The Ghost of Christmas Presents.

Apologies to any Dickens fans for that title...

Well, it's been a while. But, like the best of friendships I'm hoping we can be straight back to being comfortable with each other right away, as if the gap had never happened. Right?

Its a little over four weeks since I wrote and it's just been so busy that I haven't had the time. Am typing this on train to work, but imagine I will not finish it until lunchtime, but I've been busy enough that any time I've had with a clear diary I've either needed to do the shopping/washing etc, or I have needed to sleep.

So, what have I been doing you ask? Plenty of rehearsals - for gigs with Voxcetera - gig Saturday 13th - come along, Albert Hall gigs, and Ukulele gigs too (less rehearsing for these to be fair). Plus socialising, trying to make the most of the nice weather - which seems to be back today - by getting out and about and thinking about / planning Christmas things.

As ever, the thought of buying Christmas presents fills me with dread and panic. 'Oh, it's the thought that counts' is a phrase I have always viewed with as much suspicion as 'size isn't important', 'it's what's on the inside that counts' etc.

At least with kids you get a list - and adding a surprise or two to that isn't difficult. This year, not only have I got a list from one, he has helpfully (no irony intended - I mean this) linked it to the relevant Amazon entries. If only he could have done it as a wish list, he could have saved me six clicks, but pretty good. And the others just want money, which is a pretty dull present but I was the same as a teenager.

Parents (who have everything they need and dislike clutter etc, so don't want to have things they don't need) are a difficult one though. But easy compared to friends - I'm not going to get disinherited for a 4/10 Xmas gift...

Mind you, I can't be an easy person to buy for. A book or music you think? Yes, but a good chance I've got or borrowed it already. Unless it involves Russell Brand. But if you know me well enough to buy a present you would know not to buy that.

If somebody asks me what I would like, I honestly have no idea at all. It's not particularly that I want to be surprised, it's just that my mind is a blank in that area. And that is an area very adjacent to the 'good ideas for presents for others' and indeed seems to share the same tumbleweeds.

Given I'm not going down the route of The Voucher (other than perhaps for those who are geographically remote) my strategy is to walk up and down the aisles of shops until I receive some sort of divine inspiration. Which just, short term, exchanges the uncertainty over what to buy with one for whether I bought the right thing. Which will by 25/12 be itself replaced with the knowledge that I didn't, or an uncertainty as to whether it was really appreciated or they were just saying that.

Be honest - am I over-analysing here? I am, aren't I?

Right - first 20 minutes of lunchtime used up in posting this - off to wander the Whitgift centre now in search of ideas. Wish me luck.

A reminder

Nothing posted here for a little while but I have been busy elsewhere - remember my music reviews page which is here and which has got reviews of the James Taylor gig from a couple of weeks ago, and a couple of more recent things too.

And then there were three

Greetings. Following some feedback from my loyal reader I've decided to split the blog in three. I will leave the previous posts here, but will copy key ones across at some point, so everything historical will still be here.

Why, you ask? Nothing sinister. I just find that I have a desire to write on three very different fronts. Some of you will want to read on each of these, but some won’t, and it might be easier if I compartmentalise them a little bit.

One is to carry on with what has been going on in my life. That will be here – though I will link to the others from here too.

I have also tended to do a bit of writing around gigs and other outings which I have tended to review. The first of those will be up shortly, particularly as I went to three gigs last week and owe you a report on each.

The third and most separate is the more political musings that I feel compelled to write. In the aftermath of Clacton, and with only seven months to the general election this is an area where I suspect more involvement coming up. Watch this space for those.

In terms of the general stuff, life is pretty good – just very busy. That explains the week’s delay since the last blog post. When I went through the ‘big changes’ in my life earlier this year I deliberately took on lots of stuff – mainly musical – to make sure I did not have too many lonely and empty evenings. It’s now got to the point where I have plenty to do, and am comfortable enough that the odd quiet evening is either fully occupied with domestic chores, or is a welcome chance to read a book or have a long and relaxing bath.

This is great news – not that I was worried about being on my own, but it is nice to know that I am coping with it just fine.

So – anyway. My music-only blog is here and the new posts will be up soon. Enjoy

Somewhere in between

There is going to be a gap in my blog I'm afraid.

"Yes", you point out, "it started a week ago...". Well, so it did, Dear Reader. It's just that (as well as minor details like a gig at the Albert Hall tomorrow) I have something really major that has cropped up and I have to deal with it. And given that I need to work - well I need to keep getting paid, and intend to honour all my commitments to various choirs and causes if at all possible, something has to give.

And that something is the blog.

I very much hope that before the end of the month normal service can be resumed. And what is happening might give me a few new things to talk about - if I can - not sure. But for now I'm going to tie off a few posts from the year where I have left things hanging with some bullets below - and say auf wiedersehen.

1. I'm still not eating meat. Had a bit of fish, especially at the start, but that's reducing now. Don't feel much different physically (but feeling no worse is good) but feel happy that this is right for me now.
2. I blogged earlier on this year about dieting. That did not go well, until the last couple of weeks, which have seen a bit of a change, so I'l have to hold that one for now and see. 
3. Cigarettes. Clearly good to have stopped, but I still want one. If you're offering?
4. So glad to see the UKIP bandwagon has at least stopped speeding up following the by-election result. I do feel sorry for the Libdems, because I don't think they really had a choice about the coalition, but there you go. I'm sure Nick Clegg will relish his peerage in May 2015.
5. Not exactly a Green breakthrough - but not a collapse either. 3 MEPs (up from 2)
6. Three months until Kate Bush (in tribute to whom this post was named)!
7. Before that, Chas 'n' Dave on 21st June! 
8. I have lost count of the times and ways in which music has kept me sane, who I want to be etc. It matters.

I'm building an ark

The rain continues, and B&Q has reported a run on gopher wood. Also, whilst we do have two gerbils, the fact that we only have two gerbils suggests they are of the same sex. And what good is a future world populated only by gerbils anyway. We would need a smaller ark though, I guess.

I've left lots of return to work (and return to school) stuff until the last minute, and I now have to go out to sort out train tickets, collection of clothes from dry cleaners and first trip to charity shop with clothes (result of research- have gone with Salvation Army - overly and overtly Christian, but do a great job and I'm a sucker for silver bands and Guys 'n' Dolls).

So today's blog is being composed whilst waiting for a break in the clouds.

I can heartily recommend Martin Stephenson & the Daintees' 1990 album Salutation Road which is today's blogging soundtrack.  I don't know how to describe his music style - there are elements of soul, blues and gospel in there but also something definitively of the North East of England. It's like a less pretentious Prefab Sprout. (Don't get me wrong - I do love Paddy McAloon, but there are times when he tries very hard.)

Last night, I finished reading the last (so far) of the Game of Thrones books. I started these about six months ago as airport reading and, like other writing of this genre, it has at times been close to unputdownable. (Sorry, spellcheck - as far as I am concerned unputdownable is a real word.) Not watched much of the TV series, which I think is somewhat more, shall we say, graphic, but I like the way the books are written - with each chapter written from the point of view of a different character. They drift in and out of the story as events come to pass. So, whilst most of us think - "Ewww - fantasy" it isn't that bad. I do wish he'd stop killing off all the characters I feel any attachment to though.

As with many series, the books have got longer and more complex as they have gone on - so book six may prove to be a 2,000 page behemoth which a good editor could have got down to 500 pages*, but we will have to wait and see.

Anyway, a dove bearing an olive branch is tapping on my study window, so it's time to don the coat and hit Balham. Until tomorrow dear blog!

UPDATE: it has rightly been pointed out that the series of books is of course "A Song of Ice and Fire" of which "A Game of Thrones" is book one. Happy to correct this.


*Yes JK Rowling, I am thinking of you as I write this.

The year just gone

Given that the idea of blogging for the year is in itself clichéd, I am going to maintain the cliché level by reviewing last year.

This is purely from my perspective of course. I recognise it wasn’t a very good year for people in countless areas of the world, or for people forced out of their homes by the bedroom tax. And, moving a little closer to home, I am now of an age where a number of friends’ parents are dying.

