Projects to see me through winter lockdown

 Today is Blue Monday, supposedly the most depressing day of the year. And this year surely has to be one of the most depressing on the record. Coronavirus is frightening. Lockdown is boring. The weather is generally dull and dismal - apart from a few rare days, we haven't had beautiful sunny frosty mornings, or even snow which would be exciting, and no problem as we're stuck at home - and spring seems a long way off. But even stuck at home I can decide to live a little differently.

I usually start the year with a list of resolutions, what I would like to achieve in the coming months but they often tend to be vague concepts rather than concrete plans. This year I feel I need something a little more specific than 'do art' or 'get fit', and I need something to do now, not when summer comes round. 

So I've replaced 'eat healthier' with 'join in Veganuary'. The rules are simple - avoid meat and dairy - and there's a finite length to it. Meals take more planning, to avoid pumpkin chili everyday, and longer to cook, which is good as it fills the day. 

It's probably not much healthier though, despite the soups for lunch, because there's no limit on sugar, and experimenting with vegan cake recipes is a good way to spend a damp afternoon.

As a sort of follow on to this I've decided, later than everyone else of course, to set up a sour dough culture. Two days in it isn't looking great, but there's time yet, and importantly it adds another thing which must be done each day*.

'Get fitter' has been replaced by 'up the step count'. There was a dreadful point towards the end of the first lockdown when I realised I was hardly taking more than a thousand steps a day! I don't want to fall into this laziness again. The weather isn't appealing for getting out and about right now, though I have some nice new 'sale' boots to wear, and my average step count has been dropping, but I can always add in a few minutes of zumba-style antics during the day, or just walk up and down the hallway for 250 steps every hour when prompted. 

Christmas marked a point where a lot of my knitting and sewing projects were finished, so after a week or so of laziness I've settled on what next. First a pair of gloves from Christmas present yarn, then a hat or scarf to match. 

Alongside, as knitting is an evening occupation, a skirt renovation, turning long and full, into shorter and somewhat tighter to wear with leggings. Another of my Christmas presents was a scarf-dying kit, but that's going to wait for milder weather as I think I'll do the messiest bits outside. And for later on in Spring, I've a grow-your-own-snowman-pumpkin' kit to start growing. 

I knit mostly while watching TV so, looking for a lengthy challenge, I've started rewatching Better Call Saul. That's a lot of episodes so should last for a few weeks. And then I'll follow it with Breaking Bad. The two don't quite join up yet, but they almost do. And for something more cheerful, I'm going to watch Frasier re-runs, if I can find it streaming somewhere.

For dark afternoons, I've taken up an old winter pastime - playing on the Wii, specifically Lego Lord of the Rings. Again, it takes a while, especially if the known bug (collecting things in the wrong order in the Weathertop section) kicks in and I have to start back at the beginning. When the days start to get longer, I'll probably abandon the little hobbits on their way to Mount Doom and sit out in the garden but fro now it fills a dead space in the day.

Hopefully by the end of lockdown I'll be able to put a 'completed' tick against most of the items on my list, but till then they'll keep me occupied.

Above all I want to be positive in my outlook on life.

*the sourdough DID get going and has turned out brilliantly. 

Getting fit - bit by bit

For quite a while I've been talking about getting fitter - not getting thin, or running marathons or even the couch to 5km challenge, but just being able to go out for longer walks without feeling exhausted by the end. With this in mind I'd been talking about methods of tracking how far I'd walked, and for my birthday eldest daughter bought me a Fitbit - a basic version without the all-singing/dancing gimmicks of the more advanced ones but it does everything I need it to.

The first challenge was getting it set up! It wasn't the Fitbit's fault but my phone is so short of memory that it couldn't cope - something inside it gave up completely and I lost internet connection for days. Then I tried to sync with my pc - oops, no bluetooth connection.

I'm in the process of moving everything to a new pc, so I tried that - still no luck.

At this point I went away and ate my birthday chocolates

Eventually we've rigged up a bizarre communication method, whereby the Fitbit links to my husband's phone, then to my new pc. 

And then I had to try some exercise!

I quickly found there are several oddities about the exercise tracking. Knitting for example registers as steps (possibly due to moving both hands). Ironing doesn't, even though I'm standing up. Same for gigs unless I move around A LOT. One evening, it decided I'd been asleep when I was actually chatting on social media. I figure it's give or take accurate enough to give me an idea of roughly how much exercise I'm taking each day.

So, the big question, how many steps DO I take?

