Monday 6th November 2017 to Sunday 12th November 2017

Monday 6th November 2017
Up early,  proper cold minus 2 outside fortunately Phil was told he was on gritting duties so I put a cover on the windscreen which saved me a bit of time.

 Into office for 7.30, busy day.   Got home about 5pm - Phil borrowed stepladders on Sunday to get gritter lorries windscreens clean but not brought it back so couldn't go into the Drumattic. Ruddy pain.  Phil brought me a bit of tube home though so have been able to sort a cymbal arm I've had waiting in readiness.  Discovered series 2 of Jordskatt on the ITV Encore so got another batch of crazy Scandi drama to watch!

Tuesday 7th November 2017
Up dead early.  Dog walked, papers fetched into office for 7.40

Phil brought stepladders back so got back up in Drumattic for an hour although only did a tiny bit of playing - practicing Sweet Emotion by Aerosmith.


Wednesday 8th November 2017
Hell's teeth, another frost!    Watched a bit more Jodsckatt then realised I've caught up with it - thought it was the full series on demand.  Bugger.   Watched a bit more crazy Angelby too.  Proper mad that is.

Thursday 9th November 2017
Up at 5.10, first into car park at Work, which was nice.  Picked Lucy up from school at 5pm all good stuff.  Did nowt but watch concert videos and take dog out for walks (again).

Friday 10th November 2017
Count Arthur Strong tickets available today at 10am.   Trying to make mind up whether to go for Derby or Buxton - Derby is on a Sunday so less chance of a gig - think I'm going to give there a try 10 minutes closer too.  Got Tix for Buxton all good stuff.

Saturday 11th November 2017
The usual, papers, pottering in Greenhouse.  We sorted the bird feeders out. Then golf at 12:20.  Played abysmally to start off with but made up for it with a two on the 9th after a 180 yard uphill five wood and a 2 foot putt.   The two was worth a whole £4.30 but at least I got me entry fee back and 70p to spend.  Whoop

Sent a picture of the bird-feeders off to Doug. 

Sunday 12th November 2017
No idea what I did but did get down to lotty for a couple of hours.  Took bean row down on number 7, got all the spuds pulled out of the ground - found from me dad I need to cover em up so frost don't get to them - never mind been a mild week so hopefully

Went a walk with Lucy and pooch to get pictures of trees.  Good stuff.

Over to me mum and dad's for tea.   Stopped at Rowsley Retail Park on way - very cold and I had dog so stood outside 4 shops then decided to head back for  the car!!  Very nice tea and then back home for 7pm.  Bit tired.

Monday 30th October 2017 to Sunday 5th November 2017

Monday 30th October 2017
Back at work - short break that was.

Did a bit in the drum attic.


Tuesday 31st October 2017
Back at work.   Did a bit in the drum attic when got home - didn't go down well with the boss of the house.

Friday 3rd November 2017
Work then gig at The Olde Royal Oak, Burton.  Poorly attended - put it down to bonfire night.

Saturday 4th November 2017
4 hours sleep then up with the dog, papers fetched and then off to Belper for dog's haircut.   She was not impressed but she's nice and tidy, now.

Rehearsal with new band at Horsley Woodhouse at noon - I was a bit knackered to be honest but it was okay.  First time I've had the kit set up in the full 2-up, 2-down format and liked it all though it's a bit of a reach round to the right. 

Found I'd got a foam insert for one of the Evans EQ bass drum heads I had left over so I've adapted it to be like one of the Remo Muffle O-rings on the big 18" floor tom - looks a bit amateur on picture above but have sorted it out since. 

Set off home at 3.13pm and found Derby were already 2-0 down to poxy Reading.  Crikey blimey O'Riley.  In the evening went to a birthday/bonfire do at Beresford Dale which was okay.  Was ready for bed by time got home. 

