After joining Margaret and the kids for a picnic at Port Bawn I start the paddle home…
THE KIDS have us awake at the crack of dawn and after breakfast we get ready for a trip to the island. A lovely day for it.
Margaret gets a picnic sorted and I get my paddle board ready. They’re all getting the ferry and I’m gonna paddle.
I have a bunch of stuff to finish off and prepare for tomorrow’s sale at Kilmarnock Old Kirk near Gartocharn and also some video too edit in the studio.
Everyone gets back and we hang out then Catriona and Will come to pick up the kids.
Great evening paddle with David B and Fiona.,..thanks for the pic Fiona 🙂
I HAVE a busy morning with social media, merch production for Sunday’s stall at Kilmaronock and getting some gear ready for a session at the school in Balloch.
There’s some t-shirts and other merch to be packed up and taken to the post office too.
After a couple of hours with some of the students at school I head back home and get busty in the studio.
Will drops off the kids who;’re staying tonight and I get ready to go for an evening paddle with Fiona and David B. Beautiful night.
The kids are in bed when I get back and it’s after 10pm when we go outside for some pizza….
Nice bike ride to the village to pick up a prescription
AFTER dealing with the routine stuff I get the bike out and get it ready for a ride top the village to pick up up a prescription.
Aside from the fact that I’m wearing ‘unstuitable’ trousers, for some reason I put the cycle clips on the wrong leg and only get 100 yards form the house before my trousers are irretrievably caught not just on the chain ring, but round a pedal and crank. Fuck.
I’m completely stuff and am about to call Margaret and ask her to bring down a pair of scissor to cut the bottom of my trouser leg wen a passing walker stops to assist and agrees the only solution is to cut the trousers. Luckily she has a pair of scissors and soon I’m free. Thank you Heather from San Francisco for rescuing me!
The rest of the ride to the village and back is fine and nice to be back not he bike…it badly needs a service tho’.
In the studio I work on a news release for the upcoming Whitley Bay Carnival show (27 May) then go back to the house when my young guitar student arrives.
Next job is to get the bacon-wrapped pork fillet in the smoker. Betty’s coming for dinner later…
FIRST job of the day is making up a meal plan and shopping list for the coming week..Margaret’ll get the shopping later in Glasgow
There’s a bunch of flasks to be engraved for in3thewild so I get them on the go and assemble some of my new Loch Lomond keyrings to have on sale on Sunday when we have a table at Kilmarnock (near Gartocharn) plant sale. I also make backing cards for earrings and other small items and start getting them packed up.
Next I do a bit of online research to see if I can get a broken power plug out the socket on one of my video lights. It’s my go-to lamp and really don’t wanna have to ditch it. Emails and calls to various authorised service centres haven’t even attracted a reply, so it’s time to tackle it myself.
A YouTube video on removing mini 4-pin plugs helps me get the problem plug removed and I order a replacement online.
After lunch I hit the studio, make up a set list for the Berlin show a week on Saturday and rehearse some of the songs I plan too play.
Margaret come back with the shopping which we quickly put a way before she heads to he village hall for a local community trust meeting. While I ‘assist’ with communications, I’m not a trustee so don’t need to be there for the whole meeting…I finish off a few things in the studio then take a walk along to join them.
After the meeting Sandy pops up to the house to sort one of bathroom lights – for some reason when any of our flights fail it’s not the LED bulb but the transformer that needs replaced. He stays on. for a glass of wine, some dinner and a good ol’ blether…
WE’RE up early and off to Glasgow. Margaret drops me at the station in Milngavie and I jump on a train to Anniesland and en route to the eye hospital.
There’s an hour to spare before my appointment time so I head to the canteen and enjoy a roll and sausage and a coffee while I do a little work.
There’s ‘some activity’ in my right eye so it’s back on the steroids ’til my next appointment in two or three months.
I take a walk into town and go for a coffee and get some more bits and bobs done online.
Margaret’s been to pick up a new batch of t-shirts and comes to get me.
Some more work to do when we get home then I watch a film on YouTube about the hunt for Skip James and Son House in the early 60s…Two Trains Runnin’. Well worth a watch.
