Over 150 CBQ CDs issued in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support...

Playlist
Various - Prog Rock 1973-1975
Ibrido Hot Six - Play Acquiring the Taste
The New Percussion Group of Amsterdam - Go Between
Yello - 1980-85 The New Mix in One Go

Try to remember the kind of September, etc...

Up around seven and to the gym...

Home for breakfast then more prog listening and surfing...

This is how I waste my time...

In the afternoon to mum's for coffee and a wee goodie drop and some enjoyable chat with Anne, mum and sister Sheila...

No pics taken this week...

At Ann'e mum's, niece Kitty was in charge of the camera...

A very tasty tea as usual and, again, good chat...

Home to some catching up with this and some more listening while the Exec Producer enjoyed "Downton Abbey"...

Another pathetic pedometer total (it doesn't count running)...

Highlight of the Day : Finally through the £750 barrier for Macmillan re the new album - over 150 CBQ CDs issued in aid of the cause!

Jammy as a jammy thing thickly spread with jam...

Playlist
Various – Now That’s What I Called Music 1972

Various – The Jackie Album

Various – Prog Rock 1967-1972

Up at seven thirty...

Out to Helen the podiatrist for nine...

A lovely day...

Back home and spent almost all of it at the PC listening to tracks from the 100 odd prog rock albums downloaded earlier this year to fill in the gaps in my prog collection in comparison to the listing over at the Strawberry Bricks website...

A fight in our front garden between local cats Candy...



 ...and Rory Custard...



Meg kept well out of it...



Also kept an eye on the scores for the footie - Hearts, in the presence of the Exec Producer, tanked 3-1 at home to Kilmarnock - and Queens running out 1-0 against Brodski's Alloa Athletic to make it 19 points out of a possible 21 (the only dropped points were for the 0-0 draw when I saw them at East Fife a few weeks back)...

Lamentable The Rangers scraped through to the next round of the Scottish Cup, beating amateur side Forres Mechanics just 1-0, despite the Highland League side being reduced to 10 men for the last half hour (and apparently helped by the ref's refusal to award a stonewall penalty to the Mechanics in the first minute)...

Jammy as a jammy thing thickly spread with jam...

In the evening, "Dr Who" and the exit of Amy and Rory - very sad - and, given the nature of their going, probably a nit-picker's paradise - but I'm not going there...

"Merlin" returns next week - "Double the Guard!!"...

Late on "Match of the Day"...

The pedometer was hardly troubled today - just as well I do so much walking about on weekdays...

Highlight of the Day : Dr Who...

Not many things are worse than going for a walk for no other reason than to go for a walk...

Playlist
Rzewski - The People United Will Never Be Defeated
Stockhausen - Mantra
Various - Last 1,000 Acquisitions on Shuffleplay
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Starlightnight
Steve Harley - The Cockney Rebel

Not enough walking today so, while Anne was out at Zumba with chum Lynn this evening, I walked for two miles or so around the environs of Crispycat Towers...

It was a quite horrible wet and windy late September evening and it brought back to mind all the ultimately pointless walks I encouraged sister Pam to take with me both in Hemel and back here, around this time last year...

A very depressing memory indeed...

Got my daily steps up beyond 10,600 though, which, based on my midget like legs and gait (the latter I calculate is around 63% of what's deemed "normal"), is around five of your English miles...

So it wasn't all bad...

Nice tea and cheeky wee half bottle of wine between us from the Exec Producer via M&S...

Some TV, some music listening, some internet surfing and bed...

Highlight of the Day : There's a new Cockney Rebel anthology coming out...

Weird pianos...

Playlist

Various - Last 1,000 Acquisitions on Shuffleplay

Schnittke – Sketches

Rzewski – The People United Will Never Be Defeated

Rzewski – Four Pieces

Stockhausen - Mantra

Apples and other healthy stuff very much on the agenda today...

And what's this?

A new walk at lunchtime took me in a different direction from Fopp or HMV and I ended up at classical specialists McAllister Matheson Music...

I was kind of looking for some Kurtag - as used to good effect on the recently watched Richter DVD - but the only thing they had was a disc of pieces including warbling sopranos - that's just not my scene, man...

So I picked up these three little beauties...

In order of preference (re these discs), I'd say Rzewski, Stockhausen, Schnittke...

On telly, "Franklin & Bash", "New Tricks" and "Mock the Week" entertained...

Highlight of the Day : Weird piano music...

Unfit...

Playlist
Various - Last 1,000 Acquisitions
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Events
Tangerine Dream - from Dusk 'til Dawn
Yello - Touch Yello
Pet Shop Boys - Live in Berlin 2012

A better day today, weather-wise...

Tonight, back to Tynecastle but not for a game...

The second session of Football Fans in Training was spent discussing eating and walking and looking at various different types of foods and exactly how much of each we ought not to eat more than of in any given week...