Sunday 5th November 2017
Did some drum related jobs.  Sorted out the o-ring on the 18" floor tom - it needs tuning against the 16 when I have time but it will do the job nicely I reckon. Sorted out the cowbell post that I found had fallen to bits since last gig - got a locking nut on it now so shouldn't be a problem going forward.   Cleaned all the fishing rods to get the saltwater off them - did the reels last week.   Missus went off with Lucy for football at lunchtime - they came back and got a 3-3 draw with Becka Rippon getting a hat-trick.   Good stuff.

Got Phil to drop me off down the lotty with the dog.  We did a little bit of tidying up and got red cabbages, onions, spuds, last courgette, last couple of butternut squashes and a punnet of raspberries (in November??)

One of the last few hauls from the lotty - note yellow Raspberries - they are a thing apparently!

Sarpo mira spuds drying in Shed 13 - very blight resistant it would appear

All good stuff went to bed a bit early as was utterly knackered!

Monday 23rd October 2017 to Sunday 29th October 2017

Monday 23rd October 2017
Road trip par excellence, up at 3:10am, on road for 3.15am back home for 6.30am  all good stuff.  At office for 7.40am as usual.    Back home for 5pm.  Doing a computer fixee job at 6.30.    Bed for 9.30pm

Tuesday 24th October 2017
Up at 4am couldn't sleep.  Cleaning shower room ready for decorating.   Work for 7:30am.  Got home about 5pm.  Got the decorating head on and give it some in the shower room.

Wednesday 25th October 2017
Can't believe it's pay day again so soon. Amazeballs.  Up early.  Did some patching up in the shower room but in reality it needs another coat in a lot of places so that's tonight's job.  Busy day in the office, all good.  Then took me dad, cousin and cousin-in-law to Thornbridge Brewery for a tour and it was reet good.   £7.50 and I thought great value for two pints of expensive beer, glasses and all sorts.    Reet good.  Back home for 8.45pm and into decorating mode again.   Slapped another coat on the bits that were a bit naff and I think it will do for now.   Lesson to be learned is not to use old paint.

Thursday 26th October 2017
Up and about at 5am.  Shave, shower get ready.  Bins all emptied etc.etc.  Into the office for 7am - cooking on gas. Missus has sent me a photo she took while walking dog on Church Bay beach only a blooming seal!  Apparently RSPCA had been out to it the previous day which is what the blue spray is all about.  She said it waddled off to the sea so hopefully found it's mother.

Finished work at 3pm and drove to Wales - took ruddy ages queuing all over the place.  If you set off at 3pm avoid Stoke is what I've learned - will do Congleton way next time I reckon.   Went fishing in the evening with Lucy's best mate's family - I chaperoned em to the mum catching two dogfish and poor old Chum (Jack) catching nowt.   Oh dear, never mind.

Friday 27th October 2017
How's this for odd!   Drove all that way to Wales and then drove back to Conwy (well as passenger) the following day to play at Conwy Golf Club with the Chester Golfing Society that Paul is a member of.  Cracking fun, played great first 8 holes with a birdie and a couple of pars then played wrong ball on 9th and it was downhill pretty much from there!  Never mind gorgeous course in great nick.

Pictures don't really give you an idea of how big the hill in the background is

Think this was where my round went to bits - had played wrong ball and got a 2 shot penalty

In the background is an amazing hill that has cliffs and all sorts going on

Is there anywhere prettier than Church Bay?  Don't think so.

Saturday 28th October 2017
Drove back home - wouldn't have minded an extra day but not to be.  Stopped at Newborough Forest on the way back.

Newborough Forest - ace place 

Llanddwyn Island in the background.

Sunday 29th October 2017
Ruddy clocks gone back so first thing was to change all the analogue clocks. Then set about finishing the painting off in the shower room so, a little bit of extra on the walls here and there and then painted the wood work including painting the little cupboardy thing that sits under the sink which came out grand.

