AS expected, a pretty traumatic night vomitting every 20 minutes or so.
I don’t want to the hospital ‘cos they;ll keep me in and likely not let me out in time to fly to Finland tomorrow – let alone get the gear packed etc.
It’s a bit of a gamble but I decide to try and sit it out.
Margaret cancels all today’s guitar lessons Mf the continues as the night. Awful. My WIldcats’ livestream is also cancelled.
By 9pm I’ve stopped being sick but still feel terrible…then I manage to fall asleep.
FIRST job of the day it to make up set lists for the Finland and Estonia dates.
Next on the list Is a bunch of stuff for my pal Kevin in prep for his new single which lands on 15 May – with being away the next fortnight I wanna make sure we have our ducks in a row.
In the office there’s a bunch of guitar pins to be finished off for the merch case. Cutting it fine time-wise but they’ll be ready just in time!
We go to the local pub for dinner with Betty and have a lovely evening until...I get that feeling…the pre-cursor to the mystery vomitting thing. I excuse myself and head home, closely followed by Margaret.
We debate if I should use the injections I have and decide there’s nothing to lose. I jab myself but fifteen minutes later I’m being sick. I can give myself another injection in an hour if I’m not better. I have the second injection. Doesn’t help. And so it begins…this is not good timing,
MAIN job for today is to try a test cut of the audio point info board using a router and circle guide on a piece of scrap wood.
Not s straightforward, of course, as it should be. First, the bit of chipboard needs cut to side and the clamps I need are nowhere to be seen in the ‘recently tidied’ shed. It’s great Margaret tidies the shed every so often…the problem is the things that need to be access quickly sometimes end up out of sight requiring the shed to be blurry emptied to find them. Also, things that go together like the jigsaw, its accessory tools and blades are separated and ‘tidied’ giving rise to the same problem.
It takes an hour to find the stuff I need and 30 seconds to make the cut.
Cutting the circular hole with the router is easier than I excepted but there’s some irregularities in the geometry of the audio point that I need to accommodate and that’s not quite some straightforward meaning I have to re-think my design idea. I get there eventually. The real info board is gonna have to wait tho’.
I’d hoped for a walk. But I have some urgent video and web stuff to do for my pal Kevin…then new promo videos with an additional show need to be edited up for the Estonia section of the tour.
Suddenly it’s after 9pm and Margaret’s calling me for dinner….
AFTER breakfast with Fred we sit and chat a while then I drive her back home.
There’s some bits and bobs of shopping to pick up on the way back. After a late lunch and getting my emails, socials, this blog and stuff done I’m feeling a bit under the weather.
I had sore throat last night and now I’m all blocked up, sneezing and fading fast so I take a nap on the couch. For four hours!
As a result I get next to no work done. Ah well, there’s always tomorrow…
STILL not feeling right but there’s brass guitar pins to be made. My first attempt at using the brass jig I made fails. Not because of the jig but because of a stupid setup mistake that I don’t spot until the job’s nearly finished running.
I make amends then start again and things look a bit better.
In the afternoon Margaret goes to get some shopping in Glasgow and bring my cousin Fred back for the night. She had to give up driving because of eyesight issues a few years ago.
I have a young guitar student at the studio where we have a good session and I even have time for a quick walk and some fresh air before tidying the house a bit and setting the dinner table before Margaret and Fred get here.
FEELING a lot better this morning and even want to eat something. Overnight oats and fruit it is.
Margaret takes Matty and the kids for a swim and I reluctantly get on with my accounts and tax return.
They all have lunch out and I hang out a little with the kids when they come back. Matty takes them back to Catriona’s late afternoon and we have the place to ourselves for the first time since Friday.
In the studio I get my tax return submitted. Phew. Good to get that out the way.
Next job it to start making a jig for embossing brass guitar pins. This is a fiddly and time-consuming job, but if I manage to pull it off it’ll save loads of time in the future.
MARGARET’S turn to be sick now…but by morning she’s feeling a little better. I’m not feeling 100% but get up and do some work.
