Well here I am, nearly a quarter of the way through 2012 and on a sparklingly updated website and with new management to boot!
Let me tell you what happened next then…
2010
was mostly spent in recording and organising the album with Lee and Markus, Catherine Hyde had agreed to let me use some of her work on the inlay and most of the album was complete so all was on track for a release in 2011 and then back to work on the new album with Alistair and Tim.. Good.
Running like a painful ribbon throughout this year were health problems, both mine and of my manager. Mine culminated in another spine operation in August 2010, leaving me with nerve damage to my legs and causing me to have more problems with walking, these are still an issue, but I have hopes that the damaged nerves are regenerating (grow! go on! grow!!) and I will be able to feel my toes again at some stage. So if I fall over you’ll know I’m not drunk……
2011
The health problems of my manager had more serious repercussions and resulted in us parting ways, after too many things that I thought were real, turned out to be just hopeful thinking. If he hadn’t been in constant pain and under serious medication, I have no doubt that all of his bonkers plans would have taken off and all would have been well and good. It is very sad. I hope he will regain his health and his maddeningly brilliant ideas. I am still very fond of him.
Sadly this also meant that Lee and Markus decided to remove their musical contributions from the album we were working on together, effectively putting the completed album in the cupboard and locking the door and running away. I hope one day to find the key and let the music fly. Optimism eh?
I also lost my younger brother Stephen in January 2011, he had lived in the US for over 30 years with his American wife and child, working within the Space Industry. I will always miss him and his wicked sense of humour…
Another loss that same month was Whizzy, the brindle greyhound who reached a grand age of 13. So that was no fun either.. I did adopt two more old greyhounds in April, but although they were both 11 year olds, the male one, Dazzle, was weirdly aggressive to other dogs and far too strong for me to cope with. His bond mate, Kerry, was much quieter, but they both would have been lost without each other, so they had to be returned as a pair to the RGT. I will find another greyhound. It is easier to do things without an animal but there is a greyhound-shaped hole here…
So that was 2011, a year of loss and disaster and confidence battering events, but it ended with beginning again to write songs and record them with Alistair.
So, 2012, what will you bring to me?
A new management in the form of Paul Maynard, (what has he let himself in for?)
A new website courtesy of Jane and Paul Merrick,
New songs which I hope will be tuneful
And new borders to cross and new giggles to be had.
To be continued….