Monday 16th October 2017 to Sunday 22nd October 2017

Can't remember much of the week apart from being really busy.  Upgrading the drumattic computer to have Cubase Elements 9 on it for £40 and getting a load of brilliant drum sounds and doing a fair bit of tinkering up there.

Thursday 19th October 2017
Set off down south to take Lucy for her Falmouth University Campus Tour.  First part of journey was getting to Somerset to stay over in a Travelodge.  Chucked it down with rain and into storm Brian for most of journey so never got to 70mph - 3hrs 40minutes.   Didn't sleep too well due to wind blowing a hooley - Lucy didn't sleep too well due to me having a damn good snore when I did nod off!!



Friday 20th October 2017
Woke up in Somerset.  On the road and in Falmouth about 3 hours later after a quest to find food that was somewhat frustrating but we go some in the end.  In Falmouth about 11:30, two hours until tour so we went down to the town to have a look around.

Somerset Travelodge Sun after the Storm

Falmouth Town

Marina

Big boat

Another big boat

Falmouth Maze sorry, Falmouth University

Falmouth Town Tribute to Zep

More of the maze.

Finished by 2:30 on the road, 300 miles to home done with one stop and a hold up on the M42 for half an hour due to some poxy coach breaking down in the inside lane.  Eejit.

Back home in a bit over 6 hours around 9pm. And so to bed...

Saturday 21st October 2017
Up early, dog walked, car set up for travel (again!),  Paddys do at lunchtime then off to Wales.  Arrived in the middle of storm Brian and it never let up all night.

Sunday 22nd October 2017
Weather calmed a little overnight and became quite nice by end of the day.  We had a trip to Trearddur bay.

Church Bay - bit of a surf on

Small dog, she don't care

Borthwen - load of oyster catchers in flight

Trearddur Bay - waves hitting rocks out to see - don't want to bring a boat in here when there's a surf on

Monday 25th September 2017 to Sunday 15th October 2017

Sorry but I been really busy - gigging, auditioning, practicing, fence painting, tidy uping etc.etc.

Tuesday 3rd October 2017
Had an audition with a band called Goodfellas in Stoke - really nice blokes, great guitarist but they contacted me day after to say they couldn't rehearse any further south due to keyboard player being from Congleton.

Sunday 8th October 2017
Did some community service scrubbing down benches and picnic tables then painting them with wood preservative paint stuff with the Parish Council.  Then came home and painted the inside front fence.

Monday 9th October to Friday 13th October 2017
Really busy at work so no time.   Did some drum practice up in the attic.  Have fixed the computer which kept switching itself off in the attic - the fan was full of dust and rubbish so will have to remember to hoover it out from time to time.  So have got my recording facility back in place and getting some practice in.

In the evening we did a gig at Mayfield Memorial Hall for a charity event - went down well, raised over £2,000 and threw in four new songs - Highway Star, Fool for your Lovin,  Free Fallin and Knocking on Heaven's Door.   One (Heaven's Door) a request on the night which we had a listen to in the interval and then banged out.  All good stuff.

Saturday 14th October 2017
Up early considering didn't get to bed until nearly 3am.  Dog walked, papers fetched, unloaded Phil's van of drums into my car of drums.  Good stuff.  Rehearal/Audition with a band in Kilburn which unfortunately took place in a room with the worse acoustics I can recall but was okay.  We shall see.

Sunday 15th October 2017
Up early.  Dog walked.  Cars washed. Watched Derby do Forest 2-0 at Pride Park.  Lovely.   Over to mum and dad's for tea for first time in ages after Lucy's footie team kept Buxton to a 0-0 draw which is great as they have thrashed Ashbourne in the past.  Good, good.

Monday 18th September 2017 to Sunday 24th September 2017

Monday 18th September 2017
Busy day in the office and then an audition at 9pm.  Straight after tea was writing up crib sheets, short walk with the dog, more crib sheets.  Set off for Burton in pouring rain at 8.30, got there a little bit after 9pm after overshooting the rehearsal studio.  Got in, got set up, did me half a dozen numbers and got through em - another chap coming in at 10pm so will have to await the results with interest.

