A distinct lack of porridge

Since the great dawn of unemployment (disguised as retiral) about 10 days ago I've been plagued by a heavy and stinking cold that has soured some of the new-life style experience. Each day consists of an unfamiliar struggle against coughing and rasping and a feeling of heaviness like a chest full of treacle. Some say that when you quit full time work and are released from the pressures you've absorbed for years your natural immunity system just collapses. It's as if your body is realigning itself with a new and less challenging lifestyle but as yet cannot tell where the lines of normality begin so mistakes are made. Well maybe so, I'm certainly smitten with something that's powerful and unusual for me to suffer with. Of course the solution may be much more simple and staring me in the face, the breaking of my daily porridge habit for example. I feel the need to recalibrate myself with some instant oats. This is all starting to sound like the death of Steve McQueen.

Faces in things

There are many faces, expressions and moods on display in this (large) piece of driftwood that's been stuck on our beach for about three years. How it will be after another three years exposed to wind and weather? Looking a bit like the Elephant Man today.

I also put my face in  a thing today, a bus. That was strange, my first outing using the new Scottish Entitlement Card (which I wish they had called the Enlightenment Card but...) which gives the over 60s and the bewildered free use of public transport from here to eternity or maybe infinity. Living as we do two miles from a bus stop actually getting on a bus is always going to be a challenge and today's test journey was brought about by my need to collect my car from a local garage. So I trudged to the bus stop and duly waited in the chill wind for 25 minutes cursing that I'd failed to understand the on-line timetable's many detailed instructions and...times. When the bus finally came my card worked first time, a bit like the London Oyster and I was issued a ticket and travelled all the way from Torryburn to Dunfermline for free, so now I know how being considered old really feels. Perhaps Jesus did die for something after all.

Tomorrow I'll use the card to nip up to the boolin' club for a pint, the mosque for afternoon prayers and then head out to asda for coffee and donuts, or maybe not.

April Evening

One of those heavy, liquid evenings when all air just stands still. Water turns into a peculiar syrup and the sunlight penetrates every part, every blade of grass (and so on). It's as if the world has just had enough of spinning and without us noticing decided to stop, even if only for a few minutes. Then, silently it all starts up again and we move, noiselessly through the early evening and on into space and towards tomorrow. So after our second (exhausting) walk of the weekend we reflect on the wonderful weakness of being nothing in particular and everything; all at the same time.

Up a hill

Up a hill today and then down again. On a clear day you can see Fife and various other places, that's the strange beauty of being 1500ft above sea level. Of course that's not so high but high enough if that's your limit. 

In other news I gained a discounted entry to a football match as a 60+, felt strangely guilty as if I didn't quite qualify for a £10 ticket, but by my birth date I did. Odd feeling.

Public transport

I'm getting to like this, just a shame that my entitlement card doesn't cover tram trips.

Photo release

NASA have released thousands photos of various things and places seen from space or thereabouts, I don't think I made it.  Today it was Aberdeen and back (via Dundee), fish fingers and broccoli soup all served up with occasional sunshine and raindrops. 

Outwitting a bird

My first day home alone after becoming unemployed. The morning was mainly spent trying to remove an unknown and unseen bird/beast/demon that had become trapped in the kitchen flue. The creature was making a lot of noise, unhappy at being stuck in the dark against it's will no doubt. This task, setting it free, involved taking the flue to bits; fiddly and messy. Once apart I gingerly awaited the flying demon coming at me seeking animal revenge. Of course nothing happened so I went indoors out of the rain and had a cup of tea. Hours later, no noise but no angry bat out of hell either. So I put it all back together. I hope it made a clean escape. Then I got on with the seasonal cleaning of the trampoline. Never a dull moment then...

Well

...that's pretty much sorted. No conflict or problems over what I might choose to eat. Sad to see no mention of sardines however; the unsung heroes and saviours of the human race.

Old codger retires etc.

It's been a busy few days with lot's of over indulgence, general high jinx and some possible bad behaviour. Anyway it's over now and for the time being I'm retired from full time work...we'll see how that goes. As I was too pissed to really do anything or recall much over the weekend I'm very glad that Mr CBQ recorded his version of events, click here.