Very interesting...

At the end of the night, we sat in the players' dug out and had our pics taken for a Facebook page called "Big Hearts" I think...

My camera was not with me...

Back home, a very minimalist house was built on "Grand Designs" - I liked it, Anne didn't...

This was written...

That was it...

Highlight of the Day : FFIT...

Hopefully the wheels will not come off...

Playlist

Various - Last 1,000 Acquisitions on Shuffleplay

Tangerine Dream - From Dawn 'til Dusk

It rained for most of today...

This evening, after a T Dream purchase at lunchtime, I was roped into going along to Tynecastle as a replacement for an ill Bobby re the League Cup tie between Hearts and 1st Division Livingston...

In attendance, niece Kitty... 

...nephew Ollie...

...a windswept Exec Producer and her mum...

...sister in law Jane...

...and your cold and wet correspondent...

Meanwhile, in Dumfries, Queen of the South faced Premier League Dundee United, enjoying the lion's share of possession, more shots, more corners but, sadly, falling down on the one crucial football stat, scoring one goal less than their opponents and so suffered their first defeat of the season...

Back in Edinburgh though, we, along with another 6,000 or so souls, sat through wind and rain and watched Hearts dispatch their plucky lower league opponents, eventually running out 3-1 winners after some scary moments...

Back home "New Girl" was enjoyed as we got heated back up again...

Highlight of the Day : With the kids at the game...

Top cat...

Playlist

Various - Last 1,000 Acquisitions on Shuffleplay

Various Composers - The Concerto in Europe

Various - Top 40 Artists on Shuffleplay

Roxy Music - Country Life

John Surman - How Many Clouds Can You See?

Webern - Complete Works

Various - 120 Albums Rock & Pop/Jazz/Classical on Shuffleplay

Pet Shop Boys - Live in Berlin 2012

Yello - Touch Yello

Not much to report today, other than watching some telly, visiting HMV and, in the evening, stumbling across a video of Pet Shop Boys previewing their new album on 5 September in Berlin...

This was duly recorded and turned into a a cheeky wee CD...

Also found, was a virtual concert by another fave, Yello...

Meanwhile, Meg the Black Cat helped out as usual...

...tonight from a more advantageous position than usual...

Top cat...

Highlight of the Day : New PSB and Yello...

Moving on but not forgetting...

Today, just over nine months on from her funeral, the family took sister Pam's ashes out to North Berwick to carry out her wish to have them scattered there - a place she loved as a child and young teenager and to which she returned many times on her visits back to Scotland...

Fittingly, it was a beautiful sunny, crisp September morning...

Defying all odds by managing to bring mum down to the beach in her wheelchair, we gathered near the spot where, just over nine years ago, Pam was with us as we scattered our dad's ashes...

And so, here is where Pam's ashes were finally let go... 

...and from where, shortly afterwards no doubt, these last remaining physical elements were taken by the tide...

But these rocks will remain longer here than any headstone...

What must it be like to lose your youngest child...

...I can only imagine...

Tears were shed and thoughts were thought...

And then, we left the beach and we moved on, not forgetting...

Getting in on the action...

Playlist

Hawkwind – Parallel Universe

Chuck Berry – Little Queenie/Memphis Tennessee

Rush – Clockwork Angels

Various – Top 40 Artists on Shuffleplay

Various – Albums for Prog Rock Willie

Hawkwind – A Space Ritual Alive in Liverpool and London

Neil Young – After the Goldrush

LCD Soundsystem – London Session

White Denim – Fits

Various – Destination Out Downloads

Various – Last 1,000 Acquisitions on Shuffleplay

Up at 7...

Laying out the last 100 CDS on the table and taking a pic - as I occasionally do...

These take me back seventeen weeks to 2 June...

Of course, Meg the Black Cat had to get in on the action...

Adding albums to Prog Rock Willie's hard drive...

Into town on a shopping spree re presents for the German children...

But first, breakfast at new tryout, Patisserie Valerie...

Coffee and croissants - the former very good, the latter, enjoyable if a little large and somewhat chewy...

Along Princes Street with items being purchased...

Into St Andrew Square and further items procured...

Back through St Andrew Square...

...and along George Street...

I like this building...

Charlotte Square's grass has been replaced...

To ameliorate the shopping process, a wee book was also purchased for just two of your English pounds...

Back home, a box was taken out to be filled with Germany bound goodies...

Of course, Meg the Black Cat had to get in on the action...

Both our teams were victorious away from home today and both by three goals to nil, with Hearts winning at Dundee utd and QoS at Brechin City...

The majority of the evening was spent watching TV, both live and Tivo'd - along with the first takeaway curry for a while...

Post post holiday fasting, I am back to where I was pre holiday...

Highlight of the Day : Wandering around town with Anne...