Fast but not that fast...

Playlist
Paul McCartney - McCartney
Paul McCartney - Ram
Paul McCartney & Wings - Red Rose Speedway
Paul McCartney & Wings - Band on the Run
Paul McCartney & Wings - Venus and Mars

Soundtracked by early Paul McCartney again today as the third month of 2010 drew to a close...



As I made my way home, the overnight snow was starting to disappear on the hill...



To the gym this evening and my time for 5 miles was my best so far - 43:22 - at that rate I could do a marathon in four and a half hours...

Ha ha - I'll never do that of course - called it a day at 45 mins and 5.25 miles...

I didn't go to the gym last night due to chronic knee pain which, in full old-wive's-tale-stylee, seemed to have been affected by the damp weather...

Back home, watched the first half of Arsenal v Barcelona (2-2 at the end I think) before retiring upstairs to listen to music, write this and attempt to upload some WAV files for the Sour Grapes in Oz...

Highlight of the Day : Best time so far...

Bookending...

Playlist
CBQ & SGP - Black Earth & the City Falls
Mastodon - Crack the Skye
Paul McCartney - Wingspan
Paul McCartney & Wings - Wings Wild Life
Paul McCartney & Wings - Back to the Egg

Took a wee wander to HMV at lunchtime and swithered over some Motown Chartbusters Box Sets and some Paul McCartney CDs...

I have loads of McCartney already - but, on checking my list, I found I was missing the first and last Wings albums...

Back to HMV on the way home then and bought "Wings Wild Life" and "Back to the Egg" for £10...

OK, so neither of them is the best album ever made but I "kind of" needed them - some of you may know what I mean...

In the evening, soundtracked by Macca, we made a second, more successful, attempt at the Juicy Chilli Chicken With Cashew Nuts...



...which I took a shot at on Saturday and nearly set the kitchen on fire...

"Flashforward" and "CSI" entertained while the snow fell outside...



...much to Meg the Black Cat's chagrin...



Highlight of the Day : Cooking with Annie...

Serviced...

Playlist
CBQ & SGP - Black Earth & the City Falls

Very pleased with yesterday's creation - the short version is the real track methinks while the original is the "12 inch" version so to speak...

Up early and out with the Cloudland Blue Mobile to the garage for its first service...



As long time readers of this nonsense will know, I hate Arnold Clark with a vengeance...

However, after a slight problem on arrival at the desk, today went swimmingly and the Exec Producer was on hand to pick said mobile up later on, having received a lift from chum Lynn - lender of excellent SF DVDs to your correspondent...

Those two musketeers spent the pay redecorating in Anne's mum's house following a rather messy installation of a free new central heating boiler and sytem re her being considerably older than Mr CBQ...

Your correspondent had a much less interesting day which did not switch to relaxation mode till gone 9pm...

A tasty pasta dish sustained...

At 10, tonight's Tivo'd "Glee" was enjoyed followed by "Newsnight" (and the travesty that is "Newsnight Scotland"), then bed...

Not the best day ever...

Highlight of the Day : Glee

Black earth and the city falls...

Playlist
Various - 6 Minute Gym Tracks
CBQ & Sour Grapes Productions - Black Earth & the City Falls
Various - Podcast from the Yellow Room Vol 20

Up around eight and downloading tracks by possible collaborationists Sour Grapes Productions from Brisbane, Australia, before heading to the gym for 9...

Six miles in around 56 minutes - my furthest so far, and around my fastest...

My method was to listen to tracks which are 6 minutes or so long, running just over a quick half mile for the first five minutes of each track and resting for a minute while the track ended...

I was entertained by Gentle Giant, Bruford, Hawkwind, Bright Eyes, Robert Gaspal, Horace Silver, Jethro Tull, Michael Rother, Steve Wilson, Horace Silver again and Gong before heading back home feeling rather pleased with myself...

Post breakfast, set up the studio and started working to develop a new longer piece from a short bluesy guitar based soundscape by Sour Grapes - (it's here entitled "Slow Blues 1")...

Started around 11...

By 5pm I had this...



It starts very quietly, so don't turn it up too loud or the entry of the vocals will be too much (and may well be so in any case)...

CBQ & Sour Grapes Productions
Black Earth and the City Falls (11:42)


OK, maybe it's a bit too long...

So, after the first draft of this post was published, I went back and did a quick remix and edit job, giving this more compact version - with a louder start...

CBQ & Sour Grapes Productions
Black Earth and the City Falls (Short Version)(6:03)


Could well be the third song for the next LP...

