Superb, dreadful and still at the start...

Playlist

Up early as, as is often the case, once I awoke, my head was so full of stuff, there was no going back to sleep...

The earliness afforded good skies...

The beast was about its business pre 5 am...

Wrote this up and generally mucked about (i.e. I have no idea what I did for around 3 hours)...

Anne up - breakfast - then out to her Zumba with Lynn...

Soundtracked by the last 750 acquisitions on shuffleplay (hence the huge playlist above), the cyberman was off down the hill for a bus into town...

...alighting at Shandwick Place...

To Fopp to check out their equipment for Saturday - we will use their small PA...

Bought a trio of CDs by Jacques Brel, Brigitte Bardot and Morrissey, which I really, really didn't need (see below)...

Then, along to the cathedral for the first of two concerts...

I arrived bang on 11 for John Brydon on piano and Michael Kevin Jones on Cello - pieces by Vivaldi, Rachmaninov and Bruch...

Lovely stuff...

It was held up slightly by the fact that a poor wee old lady had fallen over and cracked her head...

While Vivaldi was played, ambulance people attended to her.  Nothing too serious but not the best - she was wheeled out in a chair but looked reasonably ok, apart from the gash in her forehead...

On exiting post the recital, the ambulance was still outside the cathedral...

To Boots for lunch and to Omar Khayyam to book a lunch on Monday for me Anne and chums Christine and Gina...

Back to the cathedral for a solo recital from cellist Christine Hurley...

Pieces by Dall'Abaca, JS Bach and a world premiere of "Ceum thar n a mara" ("Step out over the sea"), written for her by composer, Peter McCarthy...

Notwithstanding some tuning issues, a nice recital all round...

And out - this is the first of several of these events I'm intending to attend over the next couple of weeks...

Out and along to Dalry, where a Hildegard von Bingen CD was picked up for a quid...

Then along to Roseburn...

...to meet up with Anne for a visit with her mum...

Some nice pics...

Of course the reality is slightly different but, as long as we remain mainly in the present, it's not too bad...

Back home and good flowers in the garden recorded...

To ripping and listening...

This is interesting - a disc of Brel and a disc of his songs being covered by French and Belgian stars of the late 50's/early 60's...

This, however, was extremely disappointing...

While I was never a huge fan of  The Smiths, I've always been partial to Mr Morrissey's solo work - notwithstanding his, shall we say, "personal waywardness"...

...and this is lovely, of course...

...as was Anne's prawn pasta tea...

...followed by stewed apples and custard, scoffed pre pic...

On telly tonight, Kevin Bridges in Cork in 2023 - superb - Madam Blanc Mysteries - dreadful but, you know, ok nonsense...

And a "Cold Case" - up to the usual standards - episode, I think, 17 of, I think, around 150...

To bed just after 11...

Highlight of the Day : Recitals...

Today's New Music:

Giving stuff to a new, appreciative home...

Playlist

Up just after 6 and listening to the podcast content...

...under not photographed that often these days skies...

The podcast will be another top notch set of tunes to which hardly anyone will listen...

So it goes...

Onwards...

Dishes done...

Looking forward to our paintings finally going back up...

Anne was gardening, tidying up the storm mess - I was recording and uploading the podcast...

At 11, off out to Loanhead...

I handed over sister Pam’s Gala Day crown from 1975, along with congratulatory telegrams, programmes, books, videos, photos etc etc to Loanhead historian and old school chum, Alan McLaren, for his archive...

He was extremely grateful...

 Alan gave me copies of his books on the history of Loanhead...

For someone who grew up in the small town, these are very interesting indeed...

Our dad gets a brief mention as leader of the Rotary Club at one point and you might recognise someone in the photo of the guides in 1970…

Disappointed though that there seems to be no mention amongst the myriad football teams from the town of my own Eskdale Boys Club - oh well...

To mum's house and new windows have been installed...

To Ikea - spicy rice based lunch enjoyed...

I was looking for this - and I found it and I secured it...

Here it is in situ - for once, I brought something into the house which Anne likes!

On the way home, I stopped off at the big Cancer shop at the foot of the hill and acquired three classical LPs...

£1 each - played on my return (Anne was at Pickleball)...

All a wee bit crackly in places but, luckily, I have already sourced digital versions sans surface noise...

Anne returned with apples, which were blown off Lynn's tree yesterday by the storm...

Fish and chips for tea...

We enjoyed the final two episodes of "Department Q", comeuppance being dealt out satisfyingly - we are hoping for a second series...

Then, last night's "University Challenge - a win for Edinburgh over Newcastle - we scored 125, not bad considering not so many of the questions were aimed at us...

Amazingly, I got all the artist questions right - failed though on all but one of the music ones...

Then "Fake or Fortune" - the latter this week...

To bed - noting once again the improved headphone set up...

Lights out at 11...

Highlight of the Day : Giving stuff to a new, appreciative home...

Today's New Music:

Storm and Q and football and the impossible...

Playlist

Today, a storm was coming at 10am - I was under orders to remain indoors...

Right enough, it came...

We watched the last of "Karen Pirie" turned out to be pretty good really; and a goodly number of episodes of the excellent "Department Q"...

Before we knew it, it was tea time and the storm had mainly passed...

Anne was off to Tynecastle this evening, to see Hearts dispatch Aberdeen 2-0 and go top of the league (ok, after just one game but, it's unlikely we'll see these standings again this season)...

I edited and issued yesterday's session to the band...

I should also have been doing the podcast but, having compiled it, I left it till tomorrow...

Instead, I watched "Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Pt 1" - almost 3 hours of very enjoyable hokum...

On Anne's return, highlights of tonight's match watched, followed by more "Department Q", leaving us with just 2 of the 9 to watch...

Bed at midnight...

Highlight of the Day : Staying in away from the wind and rain...

Today's New Music:

From slate to cobalt...

Playlist

Up at 6:05...

Hey, hey it's the weekend!

...as it was yesterday...

I definitely did the dishes this morning while Anne slept...

Then, re worked the new LP - creating new ambience and changing the mix a little - yesterday's version will be the download bonuses...

Post breakfast, Anne was off to 9am Pickleball with Lynn...

At 9:45, I drove out to Roslin for the final rehearsal pre next week's performance in Fopp...

Went swimmingly...

Discussions post playing, over coffee and a freshly baked cake from Moira, as to what we'll do next...

Barring a medical miracle, it seems Paul is out but we agreed not to seek a replacement...

We may even write some new material...

Home in time for Anne to take the car to visit her mum...

Back home, I worked on the new LP again, while Anne cooked...

It took 90 minutes to produce this extremely tasty dish, Alice Cooper's "Detroit Stories" and the start of "Road" soundtracking the wait...

It was promptly scoffed within 10 minutes...

Two episodes of "Department Q" were enjoyed...

Then, upstairs for some Lana del Rey, advising the boys I'd issue today's session tapes to them tomorrow...

Some chat with Canadian music chum Duke - he lives in Scarborough, near Whitby (in Canada)...

In September, we will visit Scarborough post my performance in Whitby (but in England, not Canada)...

Enforced bed at 11:30...

Highlight of the Day : Playing with the group...

Today's New Music: