Starting Over

As far as I’m concerned, today is New Years Day. Gigging is over, the Panto is over and - fingers crossed - my cold/flu is over.
This is going to be a year of new beginnings and of change. I’m no longer in a band and am not planning on doing anything else on stage until October (and even that is not 100% certain) so should have plenty of time to do all those things I’ve been putting off for the last couple of years.
As soon as it warms up a bit, I want to start running again. I only managed one 5K last year, which ended with me hobbling the last 2K due to my dodgy knee. I’ve been working on strengthening that area - and my ankle - and I reckon it’s time to put it all to the test now.
I’m determined to have a good clearout of things this year. I started this morning, by binning a shirt and t-shirt I’d been wearing over the weekend but were actually a bit scruffy and really not fit to be seen out in. Just because I’ve had the shirt for thirty odd years is not a good enough reason to hang on to it! More items of apparel will follow in due course, along with any books, CDs or DVDs that are no longer read, listened to or watched.
But the main thing I want to do is expand my musical repertoire. I don’t have to be strictly bass now and am wanting to brush up on my 6 string skills. Stuart and I want to do something together, maybe even some small gigs. Specifically we want to develop some of the songs we have written together over the past few years, with a view to performing them in public along with some of our favourite covers.
I’ve been learning “Good Riddance” by Green Day for my own amusement and, when I met Stuart for a coffee today, he played me his initial thoughts on some lyrics I’d sent to him before Christmas. It must surely be some sort of sign that the chords he was playing were very similar to what I’d been practicing. All I’ve got to do now is learn them in a different order so I can play along with him…