No lunch today what with me working and Anne uptown - but, in the evening, an excellent home made spaghetti carbonara with crusty bread and a cheeky wee glass of white wine filled the gap...



Last night's "Law & Order" entertained before I updated this (and remixed the track) while Anne watched the final of "Dancing on Ice"...

Later, "Match of the Day 2" rounded off the weekend...

Highlight of the Day : A new piece...

Get the fire brigade, etc...

Playlist
Mozart - Haydn String Quartets
The Tubes - Mondo Birthmark
Various - Blue Breakbeats Vol 1
Various - Blue Breakbeats Vol 2
Various - Blue Breakbeats Vol 3
Various - Blue Breakbeats Vol 4
Various - Blue Juice Vol 1
Various - Blue Juice Vol 2

Up early and working at the PC pre out to Patisserie Florentin on a reasonable day, weather-wise...



...to enjoy a tasty breakfast of coffee and pain au raisin...



Then to the Assembly Rooms for today's record fair - Count Brodski had brought it to my attention and I, in turn, had texted Dr Prog advising Brodders had put forward a 10:15 meet, which meant no gym visit for me this morning...

(a secret "Yaroo" to that!)

In the event though, Brodski was almost an hour late (which is quite early for the Count!) - added to that Dr Prog didn't get my text till around 11:30 and advised he wouldn't make it along...

Not to worry, five new Blue Note Compilations were purchased for the princely sum of £2 each - plus a new compilation of early demos by The Tubes for a fiver - clearly my vow of no CDs in March has bitten the dust...

To Wellingtons for a quick coffee and a natter with Brodders and the lovely Penny, who joined us post some window shopping...



We set the world to rights, as one of the contestants from "Masterchef" sat alongside us (emptied from tonight's semi-final in fact)...

Bidding the dynamic duo adieu, I made my way home on the Airport bus and enjoyed the new discs while Anne watched Hearts take a thumping at Tyncastle as Rangers thrashed them 4-1...

Nephew Craig was commentating on the Hearts website...

Later on, Queen of the South beat Dunfermline 2-0 in Dumfries - so that was, coincidentally, the Exec Producer vs Brodski and me vs Dr Prog, footie team-wise...

Post the QoS result, it was off to Tesco, and I spent over an hour trying to find all the ingredients for my first kitchen session of the month - Juicy Chilli Chicken with Cashew Nuts, a delicious Chinese dish...

Back home and cooking commenced - I must advise my prep wasn't quite up to scratch though and Anne had to save the day by stopping my over-hot wok from burning down the house...



Very tasty - even though it did result in a bomb-site kitchen scenario...



Continued to listen to my new Blue Note compilations while Anne watched the above mentioned "Masterchef", before we both enjoyed "Match of the Day" whilst Tivo'ing "Law & Order"...

Not a particular early night though, as the clocks are going forward...

Lights out...

Highlight of the Day : Meeting up with Count Brodski and cooking chinese with Anne...

The prawn who fell to earth...

Playlist
Blue Oyster Cult - Tyranny and Mutation
Ferry Corsten - Right of Way
Various - Jazz Jukebox on Shuffleplay
Paul Chambers - Quintet

Another miserable morning...

Cheered by Meg the Black Cat...



...and accompanied on my way into town by the mighty Blue Oyster Cult's second LP - rockin'...

Bangin' trance sounds of Mr Ferry Corsten soundtracked the bus ride home as Anne set out for some food and drinks with this week's birthday girl Michelle and her sister, Karen...

Back home around seven I conjured up a very tasty spaghetti bolognese from the remains of last night's mince, then settled down to watch the third of the three SF films currently on loan from chum Lynn...



The wonderful, wonderful "District 9", for me, started badly but just got better and better until, at the end, I was a gibbering wreck...

Ah the wonders of lone viewing...

Absolutely recommended if you can get beyond the horrible opening twenty minutes or so (sorry i'm not selling this to you am I?)...

Back at the PC, some correspondence with Mr Sour Grapes in Australia via the comments on these very pages might just lead to a collaboration or two across the globe...

Anyway, now, as I make my way to the kitchen to the mundanity of "doing the dishes" but to a jazzy soundtrack, I await a call to duty as taxi-driver of the parish...

Over and out...

Highlight of the Day : District 9...

Inane, witless and just too loud...

Playlist
Various - Blue Note on Shuffleplay
Louis Smith - Here Comes Louis Smith
Horace Silver - Horace-Scope
Duke Pearson - The Right Touch
Various - Top 100 Recent CDs on Shuffleplay

A rotten drizzly morning...