Well, I started with the daily goal set quite low - 3000 steps - and soon realised that I reach this most days (unless it's raining). So I upped that a bit to 5000, but a walk round a supermarket (don't rest you hand on the trolley or the steps won't be counted) can reach that, and with the fine weather, I've been out walking a lot. I don't want to feel any pressure though on the stay-at-home days, so, as the Fitbit has four flashing lights to mark my progress, I've settled for now on 6000 steps as a target. A slow day will only see two of those light shining, but that's ok with me, and if I go way beyond the target I can find out by how much by checking the pc. 

I'm not sure if it's encouraging me to take more exercise - I don't have the hourly prompts set, as I refuse to be nagged by a fancy wristband, or have it checking my sleep patterns, as I think I sleep soundly most night and don't want to learn otherwise. Anyway, both seem beside the point. I want to monitor how much I'm walking, to get back to a state of fitness where I'm confident I can walk 5 or so miles, and for that the Fitbit seems to be working.

Running away from zombies

I've been talking for a while about taking more exercise and getting fitter, but, despite it being one of my New Year's Resolutions, I haven't really done anything about it in an organised manner. OK, for a while I regularly did 10-15 minutes of zumba in the evening, but then the days grew longer, the curtains didn't need shutting and I stopped, rather than have passers-by staring at me. Over summer there's always gardening to be done, and I think with my stay-cation outings I went out walking more than usual, so I think I'm at least maintaining my level of activity. 

As middle, if not old, age creeps up on me, though, I'm not sure if this is enough. 

And, something you should always take into consideration, what about the zombie apocalypse? 

Please don't say you've never thought about it! 

Doing a Buzzfeed quiz I always know the best way to survive the sudden appearance of zombie hoards on the streets ... but always fall down on one important question - Can you run a mile? Oops! I can't even run 100 yards these days. The zombies would catch me every time. 

So, with that in mind, I've taken up running. 

I shan't be joining my husband and his mates at their running club (to be honest, I don't think they'd approve of my motivation, or indeed my running kit pictured above) but my youngest daughter is currently training for her first marathon, and when she came in from a short run last weekend I asked if she'd be happy to go out again with me. 

So we did. 

Incredibly slowly.

Not my decision I hasten to say - I'd have run as hard as possible for five yards then collapsed in a heap - but my daughter insists this is the way to do things and as she's gone from non-runner, to half-marathon (and hopefully marathon soon) finisher in little more than a year, I'm taking her advice.

I have three months before the end of the year, six before a milestone birthday, let's see if I can outrun those zombies by then!

----------------------------


And if you're interested, my daughter's running Leicester Marathon this Sunday, raising money for MIND  and you can find her Just Giving page here. 

Splashing out on new camping equipment

Last week we got the tent out for a practice run before going away for the weekend, and realised it was time to go out and actually buy the extra gear we'd been promising ourselves. Last year we managed with an inflatable mattress, a sleeping bag and a light, but now it's time to splash out - and fortunately a lot of camping/outdoors stores have sales on.

So here it is, well most of it, in all its glory

a water carrier (Decathlon) so we can have a handy supply (mainly for the dog)

a waterproof picnic rug (Halfords sale) to act as a sort of carpet in the outer living area - we also picked up a mallet to knock pegs in, and a thing to pull them back out from the same place

two chairs;  space in the car is the major issue here - some really comfy chairs I saw elsewhere would actually take up more space collapsed than the tent does, so we picked the absolute basic version from Blacks (again in a sale)

and twinkly lights, an essential to mark our tent from others, and hopefully show where the guy ropes are. I was surprised to not find ANY in camping stores and I ended up at Wilkos!

I'm also going to take a pop-up bin which youngest daughter received in a freshers' week gift pack  but has never used.

And that's it! 

Camping at its most minimal.

You've probably spotted the lack of cooking/washing equipment - well, we're heading to Curious Arts Festival where the food is great, and the showers are warm, so there's no real need. Maybe if we ever take up 'proper' camping we'll have to re-think, but for now it's unnecessary clutter.

A School Reunion with David Bowie and Bob the Builder

On Sunday evening I went out to see a new (to me) band, Rebel Rebel, at a new venue, NEM (Nothing Else Matters) in Heanor, and it was interestingly outside of my gig comfort-zone for a few reasons.
Firstly, anyone who knows me will know I'm not a fan of bands who solely play 'covers', so a Bowie tribute act doesn't seem like my obvious choice of entertainment; secondly, although obviously I know his music, I'm not particularly a Bowie fan; and lastly, I'm generally not a fan of the 'school reunion' (we've all seen Grosse Pointe Blank), and the band and audience were mainly old school mates from way back when!

