I was right. Turns out the main aim of this week was just to get through it. Have to say the first week back at work was a bit of torture. Horrible commuting, trains being diverted and being unable to kill this cold contributed to the outcome. Once Friday evening came, I was fit to sit on the couch, watch some telly and veg.
I did manage to get this week’s episode of The London Ear recorded on Thursday evening, so the second part of the week wasn’t completely lost.
Saturday 9th January 2016
Unable to shake cold or not, today is Saturday, I wanted to make the most of it. I kinda miss working with music on a daily basis and decided a while back that I wanted to do more with music, whether it’s working with some artists again, running a night somewhere, maybe even proper management, which I haven’t done in a few years.
Today I joined the Music Managers Forum and have signed up to do their Music Publishing Programme. It’s always good to update the knowledge you have and learn new things. I love all this so this is right up my street. Can’t wait for it to start.
If I was into canoeing, today would have been perfect! Despite the deluge from the sky, I decided to brave the conditions and head into town even without an arc. Just went for a walkabout really, just to get out, get a bit of fresh air and exercise. Even though there were reports this week that London exceeded the pollutant levels already for 2016, it’s good to get out for a little while.
Tomorrow marks Day 10 of 100 Days to Change, that’s one tenth of the way through. I better make it count!
I’m a bit late with yesterday’s post. I was busy doing today’s, which means, I think, that sometimes I may write about two days in one.
So yesterday was Saturday, the last proper day of the holidays really. So what did I do to get me closer to where I want to be in 2016? A couple of things actually, starting with making a couple of subtle changes to this very website.
Things like tidying up the main menu, adding some content to the ‘About Me’ section, including a ‘Work with Me’ page. I also uploaded yesterday’s episode of The London Ear. IF you haven’t listened yet, now’s your chance!
Once that was done, I set off on a journey to get a notebook. I wanted a new Moleskin notebook to write ideas / plans / plots in. The last one of these I had was while I was in DCU and it worked a treat. I kept all my ideas in there and all my assignments came out of that little black book. I still have that one but DCU was a while ago now and I want a clean slate.
Thanks to the lovely ‘ongoing improvements’, London Bridge and Waterloo East stations have been closed over the holiday season. This means it can be a pain in the ass to get into town/our usual haunts. We (Tahlula and myself) got a train to Blackfriars, where there was a Paperchase, found the notebook I wanted and was all done in 5 minutes flat.
We wandered around town for a while before deciding we’d go home, have the last takeaway until February and chill out. We were at Covent Garden when I thought it would be a great idea to use this opportunity to get some fresh air (well, London fresh) and a walk in, and walk to Blackfriars.
We could and probably should have gone Embankment and got a Tube over to Blackfriars, from where we were, we could see Charing Cross station (also closed). Along the way, I popped into a camera shop, priced a new DSLR and was quite chuffed that I was having a productive day.
As we walked from the Strand, around Somerset House, it just started lashing rain. Like ridiculous. But – had coat and umbrella, was determined and walking along the Northbank of the Thames is something different – we’re normally Southbank people.
Got to the train station with one soggy foot and scored a nice 1st Class seat in the first carriage. South Eastern trains don’t do 1st class on that route so anyone can sit there. I double checked the app. There was me, Tahlula and some guy with a trenchcoat and bad headphones in 1st class.
30 minutes later, we were home, removing the previously mentioned soggy sock and ordering from Just Eat. I unwrapped the notebook and there was a blob of glue sitting on the top/bottom of the notebook, holding some of the pages together. After all that I can’t use it.
Someone once told me that if you were buying an ‘ideas notebook’, buy the most expensive one you can for your needs. You know how much it cost so you will always respect what you write in there, you’ll respect your ideas, you’ll take the time to work it all out. I’ve never forgotten that. The perfectionist in me hasn’t either. I need a perfect notebook, I have to get a new one. Can’t win them all I guess.
Blurry, wet, taken at Blackfriars looking to the SouthBank of the Thames
Taxi – Bronze Sculpture of J. Seward Johnson at John Carpenter Street, London