Compared to any of these people’s situation the word to sum up my year is probably “trivial”. But it’s my year, and so that’s what I am writing about.

Overall I had a pretty good year in 2013. Not everything in my life is great, by any means, but generally I look back on the year with some satisfaction, and I think I am in a much better place now than I was a year ago.

Music

Music is important to me, increasingly so each year, and I’ll write about why in a future blog.

Totting it up, and I might well have missed something, I sang in twelve concerts in 2013. I think this amounts to about 40,000 people. Admittedly, playing the Albert Hall seven times (three different shows) amounts to 95% of this, but it’s still an impressive number.  I also, for the first time, did some proper big band gigs – alone in front of an audience with only seventeen fabulously talented instrumentalists. When they kick into gear six feet behind you, the sound is incredible.

By no means the biggest gig of the year, but the one I am proudest of, was with the Voxcetera Chamber Choir. Looking for further challenge I joined this fabulous group of singers in September and our Christmas concert was an incredibly special event for me.

Life and Health

After years of trying, I think I’ve finally got into the habit of going to the gym. Not sure I am doing exactly the right stuff when I am there, but it’s a step in the right direction. There’s a new and cheap gym opening opposite work in a month’s time, so I am hoping this will allow me to continue to get healthier.

Alcohol (the cause of - and solution to - all life’s problems – Homer J Simpson) and I have a bit of a chequered history, worthy of its own blog, but from a long-term perspective, my decisions here have definitely been the most beneficial.

On other life matters – I will only quote Tracey Thorn (and yes – I know Danny Whitten wrote it). Ho hum.

Holidays

I took my kids away for a big holiday for the first (and, given their ages, increasing self-reliance, and my bank balance, probably last) time. Orlando probably isn’t my dream destination, but they loved it, and I enjoyed two weeks with them, with no greater pressures than deciding what and where to eat that night. Plus I got to see the Space Shuttle!!!!!

As the boys reach adulthood, I don’t think I love them any differently, but we relate to each other now as adults, and that’s a big plus for me.

The other benefit of the holiday was that I got to read lots of…..

Books

I used to read a huge amount. In terms of amount but also breadth of stuff. And over the years it really tailed off. Lack of time, tiredness – lots of things played a part. Two weeks of fairly solid reading reminded me of what I have missed, and I have been busy catching up ever since. There is so much cheap stuff available on the Kindle store.

Work

A really busy year. I’ve vowed this isn’t a blog about work stuff, but that doesn’t stop me from saying that it has been really tough at times – great fun on lots of occasions, and frustrating on others. I do find myself thinking – worrying really, that I’m not sure I can, or want to, go at this pace for too much longer. Partly because I am an overweight middle-aged male, so am entering prime heart attack territory, but mostly because there is so much more I want to do with my life, and I need the time and energy to do it.

So I don’t foresee any changes right now, but am going to start thinking about what else I could do to pay the bills and make me a little less time-poor.

Friends

I don’t have lots and lots of friends. I don’t want lots and lots of friends either. But I do have some very good friends, and (cliche-ometer to max) they really are what life is about. You know who you are - thank you.

One day to go

So, per the header, my year of blogging starts in earnest tomorrow.

In a bit of panic, however, I thought I'd better dust off the old blogging format and get ready / remove the excuses for getting started come January 1st.

I'm still not really sure what I shall be writing about. Music seems certain to be a major part of it (I sing - quite a bit), together with my tendency to get mildly cross about pseudo-science, quackery and other such tripe. And I am sure that examples of poor, if not downright evil, government will be highlighted if there happen to be any *sets four-hourly alarm*.

In my work life I am involved in the legal system and I have very strong views about (the lack of) access to justice and where we have gone badly wrong over the last few years. I'm going to try and steer away from that because it gets pretty heavy, and because for me this isn't about work. But you can be sure something during the year will wind me up enough to get onto the page.

Throw in some diet / health stuff and perhaps something about whatever books I'm reading right now and that's probably a fair starting point.

What there won't be much of: films (don't do much of them), reality TV - in fact, TV generally (others do it well enough and to comment on it I probably have to watch it) and sport - which I do love but can be a bit alienating.

So, here's to it - let's see how far we get!