I heard about the event in the bizarre way of social media from a friend who now lives in New Zealand, but is more in touch with folk from our old school than I am, and, in the spirit of embracing whatever weirdness comes my way, I went along and really enjoyed it.

I've always had this theory that school reunions are about reminiscing over the good/bad old days, and trying to prove you're doing better than everyone else now, (which is what puts me off the whole idea of reunions) but with loud music playing in a small space there's not a lot of opportunity for either.
As it was, the band were great, "Bowie" really got into the mood with some quick costume changes, and the whole thing was quite fun, although to be honest I'm not sure I recognised many folk from school.

Much fun being had by all :)

And Bob the Builder? ... well, one of those old school friends is actually quite famous - not Bob himself, but the writer of the theme song. Sadly, he was also one of the many people I didn't recognise but maybe I'll get to say Hi another time.

Skinny Lister - Rescue Rooms

I've already mentioned in passing my night out at Skinny Lister's Nottingham gig, but it was such amazing fun that I thought it was worth a bigger write up - and more pics.

I may be getting grown-up at last but I'm refusing to go gently into old age, and in eighteen  months I've gone from NEVER going to any kind of music event, to taking every opportunity I can, so when my youngest offered tickets for this gig as a birthday present I jumped at the offer. 

I've been listening to Skinny Lister's unique brand of shanty/rock for a year or so now, and, almost unbelievably, this is the third time I've seen them live (first at Curious Arts Festival, then at Nottingham's Bodega) and each time the crowd is bigger and more enthusiastic. 

What I love about their shows is that they feel like a big party. Everyone, from the teens bouncing about down at the front to the older folk clapping along more sedately, is caught up in the music, singing along, and having a fantastic time.

Lorna crowd-surfing

I was trying the other day to describe Skinny Lister's sound to someone who feels all modern music is either 'boy band' or 'dance anthems'. 

Tricky. 

It's not 'rock' or 'pop'. To call it toe-tapping, foot stomping music makes it sound like country barn dance music, which it's definitely not. Yes, you can still spot the folk music roots to their songs - whether loud, boisterous sea-shanty style songs or quieter ballads - but it's high energy, punk rock folk.

Whatever, I love it. 

So, I sang and stomped and bounced my way through their 90 minute set - and then comes the sad bit when I have to admit my age. Cramp waking me overnight. Aching legs the next day. 

But I'm not giving up ... I'm going to get fitter, and next time they're back in town, I'll be there to join in.

Busy, busy week

Ok, busy, busy week might be over-exaggerating just a little but two nights out together is quite excitement enough for me!
First on Tuesday I headed off to the Nottingham Waterstones store to see fantasy author Robin Hobb at a packed event to publicise the launch of the latest, and last, book in her long-running Fitz and the Fool series - for something that started as a scribbled note while she was in the middle of writing another book, it's come a long way.

Ayres at The Hop Merchant

Then on Wednesday there was even more excitement...
Not long after I saw Skinny Lister last autumn, my teen bought me an early birthday present of a ticket to their next gig back in Nottingham  - well, actually two tickets and she was going too.  As the date grew closer my excitement was mounting. Then last week she realised she'd booked herself a (much smaller) gig at the Hop Merchant pub in Nottingham for the same night. Fortunately, the times didn't clash. She'd have to dash straight off after her set, and we'd miss the supporting act at Rescue Rooms, neither of which are best etiquette, but it was do-able.
So, an early, hurried dinner, a traffic-problem free trip to Nottingham, and on to my teen's half-hour slot.



Then a quick dash across town for her to take her guitar back to the car, while I strolled the short distance to the Rescue Rooms - and on to the main act of the evening, Skinny Lister and their hand-clapping, toe-tapping sea-shanty style rock.








Unbelievably, it's the third time I've seen Skinny Lister play in ten months. Six months ago I hadn't been to a gig larger than anything held in the back or upper room of a pub - and I can't quite believe how my 'habits' have changed.

A hectic evening, but a great one, and this is definitely now the 'new me'. Overnight my legs cramped up from so much jigging about, the next day I had aches everywhere, but I'm already looking for the next date Skinny Lister will be back in town!