I decide to go for a swim and see if that perks me up a bit. It does and I feel fine after…until I get home.
Hoping I’m not gonna get sick but stomach cramps, aching all over and a temperature don’t feel too promising.I go for a lie down. Then it’s the skits. Uh-oh. Luckily the vomitting doesn’t follow but I’m in no shape for a guitar student coming later….I get Maragret to message my student apologizing and saying I’ll be in touch to re-arrange asap.Probably a good idea to cancel tomorrow morning’s lesson too – my student has an operation scheduled soon and is probably better staying away from a house full of sickness bugs even if I am feeling better in the morning.
I sleep,doze, toss and turn. Matty’s still here and we’ve got the kids comign again for the night…but I’m ‘oot the game’…
THE KIDS have us awake early. When I go to the toilet there’s a hell of a mess everywhere…I ask the kids if they’ve been unwell? Nope. After Freya being sick yesterday afternoon seems it was Matty’s turn to be sick during the night.
Catriona and Will arrive just after 9am to pick up the kids and everyone goes back to bed except me. I have some breakfast then embark on my accounts. It’s my financial year end and I wanna be ready for all the ‘making tax digital’ changes coming…so best I get my stuff in order and my 2025/6 tax return submitted ASAP.
Margaret’s heating up some soup for lunch when I get back to the house. No sign of Matty who’s holed up in the spare room. Apparently feeling a lot better but knackered.
I get back to my accounts and make some progress then go out a walk up the lochside and do some promos for tonight’s Wildcats’ livestream on Facebook.
Back home I pack up some merch that have come in over the weekend then hit the studio and prepare for tonight’s livestream.
EASTER Sunday…and I’m up at 6am to get the smoker on for the pork belly. Once everything’s sorted I go back to bed and set a timer to go check the wood pellets and give the three slabs of pork belly a spritz with apple cider vinegar – an hourly exercise to help the bark form and keep things humid in the smoker.
A message form Catriona tells us she and Will haven;t been well overnight so won’t be coming – Matty’s on his way down form Dundee and will pick the kids up ‘en route and if she’s feeling better Catriona will come and pick them up later.
After breakfast I make a Carolina-style vinegar BBQ sauce and tend the pork while making another ‘fossil’ for the kids to find during their Easter egg hunt.
Mattey arrives with the kids early afternoon and despite the rain we have a fun time with the egg hunt and take Aaron to the bay…Freya’s not keen to come and when we get back we find out why. She’s been sick.Projectile vomitted all over the bed in the spare room. Margaret strips everything and gets the washing machine on then we have smoked pork belly, coleslaw and potato salad for lunch.
Mikey and Les leave late afternoon and we chill with Matty and the kids. Catriona’s not coming for the kids so they’re staying over – Margaret gets them ready for bed and I make some pasta for dinner then we watch Bill and Dorothy's livestream.
AFTER breakfast Margaret heads off to the village and I prep three big slabs of pork belly for tomorrow. I cut and trim as necessary, score the fat cap, slather in mustard then add a rub – my mix of freshly cracked black pepper, sea salt and garlic granules.
Then it goes in the fridge to be retrieved at 6am tomorrow (Sunday) morning when I fire up the smoker. We're having a family day with an Eater egg hunt for the kids and aim to eat around 4pm. The pork belly generally takes a little over eight hours and is best to let rest for an hour, so if all goes to plan it'll work out.
Margaret's not long back when Les rolls up – she's staying tonight, as is Mikey – both go home after the family day tomorrow (Sunday)...everyone else is coming just for the day but we'll have Matty 'til Wednesday.
I'm doing grilled flank steak tonight so make up my marinade which'll go in a ziplock bag with the steak – but not 'til an hour or so before grilling. Over-marinading can make the meat mushy.
We have a chilled afternoon and I take some time out to make some 'fossils' – deep embossing trilobites and ammonites in bits of broken slate – for the kids to find along with the chocolate eggs tomorrow.
It's 9pm by the time I light the charcoal. Mikey's still not arrived by the time we eat so we have dinner and I keep some back for Mikey when he gets here.