Tuesday 19th September 2017
Couldn't sleep after audition so watched the conclusion of Strike: The Silkworm on the telly box - quite enjoyed it there is a really good interaction between the two main characters.  It's good.  Got to be at 12:30 and then up at 5:30.  Dog walked, papers fetched into office for 7.30.  All good stuff.  Another day in paradise then got home, tea, dog walk, fixing nephews computer for most of the night.  Problem is it ain't got no space on it. Fixed little dog's window with a bit of epoxy resin which wanted doing but have got a lot of little jobs that want doing.   Watched W1A which was very good and Robson Green on that Anglesey.  Also good.

Wednesday 20th September 2017
Up at 5:40 (slacking a bit).  Dog walk, shower and stuff  then in office for 7.30. Found a pic of the blue kit from last year:

Parish Council meeting after work which went on a bit but got done in the end.

Thursday 21st September 2017
Autumn Solstice - where is the year going.  Up early dog walked, bit of bad news at work got me in trouble - bothered? Nah, nowt  I can do about it.  Parish and Town Council Liaison at County Offices in Matlock after work a bit late getting off but didn't miss anything - wasn't as dull as it sounded in all fairness although I was one of the younger ones present it must be said!!  Watched Safe House on ITV - it's got the haunted house at Trearddur Bay on it you know.

Friday 22nd September 2017
Thank the Lord it's Friday is all I'm going to say.

Saturday 23rd September 2017
Up early doors.  Dog walked.  Golf day at Brailsford.  Played okay - 11 for front after three five puts and two ditches, 20 for the back nine after driving like a star and making the odd putt.  Then work kicked off so didn't get to the gate.

Sunday 24th September 2017
Up to Alstonefield Car boot, bought some bits including a seat for £3.   Back home painted 10 fence panels so ticked a bit more of that off

Monday 11th September 2017 to Sunday 17th September 2017

Monday 11th September 2017
Back to work.  It's CycletoWork day on Wednesday so sent a reminder out about that one.  The forecast is for gales Wednesday morning so that should make it interesting but given recent accuracy of weather forecasts I might just take that with a pinch of salt.    Home for about 5.10pm so that was good.  Got kayaks fastened down a bit more solidly and also put a load of camping stuff up into the attic out of the way.  There must be some more bits and pieces to put away somewhere though I'm sure of that.

Tuesday 12th September 2017
Getting up earlier and earlier it would seem. Most odd.  Dog walked and papers fetched, brought some stuff to work ready for Cycle2Work day tomorrow.   Forgot a few things but that happens.  Got home a bit early as had to take dog to vets.  She put one of those drops on her and charged £28 for the privilege. Such is life I suppose.   Dropped missus off at home and went to pick Lucy up from School.  Had tea then got bikes sorted - pumped up tyres on the Boardman Urban Mountain Bike and the  Giant FCR1 - decided on the FCR1 - cracking bike.  Went out for a spin and realised how out of shape I am!   Dog walk and then watched Upstart Crow which doth try too had in my opinion.

Wednesday 13th September 2017 - Cycle2Work Day
Bottled it a bit - had discussions with the missus about cycling in 50mph winds and the decision was to go from Ligentia instead - so 2 miles instead of 20 miles.     That said I've done about five miles more on the bike than I have for the rest of the year - need to be getting back into it really I do like whizzing about on the bike.   Anyway, up at 5.15.  Dog walked in howling wind and paper fetched by 5.55am.  On way to work by 6.05 and showered and at my desk by 7am.  Not bad going in my view.

Slimming World Cycle2Workers 2017

Thursday  14th September 2017
Not a great deal happened although did tune up the 13" tom and it sounded grand in the evening for something to do.  Messed about for ages with a crap drumhead on it so bought an Evans G2 put it on and within seconds it's sounding right - warm with a cracking musical resonance - lesson learned.