Back at Chameleon - Lewis Fieldhouse and Dave Giles

Lewis Fieldhouse

It was back to the good old Chameleon Arts Cafe last week to catch the Nottingham leg of Lewis Fieldhouse and Dave Giles' "Pay What You Want" tour. (It shows how my habits have changed to even start to think of going BACK to a venue)

It was an unusual gig in a couple of ways - firstly ticket prices. Entry was (as you might guess from the tour's name) 'pay what you want', so you could pay £10/20/more for a ticket, pay less with maybe the intention of buying a cd, or if you were short of cash this week, or could only drop in for an hour, you could get in for as little as, well, nothing. It seems to be 'all win' for the punter - it's as cheap as going to a pub open mic and the music's better. For the guys on tour though it seems a bit risky - after all they've put money up front to pay for venue hire, travelling and lodgings, and might not recoup those costs. I suppose the hope is that whereas as tickets at, say, a tenner might put folk off going to see two musicians they've never heard of, people can go along for free, listen to the music and either add to the donation bucket, or buy cds and merch. It's a gamble, and I'd love to know how often it pays off, but it doesn't seem polite to ask!

Dave Giles

Second unusual thing?  Instead of the regular 'headliner plus supports' set-up, the two guys were sharing the honours evenly. So there was no local (relatively) unknown to start the evening but straight into music from the guys you've gone along to see; a 30 minute set from Lewis Fieldhouse, followed by same length by Dave Giles, and after a short break they both came back with 40 minutes sets each. Again, it seems a win win situation for the punter - it gives the audience more time to get a feel for each performer's music, or if you can only get along for part of the evening you're still likely to catch one set from the musician you wanted to see.

We thoroughly enjoyed the evening (though some heating in the room wold have been nice). Both artists fall into the singer/songwriter, one man and his guitar, though with different styles of music. I'm hopeless at trying to describe music in any meaningful way so go and listen to them both on Spotify or Bandcamp or whatever; I shall be doing!

Here we go again ... off out gigging

As December Falls

I've had rather a long Christmas break with NO going out, so here we are almost through January and only on the first gig of the year - though when you consider that this time last year I barely went to gigs, that sentence alone shows how much my life has changed!
Anyway, on Saturday evening I went to Nottingham to see a young local rock band - As December Falls - playing their biggest gig to date, at the Rescue Rooms. I've been listening to them on Spotify and such for a while (they've got rather a Paramore sort of sound, if you want to check them out), but never had the chance to see them live before.

There were four support acts but we only arrived in time to see the last one - Hello Tomorrow with a half hour set. They've an interesting sound and are another band I'll be checking out again.

Hello Tomorrow

And I had to treat myself to some merch. Although it will get worn before, I think this will make a brilliant Christmas t-shirt for next December!

Resolutions 2017

Following the success of last year, I'm becoming more convinced of the power of making resolutions. Somehow because I've written them down, and declared to the world what I intend to (at least) try and achieve, I feel more committed to actually doing something.
Another thing which helped last year was going back to the original post, checking my intentions, and seeing how far I'd succeeded, or not. Also if there was something I hadn't started before, say, March, I didn't abandon all hope but tried again.


Anyway, on to this year ...

I can't claim they ALL shrank
in the wash!

First up this year has got to be get fitter and thinner. After last December's Frank Turner gig my legs ached for days due to all the jigging about. Walking round Shipley Park recently, I felt decidedly unfit, puffing and panting up the hills, and even on the flat couldn't keep pace with the teen. So I need to do something positive about it. Also, as a financial incentive, I have a wardrobe full of too tight clothes waiting to be worn once I shift some pounds, so although my main aim is to be fitter, thinner will be an added bonus. This is a resolution I've already started on - at first I said I'd join in with a couple of zumba sessions a week with my teen, but despite how exhausting I found the first 5 minute one, I'm now doing some every day. I haven't lost weight yet but do feel lighter on my feet. So far, so good ...

Re-discovering myself - Over the past few years I've let a lot of things drift. I used to spend a lot of time gardening, knitting, making clothes, pottering (not very seriously) at painting and textile arts, or trying other crafts from lace-making to tie-dying, but somehow I've let all of them slip. This year I intend to get my old habits back. So ...
                 

- Gardening and growing - I've always been a keen gardener, growing both flowers and vegetables at home, but since we've had an allotment I think I've come to see it as more of a chore than a pleasure. This year I want to make more effort with the garden - grow some new flowers from seed, make the veg patch productive again, and, as a side effect, spend more time outside.