At FOPP today I noted they are winding down the Blue Note £3 sale and the racks are filling up with the same discs now priced at £7, £9 etc...

So, of course, while they were there, I had to swipe another three...



Back home, quickly ripped them to the jukebox and set off for the gym...

Sadly, the witless drivel and "music" from the blasting-over-the-speakers-radio was drowning out Messrs Pearson, Silver and Smith and so I reverted to some louder present day music to drown out the inanity...

Managed three miles before I had to give up or go deaf...

Back home, post some tasty lamb mince with mash and green beans from the Exec Producer, I listened to my new jazz in peace as we watched "Masterchef" before this week's "Glee" - these kids seem to be swamping the singles charts with their cover versions these days...

As usual on a Thursday, "Question Time" and "This Week" ended the day...

Highlight of the Day : Stopping exercising...

Birthdays...

Playlist
Herbie Hancock - My Point of View
Pet Shop Boys - Best of (CD-R)
David Bowie - I Select
Robert Fripp - Under Heavy Manners/God Save the Queen
Robert Fripp - Let the Power Fall

A birthday lunch today with chum Michelle - a lovely young lady whom Anne and I have known now for 15 years...

In the evening, a vist from Chris-with-a-ch for a tasty tea of Red Thai Chicken Curry followed by some work on the PC re invites to his 40th birthday party in May...



Chris is a Celtic (and Arsenal) fan - but I don't know whether Rangers' last minute 1-0 exit from the Scottish Cup tonight at the hands (or rather, feet of) Dundee Utd would have been tempered by the 4-0 thrashing of the tattie howkers by my home town team the mighty Saints of Mirren...

Late doors I was to be found in the back room with Meg the Black Cat, enjoying some old, currently unavailable-on-CD, Robert Fripp frippertronics on vinyl...



Nice...

Highlight of the Day : Good food...

Flowers, skies, queens and pov...

Playlist
King Crimson – Red
Sumner McKane – Nanook
Herbie Hancock – Takin’ Off
Herbie Hancock – Empyrean Isles
Lee Morgan - Volume 3
Herbie Hancock – My Point of View
Yes - The Ultimate Yes : 35th Anniversary

Anne has introduced some lovely flowers to the dining room...







Outside this morning, the skies were equally lovely...













To Fopp at lunchtime to take back the Freddie Hubbard disc purchased on Saturday despite already having it...

Swapped it for another Lee Morgan disc and also took the opportunity to increase my Herbie Hancock collection...

To the gym tonight after last night’s malaise and managed four more miles...

Back home for “CSI” while keeping on eye on the footie scores...

Queens managed a draw at Dundee despite losing a penalty in 16 minutes and playing with ten men from then on...

Turns out Dundee were awarded a second penalty too, but the ref, chum of Jane and Bobby, Mike Tumelty, changed his mind after consulting with his linesman...

Phew!

A great result quite frankly...

The Exec Producer was chuffed too as Ross County ejected Hibernian from the Scottish Cup, winning the replay 2-1 with a 92nd minute goal after being 1-0 down...

Late doors, entertained by some quite excellent jazz from Messrs Morgan and Hancock...

The 18 year old Lee Morgan’s work can only be described as “scintillating”...

Tasty...

Highlight of the Day : Queens in Dundee...

Meg’s birthday, kind of...

Playlist
Alice Cooper – Along Came a Spider

Five years today since Meg the Black Cat officially moved in to Crispycat Towers us...

Look at this wee face...



Aw...



Other than that, nothing...

Too late home to go to the gym and spent the evening watching telly – “University Challenge” and the return of “Flashforward” (better) while Tivo’ing “Glee” for future consumption...

That was it...

Highlight of the Day : Meg the Black cat still with us...

Disappointing dustiness...

Playlist
Lee Morgan – The Final Session
Lee Morgan – Tom Cat
Various – Out of the Blue

Up at 6 again and this morning’s unfeasibly early viewing was “Transformers : Revenge of the Fallen”, another on loan DVD from chum Lynn...

An entertaining romp but absolutely preposterous...

Liked the main characters though, the boy reminded me of Dave Gahan from Depeche Mode...

To the gym for 9am – five mile run...

Home for a light breakfast then, post some “Something for the Weekend”, to the PC for some work on the next CBQ album...

Added initial (completely improvised) (dusty) bass lines to four of the rhythm tracks I worked up earlier this week and yesterday...



