1:02 p.m. - 2024-02-27
Frankly, the book says not

Home again, and rushing around doing chores that were not done at the weekend while sorting out the set list for tonight's band rehearsal, and checking my gear is all present, correct, and working. I won't ramble on too much about the weekend except to say when we are with each other everything is good. I mean very good. When we are not, it isn't and thats just something we will have to work on.

Due to a slight slip up (literally) where I ended up lying flat on my back in a puddle of mud and water while walking by the river, and being soaked to the skin and caked in mud, she did laundry for me for the first time and I've now been allocated drawer space and wardrobe space to keep a clean change of clothes if I'm staying over. This is all radical stuff for two people who haven't lived with a partner in over a decade.

Her old dad Malcolm is definitely where she gets her sharp wit and dry sense of humour from. When he heard of my recent fixing exploits, and my passion for restoring vintage musical equipment, he proposed a deal with me. He's given me two old Trace Elliot bass guitar amplifiers that have been in all respects rotting away in his garage for decades, just to see if I can get them working again. Both apparently blew up during his career as a semi-pro bass player and rather than fix them at the time, he stored them hoping he'd get around to it at some point.

Frankly, the book says not. One is from 1984, an old Mk4 GP11 and the other from 1995, an old Sound Management Series GP7SM. I've played down the chances of getting them working again as parts are near unobtainable these days. She says to me she has every confidence in my abilities, and wouldn't it be just great if I fixed them up and used her dad's equipment at a show with my band? No pressure there. I'll do my best, thats all I ever try to do. Anyway, the deal is if I can fix them, I get to keep one and any repair costs come out of the sale of the other.

One other thing that happened over the past few days is that I have become a Spotify user again. I signed up for it back around 2006 when it first emerged as a free streaming service and used it until they started charging for an ad free service. I hadn't used it since and that's been a good few years now. I've been busy sorting out a playlist and have unfortunately used up all my data allowance on my cellular device already for this month while streaming some very interesting new tunes. It's all good though.

"The man that hath no music in himself, Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils; The motions of his spirit are dull as night, And his affections dark as Erebus. Let no such man be trusted. Mark the music.”