                     - Knitting and sewing - again, hobbies that I want to take up again. I have lots of wool stashed away in cupboards and drawers, so ought to be able to find some to knit up! Before Christmas I went out and bought some cord material ready to make a new winter skirt in a style I liked - so it's actually time I got on with it.

                     - I also want to find time to explore more 'arty' things. Early last year I spotted Sarah Salway's A Year of Artists Dates - in which she was taking an hour out each week to do something art related - and this is more or less what I want to do. I'm not quite sure how or when though.

Moving in a different direction - just before Christmas I started an on-line language course, well, two actually - Welsh and Swedish. This was about the time that Swedish thriller Modus was on TV, and I was so impressed with being able to recognise some of words that my aspirations have grown. I've now added Danish to my list, with the hope of being able to partly follow both sides of conversations when The Bridge returns.

I intend keeping up last year's resolutions - de-cluttering the spare room went so well that I want to tackle the whole house, but more importantly I want to carry on exploring new things and building a social life of my own - yes, that probably means more nights out at gigs!

In between all this, I'd like some down-time for me. There's no set timetable to my days, and so late breakfasts run into long lunches and straight into early evenings. I seem to always be doing something, but at the end of the day it's hard to see what it was. I want to be organised, get household chores done, spend time on more creative projects, and then have time to sit and think or relax in the sun (when it arrives).

Highlights of 2016 - What a Weird and Wonderful Year!

Any year has its ups and downs, and this year certainly hasn't been without the 'downs', but for me it's also been a year filled with new, exciting things. 

One of my resolutions last January, among all the mundane stuff, was to 'get a life' - interests, movies and music of my own, not just 'borrowed' from my children - and it's taken me to some strange places. 

I've been to more pubs this last twelve months than in the previous twelve years.

 I went camping, and it was much more fun than I expected.

 I watched my Breaking Bad box set on my own, because the rest of the family weren't interested, and I loved it.

SJ Watson and Renee Knight at Curious Arts

Billy Bragg at Curious Arts

I went to my first festival, Curious Arts at Pylewell Park, where over two days I caught half a dozen full author events and dropped in for a few minutes on more, then listened to great music at night.

Skinny Lister soundcheck at Curious Arts

Before this year I hardly seen any live music. This year I've seen over thirty musicians  at various venues, starting with Thom Worth and Tim OT in a Beeston pub in February and ending with Dave Giles in Burton just before Christmas. In between I've seen Lancaster singer/songwriter Joe McCorriston FIVE times (because he's always on tour), Elly Rose, Skinny Lister and Billy Bragg at Curious Arts, Skinny Lister again at Nottingham's Bodega and (sorry everyone else, but this has to be the highlight) Frank Turner's sold out show at Nottingham's Rock City. This time last year, I could barely imagine doing any of this and certainly believed I was too old, but it's been amazing.

Frank Turner at Rock City

I went to the Lara Croft 20th Birthday exhibition at Derby Quad, played with ancient and state of the art games, and discussed gaming techniques and Lara Croft's evolution with an actual professional gamer (!) 

I learned how to drive again - I hadn't actually forgotten but I haven't driven for years and had got out of the habit. Now I'm back to a certain level of confidence on the road, and can happily fetch the teen from the train station or where-ever.

I've met lots of new people through offering a bed/floor to touring musicians. Throughout last year, starting with the people I'd met through my teen's promotions, and expanding through friends of friends, I had folk dropping by to spend the night on a dodgy inflatable bed or a pile of sofa cushions; some visit once, some have become like extended family, and particularly notable was the night a band was let down by their promoter and, being desperate for somewhere (anywhere) to stay, drove up from Southampton and turned up at 4am!

In between all this I went to bookish events - author talks, the launch for Alison Moore's Death and the Seaside, a forum on the future of independent publishing - gardens, theatres, Sotheby's annual sculpture exhibition at Chatsworth ...  

and followed my teen's adventures - heard her on the radio, seen her on TV, watched her play in pubs and clubs, and, possibly the weirdest half hour of the year, saw her sharing a political platform with Jeremy Corbyn.

Looking back, it seems to have been an extraordinary year. I'm not sure how 2017 can improve on it but I'm hoping it will.

Big Gig - Frank Turner at Rock City

Way back in January when my teen heard about my resolution of 'getting a new life' she thought my ideas would be a bit too tame. It was all very well to head off to the pub and listen to new music, but she thought I should stretch my boundaries a little further to include a 'big gig' - with a well-known performer who I couldn't casually approach and chat to afterwards, and at a venue large enough that I'd be lost in the crowd. 