Added some acoustic guitar...

And the results?

Erm, disappointing...

But that’s how things usually start...

To Anne’s mum’s for tea and a full house with me, Anne and her mum, Jane, Bobby, Ollie & Kitty, Keith, Maureen & Abby and Craig & Dawn in attendance...

An entertaining couple of hours...

Back home, listening to today’s work with fresh ears and not quite as bad as I at first thought – still quite bad though...

Even worse though was the news from Queen of the South tonight – manager and coach departed to take over at league leaders Dundee – we play them in Dundee on Tuesday night...

“Match of the Day 2” and bed...

Highlight of the Day : CBQ kind of moving forward...

Slave to the rhythm

Playlist
Various - Recent Blue Note Purchases
Lee Morgan - Indeed!
Walter Davis Jr - Davis Cup
Paul Chambers - Quintet
Lee Morgan - The Final Session

Up at 6 - that's been happening quite a lot this week but not mentioned it till now..

No PC this morning though, with Meg the Black Cat, headed downstairs to watch "Terminator Salvation" - much better than the reviews would have led me to believe...

Very enjoyable - bring on T5...

Did some more work on creating a goodly number of rhythm tracks for the next CBQ LP - tentative steps at present...

Then, post breakfast, into town with Anne, leaving her to her own thing which included a visit to Tynecastle around midday for the Hearts v Hibs derby...

Took a bus uptown and met up with Dr Prog at the music library - Ravi Shankar returned, Monks, White Lies, Thee Silver Mt Zion Orchestra, Jonsi from Sigur Ros and LCD Soundsystem's debut borrowed...



To a nearby eaterie for some sustenance and chat with the good Doctor. He is heading to London in July for the High Voltage Festival, featuring all manner of Prog legends and I am swithering about accompanying him - he will go whether I do or not...



We took a walk down to FOPP - via The News Stairs with these treated views of Edinburgh...





I bought five new £3 Blue Notes - one of which I stupidly already have - left my list at home though - it will be returned...

Partook of discs by pianist Walter Davis Jr, bassist Paul Chambers and two by trumpeter Lee Morgan..

In fact they were his first and last Blue note sets, separated by around 15 years...

He was shot and killed in a night club in New York in 1972 by his girlfriend shortly after the last session...

Tragic...



Back home on the airport bus and soon joined by a triumphant Exec Producer, Hearts having defeated arch rivals Hibs 2-1 - while, by 4:45, Queeen of the South had taken their second thrashing in eight days, this time going down 3-0 at third bottom Ayr Utd - wheels off perhaps?

More rhythm work accompanied the score watching...

A proposed visit from Chris-with-a-Ch was postponed due to illness - despite this, we enjoyed Anne's tasty curry for tea...

"Harry Hill's TV Burp", "Eddie Izzard's Marathons" and "Law & Order" entertained before I undertook yet more rhythm work...

To bed pre-midnight, tired but reasonably happy...

Highlight of the day : Working on CBQ music again...

Prog not sport...

Playlist
Various - Top 100 recently released Albums (Shuffleplay)

Still feeling drunk this morning as I made my way into town, having stocked up on a supply of Iboprufen...

By mid-afternoon I was beginning to feel not too bad...

On returning home a package awaited from chum Lynn - it contained three DVDs, "Transformers : Revenge of the Fallen", "District 9" and "Terminator Salvation"...



To the gym for a quick couple of miles before tea - they seem to be giving away copies of "The List" - which is fine by me...

Some watching of "Sport Relief" - mid evening headed up to the PC to watch "Terminator Salvation" but couldn't get the program to work...

Returned to the living room and we abandoned "Sport Relief" for BBC 4's take on Prog Rock followed by a repeat of a recent "Newswipe"...

To bed pre midnight...

Highlight of the Day : Prog...

WFW part 349...

Playlist
Various - Recently Purchased Blue Note CDs (Shuffleplay)

Back to the world of jazz today...

Nice...

In the evening, to a charity dinner in aid of the NSPCC and Childline...

A wine tasting challenge challenged our table and, frankly, far too much wine was consumed...



Post the dinner, it was off to nearby club Poo Na Na - my first ever visit as far as I remember...



A call from the Exec Producer executively produced an exit strategy involving a taxi home...





Your correspondent was very much the worse for wear...

Highlight of the Day : Fine wine, fine port - probably just a wee bit too much though...

Discs, pasta, cat...

