Diagonally

 Met Ronan for lunch on a crisp day. Discussed going to India. Food for thought.

Hallowe'en Cactus

Benefitted from re-potting in the spring

65

 So far so ... Goodish all things considered. Nice lunch with M and J at La Garrigue, but £35 for a bottle of Picpoul??.

Memory Lane

Went to Bruntsfield Links with FM who was down for Mike Oldfield. A lifetime ago we played lots of pitch and putt.

Mike Oldfield Music

Usher Hall, 14th October 

Oldfield's orchestral arranger touring playing Tubular Bells and others. Competent octet, quite good overall.

Setlist included Tubular Bells 1 and 2, Moonlight Shadow and Family Man (who knew).

With FM, really good negronis and chicken dishes at La Casa.

Poor old schizophrenic on the bus back.

Optician

 

Annual checkup very reassuring, pressures 11 & 12 mmHg, normal maculae and fields, no cataracts, prescription unchanged. Optician having a bad day, unable to get the automatic gear going properly so went manual. Outwardly kept her cool thankfully.

Around The World In 80 Days

 Royal Scots Club 15th August. Hazel's company, fun, lively, slick. Gilly got the tickets, Leona and all the Remus crowd there.

Attila The Stockbroker

Free fringe. At Bannerman's which brought back the memory of the debut Dancing Mice gig in 2004.

Very enjoyable, amusing self-aware and sorted Marxist sentiments. Good cittern.

With DG who suggested going. Poured with rain on the way home, bus stuck for 20 minutes in Leith Street as per usual nowadays with the Gyratory.

Loft Clearance

Fringe this morning, at RSE. Friend of Gilly doing a multi -media monologue about clearing her loft and all that entails. Pretty good, 4 stars.

Five Cousins

After a gap of some years, five cousins together. Good time had by all. 

Holland with the RSA

 

12th to 18th May.

Haarlem, Delft, Amsterdam, Leiden, Kinderdijk, Rotterdam, The Hague.

Kinderdijk very atmospheric. Delft charming. Escher museum very good. Mesdag Panorama terrific. 

https://www.flickr.com/gp/amoffoot/1c48ep65F2

Drying Day

 First decent day to hang out washing since October 2023

Gig 57

Leith Depot, Saturday 20th April

Supporting PAL at their album launch; they supported us at the launch of Quiz Culture, quid pro quo.

Surprisingly smooth, reassuring after the horror of the last gig at Home Bar.

First outing of the new tablet and HDMI to super ceiling projector, screen above the band, really good.

Setlist: Pictures of Biggles, I Need To Clean The Floor, Polish Seamstress, Flowers, The '68, Bread and Stone, Take The Picture, Standing In For Love, It's Abnormal, Death Makes You Feel Like A Man.

New songs worked a treat, very good additions to the repertoire.

Sound by Craig, pretty good for the audience, a little tricky on stage.

Well received by strangers, grooving, interested, clapping.

Asked in all neurodivergent seriousness if I knew what the first dance was in the film for It's Abnormal.

Musical Box Again

 At the Usher Hall again. Eerily close facsimile band. Did Selling England, long songs; I never twigged that the playout on The Cinema Show was a trio of Banks Rutherford and Collins. Supper's Ready very atmospheric and nostalgic.

One unexpected treat, we were offered the best Grand Circle seats as the band had no guests.

With Dale, on a rainy night. 11 there, 10 and 25 back.

The Stranglers

 At the Usher Hall. 50th anniversary, and really good. Two halves, first half blaring sound, second half much better. Many hits. Genuinely creative with their own style. Highlights Duchess, Always The Sun, Tank.

Fraser Mills trip, tried La Casa given La Favorita gone. Will go again. 

Coolant

Leak on the A1; scary moment. Luckily near a lay-by. RAC and pick-up truck back to town. 

FunkeVisit 2

Another good day visiting ancestor’s old haunts; including St Giles’ and Greyfriars. The first time in decades I had been in either. Coffee and far-too-big scones at Chamber St, then to Jane’s for a nice evening.

Cousin Once Removed

Kate Funke from Munich, my father’s older brother’s younger son’s daughter, visiting Scotland. Great meeting for the first time, had only been a name to me before. Plenty of family lore and an excellent Walnut lunch, with Jane and Derrick. Coming back before she leaves, hooray.

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Hub 5

Seven years on from Virgin Hub 3, today upgraded to Hub 5. Not without glitches (of course). After the old Hub was disconnected, the engineer got an e-mail to say that there was a general fault and the new Hub would not be recognised, leaving me without any service at all. He pottered around making excuses for ten minutes, then it sprang into life, phew.

The usual mindfuck with re-setting the printer and all the Google speakers, Chromecasts etc, but it is up and running and it does seem a bit faster, and the signal a bit stronger upstairs than before, so far so good. Had to get a new “Package” with “Super discounts” so there will be the usual tedious arguing next July when I want to reduce the costs.