before putting them away.
In the office I have some graphic work to do – a special gift I wanna make someone and also some t-shirt ideas to be knocked up.
After lunch it’s onto video edits for tonight’s Wildcats’ livestream and subsequent sharing on YouTube and my socials.
Once my afternoon guitar student has left I manage a little bit of a walk then it’s back to the studio for the weekly Wildcats’ livestream.
WE HAVE a relaxed breakfast and morning then Bill and Dorothy hit the road just after midday.
MIkey really needs a new phone so we spend a while looking at options and his budget then manage to strike a deal with EE that ticks all the boxes. There’s a lot of waiting to get through on the phone but it’s well worth the effort.
After Mikey goes we have a nap then I take the carful of gear back to the studio where I spend a couple of hours trying to troubleshoot the Quad Cortex. I do a couple of factory resets, check the firmware and trawl the online forums and help. No joy.
A little disheartened I email Neural DSP support and send a video clip showing the problem….
Bill opens up this year’s summer ‘gig in the garden’
WE’RE UP reasonably early and after breakfast venture outside to raise the gazebos for this afternoon’s ’gig in the garden’.
Margaret and Dorothy start getting the seating and stuff sorted out while Bill plays some guitar and I start bringing over my gear and the PA etc.
Everything goes pretty well to plan and I get Bill sound checked…but when I plug my guitar in there’s a problem. My Quad Cortex is goosed. I try various power options in case it’s a voltage issue but nothing works so I end up having to DI my guitars into the PA. Not great, but at least it makes a noise!
The event is advertised as 2.30pm gate for a 3pm start but of course folks start rolling up early…some as much as an hour which kinda stresses me out as any time I’d made up by being organised and making sure everything was well prepped in advance has been consumed with the Quad Cortex issue.
Regardless, we manage to stay on track and the garden’s full of folks when Bill kick things off at 3pm.
We take turns to play a few songs each and then do a couple together at the end – and apart from a few showers the weather’s pretty much on our side.
By the time everyone’s gone and we’re tidied up it’s nearly 8pm and Margaret gets dinner sorted. Mikey had been going to camp up the loch side but at nearly 30 quid to pitch a wee tent for the night we decided he couch was a better option.
After a few hours shovelling stones…the new ‘outdoor toilet area is ready for tomorrow’s (Saturday) garden concert…
AFTER breakfast I get straight to clearing the secluded back corner of our garden that we use as a (men’s) outdoor toiler area during garden gigs.
It’s a muddy, messy space with lots of old plant pots, garden bits and bobs…and the log splitter. I get bitten to death by midges!
Once cleared I put down some weed barrier then it’s a case of shovelling and barrowing the pile of gravel from our side door to the ‘toilet area’. I’m knackered pretty quick!
Margaret comes and helps spread the gravel and we put down a couple of slabs then the archway thing Margaret bought to put up a shower curtain for privacy.
Next job is getting the gazebos out and part erected then I make some sugo and pasta dough for tonight’s dinner.
I’m not long done when Bill and Dorthy arrive and we have a grand evening of chat, food and drinks…’til after 2am…
THE KIDS have us awake at the crack of dawn and I get some sourdough in the oven.
Just as well we’re up and around early as Margaret gets a message from AO saying they’ll be delivering our fridge freezer in 15 minutes.
After breakfast I get on with some work and Margret takes the kids to feed the ducks and a wee walk to see Betty.
Willie and Craig roll up in a wee tipper with a load of gravel from our pal Sandy and dump it at the side door. We’re gonna try and level out the wee area at the side of the office that we use as a (men’s) toilet area when we host garden gigs.
I take a walk to the next village to pick up some local hydro stuff from Julie then it’s time to get the kids in the car and drop them at Carolyn and Steve’s in Buchlyvie on our way to Gartmore for dinner at Duncan and Irene’s.