Friday 15th September 2017
Can't remember much else other than it being a really busy day at work and I was glad when it was done!

Saturday 16th September 2017
Emily and Nick's Wedding Day so everything focussed on that.  Really enjoyable day but was flagging by 9:30pm.

Put this picture on because it's in focus

Put this one on because it reminds me of a Counting Crows lyric!

From "A Long December" - 

All at once you look across a crowded room
To see the way that light attaches to a girl

Think Lucy (and bosskat, of course) looks radiant in the second picture and you can sort of see what Adam Duritz means when he says "To see the way that light attaches to a girl"  !!

Sunday 17th September 2017
From Wedding to Weeding just by swapping a day and a letter!  Down at the lotty from Early, took 14 bags of rubbish to the tip, brought home courgettes, raspbobs, beetroot a big spud I'd missed and a couple of sweetcorns.

After putting a shift of sorts in down at the lotty (it was a Sunday after all, four hours is plenty) I went up to catch second half of Lucy's cup match at Osmaston.  They ran home 6-2 winners over Derby Rovers - great to see them win.  So pleased me and the pooch went up.  

Day finished with a pub quiz at The Shoulder, Osmaston.   Cracking night we came third from bottom - result!!

Monday 4th September 2017 to Sunday 10th September

Monday 4th September 2017 to Thursday 7th September 2017

Not much to report - was busy at work and did some good stuff at home including fixing an outdoor shelter for camping.   Also bought some ace stuff and some crap stuff from John Pye Auctions (bit disappointed but learnt from it). 

Friday 8th September 2017

After Lucy packed off to School, me the missus and the Dog went to Wales.  The Met Office had predicted Heavy Showers all weekend so we booked into a hotel (Anchorage Hotel on Four Mile Bridge between Valley and Trearddur Bay). As it turned out the weather was far more benign with an occasional bit of drizzle until we set off for home on Sunday with Kayak on the roof!

Church Bay in the heavy showers

Small dog in flight

The house used in ITV's Safe House (Thursday at 9pm)

Bosskat and el pooch on Church Bay Beach

Trearddur Beach in the heavy showers

Nice fish and chips at the hotel - can't knock the food.  Left dog in the room and she behaved, bless her. 

Saturday 9th September 2017

Up early - dog walked first thing - breakfast about 7:30am - very nice.  Went to Penrhos retail park to get missus a hairbrush!!  Then down to Newborough Forest as I've always wanted to go - bosskat really liked it so that was good.   Cracking looking spot for fishing perhaps need a bike though! 

We spent a couple of happy hours walking at Newborough and checking out the fishing spots (no ulterior motives on my part I'll have you know) then back to the car and off to the next stop - Plas Newydd.  Plas Newydd is a stately home looked after by the national trust - normally it's about £12 to get in but it was an open doors even so entrance was free (I was emailed about this so though we'd better take advantage!).  It's a beautiful spot and the art inside is stunning (in my view).   Lovely place.   

Plas Newydd looking up from Menai Straits

Plas Newyd as you approach from visitor centre

Brittania Bridge in the distance. 

Back to Trearddur as the missus insisted I got some bait for fishing (which in the end I didn't use but hey ho!

Found a spot on the inland sea that looked good for spinning but didn't get any bites.  Never mind and a cracking look camping site if you wanted to go yakking/fishing on the inland sea? 

This was my fishing spot looking back to the little bridge to Four Mile Bridge

  Meal with Vic and Linda at 6pm - best burger I've ever had (don't tell the missus though). 

Sunday 10th September 2017

Up early, dog walked, top breakfast again - was full all day pretty much!  Over to Church Bay - a bit grimmer today but got the yak loaded up ready for transit back to Ashbourne.  

Last walk on the beach at Church Bay - lot of weed about!