Playlist
Various - Top 100 Recently Released CDs (see 16/3/10 for list)
Jackie McLean - One Step Beyond
Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers - Roots and Herbs
Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers - The Witch Doctor
Grachan Moncur III - Some Other Stuff
Wayne Shorter - The Soothsayer

Early doors, the Top 100 continued to delight and entertain as, inspired by this way of listening, I entered into the (wasteful of time and probably pointless) exercise of trying to list my top albums of the fifties, sixties, seventies, eighties, nineties and two thousands (despite already having listed my top tens for each year from 1959-2009 here)...

A wander to FOPP at lunchtime, my already broken by one CD vow not to purchase any CDs in March was at the forefront of my mind...

However, on making my way upstairs, I was confronted with a brand new display of £3 Blue Notes...

I counted around 25 which I didn't have...

Perusing the line ups and recording dates, I managed to restrict myself to "just" four discs...



Back home, a tasty pasta tea from Annie...



Post this, other than a short surf and update of my Blue Note CD list, I spent most of the evening in the living room, listening to jazz on the headphones and perusing a couple of jazz-based books..

Nothing on TV, although Anne watched Barcelona thrash Stuttgart, followed by a Tivo'd "Master Chef"...

Meg the Black Cat remained as photogenic as ever...



That's it..

Highlight of the Day : Grachan Moncur III for just £3....

Door attack...

Playlist
Various - Current Top 100 Albums* (Shuffleplay)

My top 100 continued to entertian hugely, throwing up quality tracks on Radio Dave in my head throughout the day...

But it almost wasn't to be...

An accident, involving my headphones and the living room door, resulted in the former being pulled violently from my ears and, in the case of the left plug, the speaker being ripped off completely...

Accordingly, after a search around for any pair of any quality, a very poor sound indeed was endured on the journey into town...

To HMV at lunctime and the problem was solved by the purchase of a new pair of wee beauties by Sennheiser - in fact two sets were partaken of to ensure a back up for any future headphone-by-living-room-door-ripping-out scenarios...

A happy wee man was pictured on the bus home...



Elsewhere, to the gym tonight for the fourth day in a row - legs were on their, erm, last legs but I soldiered on...

Back home a Tivo'd "Law & Order" and a real time "CSI" (the red shirt one) entertained...

Late on, more music listening with Meg the Black Cat in the back room...



Highlight of the Day : New headphones

*Top 100 Recent Albums March 2010
2Raumwohnung - 36 Grad
Asia - Phoenix
Kristofer Astrom - Sinkadus
Bad Lieutenant - Never Cry Another Tear
The Bad Plus - Prog
The Bad Plus - For All I Care
Sam Baker - Pretty world
Bidiniband - The Land is Wild
Biffy Clyro - Puzzle
Biffy Clyro - Only revolutions
Jonatha Brooke - Careful What You Wish For
David Byrne & Brian Eno - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
City and Colour - Bring Me Your Love
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Ersatzreal
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Soundingfall
Cloudland Canyon - Lie in Light
Coldplay - Viva La Vida
Alice Cooper - Along Came a Spider
The Cure - 4:13 Dream
Depeche Mode - Sounds of the Universe
Deus - Vantage Point
DJ Hell - Teufelswerk
Dream Theater - Systematic Chaos
Dream Theater - Black Clouds and Silver Linings
Editors - In This Light and On This Evening
Eels - End Times
Elbow - The Seldom Seen kid
Explosions in the Sky - All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone
Fehlfarben - Handbuch fur die Welt
Fennesz/Sakamoto - Cendre
Bryan Ferry - Dylanesque
William Fitzsimmons - Goodnight
The Flower Kings - The Sum of No Evil
Fripp & Eno - Beyond Even
Fripp Travis - Thread
Peter Gabriel - Scratch My Back
Girls Aloud - Tangled Up
Girls Aloud - Out of Control
Grand Theft Bus- Made Upwards
Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels
Guilt Machine - On This Perfect Day
Happy Apple - Happy Apple Back on Top
Holy Fuck - LP
IQ - Frequency
It Bites - The Tall Ships
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Now
James - Hey Ma
Lucy Kaplansky - Over the Hills
The Killers - Sawdust
The Killers - Day & Age
Ladyhawke - Ladyhawke
Udo Lindenberg - Stark wie Zwei
Paul Linklater - Smooth Sailing and How
Loney Dear - Dear John
Chris Lyons - The Ill Tempered Klavier
Jason Lytle - Yours Truly, The Commuter
Marillion - Somewhere else
Marillion - Happiness is the Road
Mastodon - Crack the Skye
Paul McCartney Memory Almost Full
Sumner McKane - What a Great Place to Be
Sumner McKane - Nanook
John McLaughlin - Floating Point
Tom McRae - King of Cards
Mercury Rev - Snowflake Midnight
Morrissey - Years of Refusal
Alan Morse - Four o’clock and Hysteria
Neal Morse - Sola Scriptura
Neal Morse - Lifeline
Muse - The Resistance
Music Music Music - Everybody Digs Music Music Music
Nine Horses - Money For All
No Man - Together We’re Stranger
No Man - Schoolyard Ghosts
The Olympic Symphonium - More in Sorrow Than In Anger
Laura Pausini - Primavera in Anticipo
Alice Peacock - Love remains
Pendragon - Pure
Pet Shop Boys - Yes
Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet
Porcupine Tree - The Incident
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Rex the Dog - The Rex the Dog Show
Royal Wood - A Good Enough Day
Justin Rutledge - Man descending
Secret Machines - Secret Machines
Sparks - Exotic Creatures of the Deep
Esbjorn Svensson Trio - Leucocyte
Sweet Billy Pilgrim - Twice Born Men
David Sylvian - Manafon
Transatlantic - The Whirlwind
The Uglysuit - The uglysuit
UNKLE - End titles...Stories For Film
Uriah Heep - Wake the Sleeper
Suzanne Vega - Beauty and Crime
The Violet Archers - Sunshine at Night
Wetton Downes - Icon III
Dar Williams - Promised Land
Steven Wilson - Insurgentes
Wolfmother - Cosmic Egg