‘Least expected’ cover at the end of tonight’s livestream is Johnny Cash’s Walk the Line….
THE ALARM goes off at 6.30am to get the oven on…always an early start of I’m making sourdough!
That means I get through a fair bit of work before my first Zoom guitar student. And it means as soon as the Zoom session is done I can get straight into some video editing.
I’m taking some of my West Highland Way Gifts’ merch to Kilmarnock, near Gartocharn, on Sunday for a wee sale event and I need to promote my attendance. I also need to sort out some stock and maybe make some more items.
Once I get kinda sorted out and plan in place I start dating some live video form the Memorial Hall gig to spin into tonight’s Wildcats’ livestream on Facebook.
Martyn, Louise and Oran drop in for a coffee late afternoon then I head back tot eh studio and get ready fror the livestream..but first, another session with. Zoom guitar student….
AFTER breakfast I head out for a paddle. When I get to Torinch I land on the beach and try and secure a tripod to the front of my board so I can do a livestream form the water.
I tried it last week but as soon as I stood up on the board the tripod – and my phone – toppled into the water. This time I have some velcro and cables to try and make thing more secure. And it works. Still a bit precarious, but it works.
Back home I jump in the shower then Margaret drops me at the village hall for the community lunch where I have a coffee and catch up with folks. I walk back…and had intended to walk there too, but I’m short of time.
We’re going to Betty’s for dinner later and her sister, Greta, has ordered some glass coasters. I set them up to engrave, finish off some custom leather merch and get it packed for posting . Then I give the grass it’s first cut of the year.
I have a wee Biot of time in the studio before we go along to Betty’s where we have a lovely dinner and good company.
AFTER breakfast I edit up some vertical video from the live stuff I’ve been working on the last few weeks.
One of my recent TikTok videos has somehow ‘peaked’ and had more than 5000 view overnight…my previous highest was under 2000 over a few weeks! I wanna post some more stuff and see if I can keep some traction.
Margaret calls me to say it’s time to go to Doune – we’re off to Freya’s fifth birthday party.
We have a nice afternoon and early evening. When we get back we wander along to see Greta, Karen and Rachel who’re staying at Betty’s. We have a couple of drinks with them and Matty stops in on his way to ours….
AFTER a bit of a long lie I hit the office and dye a bunch of custom leather luggage tags and keyrings. Four of them need to go in the post tomorrow..the others are personal gifts for folks so not so urgent.
On one of them the airbrush splutters and sends out some small blobs of dye ruining one of the tags…the downside of a cheapo airbrush and compressor. I hastily engrave and cut a replacement and hope the cleaner will be dry quickly so I can dye it ready for sewing later.
I need to digitise an old DVD but the only Macs I have with DVD slots are ancient – an 18-year old Powerbook and and 13-year old iMac. Both still work, but the software to do the work I need to do is outdated and won’t rip the DVD. I try an old USB USB video capture dongle but the drivers are out of date and I can’t find updated ones only. Jeez. I end up copying the DVD source files and spending £40-odd on some software to work its magic. Finally I get there. Got a big bunch of DVDs I wanna archive.
The letter I’m putting together to send the council about various local issues needs a few tweaks…then I print it out and send it to the chief exec…as well as our three local councillors. Not really expecting much of an outcome, but at least it puts the issues on record.
In the studio I drive myself nuts trying to get a new riff worked out – and playable – to go along with some other stuff I’ve been messing with. It’s a fairly simple wee riff but it has an odd syncopated fingerpicking pattern and my fingers are constantly getting tangled up!
Time for a short walk before dinner..then we chill and Margaret sews up some of the luggage tags…
I HAVE a guitar student coming to the house first thing.
Once we’re through, I finish of some custom luggage tag art in the office and fire off some visuals for approval before start making the tags.
Lunch is arancini mad with leftover asparagus risotto from last night. It’s good, but our verdict is that mushroom risotto makes better arancini!
In the studio I get some more work done until my 4pm guitar student arrives..then I finish off my letter to the local council about some things that are, let’s say, ‘boiling ma piss’.
By the time I’m finished Betty has arrived and I start dinner….
