Whilst we were so rudely interrupted...

I've been rather busy.


I have moved into a rather nice little house. It's just around the corner from the town centre - so no more hour long treks on a Sunday afternoon if we run out of milk.

'We' has changed from the four of us to just the two - my eldest daughter has moved out and should, all being well, go to Art College in September. And just before Christmas my relationship of seven years finally got to the Point of No Return. Well, roughly two and a half lightyears past the Point of No Return.


So it's just myself, the 12 year old - and the cats and fish. They will no doubt show up on here at some point.


Whilst my relationship was disintegrating, I had started making changes in myself. You might see the bleached hair, the nose piercing (how people hate that!), not the additional ear piercings, nor the several stones in weight I have already dispensed with. Although there are still a few more of those to go.

Most vital to me was I started to take lessons in bass guitar. That simple act, that 30 minutes out of each whole week, has transformed my life.

On the first lesson, I borrowed a supercheap bass and learned to play Green Onions (as per Booker T and the MGs). I practiced every day for around an hour in the basement of the music shop. My fingers stung, my fingers blistered and by the end of the week, I had worked out how to play the entire bass part for Pink Floyd's Money.

My tutor laughed when I went back the following week and that unleashed something in me I didn't know I had.


Within 3 months, I had bought my own bass.

Within another 3 months, I set foot in a Jazz workshop for the first time, ignorant of the language, ignorant of the music.

Within another 6 months, I auditioned for a place in a house band in a local venue, playing various rock, pop, country, metal and grunge covers. I can say, with all the conviction of my brief time on the back row that yes, I can do that, yes, I can do jazz, yes, I can read dots and tab, but if you don't have either, I'll either have a look at the lead sheet/chord chart or just have a listen and I'll work something out myself.


I now sit here, needing more sleep (as always a rare thing) just 20 months after I first felt the E string under my fingertips, looking forward to my set on Sunday, knowing that the basslines I have constructed are good enough for anyone - and that I am ready.


Ready for my life.