#unemployed

Now that my (recent / present) working life is over I'm filling my long and idle days wandering around the countryside making friends with farm cats and taking photographs of fields and gates. It helps to pass the time but it's no way to make a living and people tell me it will end in tears. Strangely that's how it all started as I recall. Next thing on the agenda is to sort out my sock drawer for once and for all and perhaps, if I'm in the right mood, discard a few care worn shirts.

A Camera

When you own a camera you are never alone. When you use a camera you capture another world. When you look through the lens of a camera you see what you really see. A camera captures a moment you can't remember. A camera captures a sight you didn't quite see. A camera changes your view. A camera exposes. I tend to use my phone because I'm lazy.

Night Time

Tea in Nandos

Had tea today in a Nandos in Glasgow, mostly chicken, with salad and rice. OK in my book. These pictures are of course entirely irrelevant. Just dead animals artfully rendered and presented so as to illustrate the circle of life etc.

No missed calls

Tuesday, no missed calls: The reason that this blog is slowly sliding downhill into banality and repetition and more repetition is that every time I try to type something a cat comes along and lies on top of my hands. This makes typing, thinking and concentrating very difficult. It also makes my hands itchy as he's a hairy kind of cat. It may simply be bad timing on my part, I may be the root cause, it may be a manifestation of writer's block (some manifestation) or it may all be a complicated delusion. I don't know. Cat don't care either. I do know that I've no real strong desire to take up the piano keyboard, I'll leave that to others. The other theory is that I'm simply eating too much fish and my brain is slowly turning into cod-liver oil. I should also read more...I'm working on that.

Lone Wolf

Making slow but steady progress, currently suffering from some uneven sanding, pyro and staining but the main ironmongery has been chosen, single Seymour Duncan JBH with coil tap and nothing much more. Hence the (stretching things a bit) lone wolf name.

Uncomfortably close

Clearly at some point in the seventies the world of artwork and lettering became very congested with similar over used forms. Maybe there was a limited supply of Letraset and cartoon styles. Strange bedfellows.

We wuz there

Strangely the stars and planets aligned today and allowed DAFC to win the Championship due a) them winning and b) their nearest rivals losing, and it happened in March with many games still to play and even more strangely I was there and saw it happen, first hand. Seeing things first hand is pretty important, you are a witness, part of history and you have a testimony should you ever be asked to share it. If only other things in the wider world were as simple, turns out they are not (you'd never guess). They demand some judgement, perspective, belief (or unbelief) and the ability to see that truth can have many multiplied versions of itself, most of which don't really make any sense at all. This article has been bouncing around on FBook for a while, John Pilger is the author, it sets more questions (in the reader) than it answers and answers questions that you don't really want answered but not necessarily answers anything with the correct (?)  answers. Sometimes you just want to forget the world and live some kind of off-line life.

Dundee daily photo

(Bird's nest) Seen at the top of the stairwell.

Canine design

Just a quick mock up featuring a standard type to dog / wolf head design. Still a bit more to do to fill out the empty spaces but as this body is a heavy relic (that's guitar speak for seen better days) then the overall finish isn't too important.

Pots, pies and procrastination

The pie in question, rather tasty.

Single coil in the soup.

Hard to make out but this is a Tele bridge pickup. 

The backside of a Humbucker gets a hot bath.

Mainly a stay at home working on other things kind of day and I ate a rather nice pie. Most of the afternoon was spent dipping guitar pickups in hot wax to reduce noise; unwanted and unpleasant noise that is. The devices are simply dipped into hot wax for about ten minutes, this fills all the coil and internal spaces with wax and quietens them down and stops the microphone effect. It's known as "potting" pickups. Then it was a busy period with the Dremel and Black and Decker doing some furious sanding outside on the various "reject" guitar bodies I'm working on, now they're all a bit smoother and usable. Then I coated the inner cavities with anti conducting paint just to top them off. The whole assembly process has yet to happen  for these pieces but I'm trying to meet my own KPIs, one of which is that the guitars I produce should work properly. Obvious you may think but not every guitar works like it should.