Come Back and Finish What You Started

This was my 60th birthday present to myself last year. A fairly liberal interpretation of the lockdown rules in force at the time meant I had been able to get it a couple of weeks before the shop could officially reopen.
A year ago I said that as the gym, theatres and concert venues were unlikely to reopen anytime soon, then there was no excuse not to put in some serious practice to improve my playing.
But, somehow, it just never happened. In fact, it didn’t happen so much, that the protective film on the scratchplate is still in place. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a lovely guitar and sounds superb. I just don’t seem to have had the motivation to knuckle down and play it on a regular basis. Maybe I’ll be more inspired when (if?) live music returns.
I wondered, at the time, if this was to be a “keeper”. I’ve owned many guitars over the years and, by my normal standards, hanging on to one for as long as twelve months is pretty rare. Then again, the shops have been shut and/or travel restricted for most of those months, so I’ve not exactly had the chance to find another one!
But (and there’s always a but) I do have my eye on something else. A Taylor that has been as equally praised in the press as this Martin was. Which, as a consequence, means it is very hard to find in the U.K. at the moment. The shop I deal with is not a Taylor stockist, but they are trying to find me one. Trouble is, the shortage of stock and high demand means other retailers are reluctant to sell one to the trade, if they can’t be sure of getting a replacement pretty quickly.
I’m sure a deal will be done eventually. It may even be for something totally different. In the meantime, I suppose I ought to sit down with what I’ve got and see if I can learn something new. You never know, I may even end up wanting to keep it after all!