Tasty...

It's the music that keeps me going...

Playlist
Various - Top 100 Albums

The ides of March...

Having made a very (very) tentative start to a new LP yesterday and listening whenever I can to my top 100 recent LPs (released in the last three years being deemed "recent"), I realise it's the music that keeps me going...

Restricting my listening to just these 100 examples of music has led me to discover some great music I obviously didn't listen to properly when I got the CDs...

Various tracks by the likes of The Killers, Loney Dear, Cloudland Canyon, Holy Fuck, 2Raumwohnung, Fennesz/Sakamoto, Deus, Guilt Machine, Transatlantic, Steven Wilson, Porcupine Tree, Biffy Clyro, Elbow, Dream Theater and Sweet Billy Pilgrim have provided some pleasant surprises over the last couple of days...

Trees are good too of course...





And, tonight, the top 100 on shuffleplay helped me through another five mile run at the gym...

Back home, Anne's tasty curry from Saturday sustained nicely as we watched "Glee" and "Harry Hill's TV Burp"...

To bed with more music on the headphones...

Highlight of the day : Listening...and Anne's curry...

Experimental...

Playlist

Transatlantic - The Whirlwind

Various - Current Top 100 Albums

Up and out to the gym again and, in an attempt not to aggravate yesterday's ankle ping, restricted myself to just three miles...

Breakfast was accompanied by a pill recommended by Mum's chum Moira re my ever-increasingly painful knee joints - a wonder drug sworn by by one of her friends re being able to unscrew his petrol cap and by her daughter Lindsay and son-in-law Guy re possible ski-related knee damage...

Can't remember what it was called though...

Around midday, sang through a few songs on the old geetar and then started some work on possible drum/rhythm tracks for the 2011 CBQ album - of course no tunes or lyrics yet so still at a very early, very experimental stage - and I await e-mailed musical input from collaborators Craig Sutherland and Peri Urban...

Off over to Loanhead at 4 to pick up back-from-holiday Mum and Pam and accompany them to Penicuik to meet up with sister Sheila for a mother's day feast...

A very tasty chinese meal was enjoyed by all at the "The Food Lodge" - great food, charming staff and good company - couldn't wish for more - Mmm, mmm...

Then, back to mum's at Loanhead where some emergency re-booting of her Tivo was undertaken in time to record "Dancing on Ice" (thank goodness or I might have been forced to watch it)...

Then some comedy chat from Pam re the holiday including the "entertainment" and her and mum's new lesbian friends and from Sheila re being stranded in the middle of nowhere in a broken down car while her husband panicked over not being able to multi task with a microwave...

Saying our farewells, we drove back to Crispycat Towers and Meg the Black Cat, enjoying "Match of the Day 2" before Anne scanned through "Dancing on Ice" while I was entertained by my new shuffleplay playlist - all 100 of the "top" album list recently compiled - 1,165 tracks of delight and wonder...

Lights out...

Highlight of the Day : Oot wi' ma ma and the famlee...