Well, last Friday I got my chance, as Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls were headlining at Nottingham's Rock City. Now among the bands and musicians that I'd consider going along to see, Frank Turner is the biggest, the most popular, the star. He's huge! Next week he'll be playing another show in Nottingham, an anniversary party as it's his 2000th gig. But he's a bit of a 'marmite' performer - if you don't know who he is, I could talk all night and you'd still never know; if you do, well I don't need to say more!
So I was delighted when the teen agreed that I could go along with her - on the usual proviso that I could be left somewhere safely at the back while she had fun.
In the event, the 'challenge' proved a little more tasking, as she didn't feel well enough to come along, so I ended up taking my other half instead. Now, bear in mind that neither of us has ever been to an event like this before, I didn't even know where the venue was, that I've had doubts before about feeling too old for such events and was fully expecting to stick out like a sore thumb, and you'll see how daunting it seemed.

As it turned out, everything went like clockwork, and it was the most fun EVER!

Timings for the evening were early so we had no hope of getting there to catch the earlier acts, and the place was jammed full when we arrived ... but, by luck rather than judgement, I found a gap just behind the sound booth with a clear view of the stage over the heads of the youngsters in the mosh pit. Staying further back put us in with a slightly older crowd and when Frank came out on stage, started singing 'I Knew Prufrock Before He got Famous' and I joined in, I almost wished I'd been down in the noisy pit!

I'm not quite the die-hard fan that some are but I knew the words to most of the songs, and sang, clapped and jigged my way through the two hour set. It was great to hear Frank give a shout out to the Safe Gigs For Women initiative part way through his set, and not even having beer spilled down me by an overenthusiastic dancer could put a dampener (lol) on my mood.
Even hubby had a good time, though he's less enthusiastic that I am to repeat the experience. 

Through social media I know someone who is going to four concerts of this tour. It seemed a strange, unnecessary thing when I first heard about it - after all, it's going to be more or less the same each night, surely? But now I understand. 

Something that can't be appreciated on cd or vinyl, is just how great a showman Frank Turner is, whether dancing and jumping about the stage, talking to the crowd, or encouraging them to outperform other audiences. There's the most incredible buzz, a feeling that everyone in the audience is not just watching, but actively taking part in the show. It turns out I'm not too old for this at all, so I'll be back, on my own if necessary - and if anyone reading this has tickets they don't want for Frank's special 2000th gig back at Rock City next week, well, you know where to find me.

Just going to add an edit, that my teen would never forgive me if I went along next week. She has tickets to go with her mates, and mum being along, even far away in the crowd, would cramp her style.

A 'proper' gig - Skinny Lister at Bodega, Nottingham

I saw Skinny Lister for the first time at Curious Arts Festival this summer, and absolutely loved them and their strange mix of rock and sea shanties that had everyone there toe-tapping and jigging along. Ever since then I've wanted to catch them again - in fact almost straight away I checked to see where and when they might be on tour, and, yes! they were coming to Bodega in Nottingham, promoting their new album The Devil, the Heart & the Fight but, oh so sadly, tickets were already sold out. Fortunately, in these days of social media, that's not the end of the world, and at the last minute I (or at least my teen acting for me) struck lucky as someone had two spare tickets.

With apologies to the other guys I've seen performing here and there, this was really my first 'proper' gig, and I was getting mixed feelings of being excited but nervy. This, of course, is the point at which I begin to wonder how stupid this whole idea is - aren't I really too old for this sort of thing? I've whittled about this before, pulled out of plans at the last minute and I'd made up my mind that in future I wouldn't use my age as an excuse, but bite the bullet and GO! 

My teen seemed less worried by my age, and more that I would talk to strangers; probably about knitting or something. Perhaps with that thought in mind, she abandoned me as soon as we entered the venue - she tried to get down near the front, while I went up to a slightly raised area from where I think I got a better view of the band, but possibly at the expense of feeling a little out of the thick of things. Even so, I stamped and clapped my way through the evening, and I couldn't have helped support a guy crowd-surfing with a double bass anyway! 

going for a ride with the bass

It was such a wonderful evening! 

Skinny Lister were as great as I'd remembered, full of enthusiasm and energy, though on this smaller stage there was less space for dancing, and a risk that one of them might get punched by the accordion or a flying elbow. I love that their music is almost impossible to sit still to, and leaves me with a huge grin on my face.

And I certainly wasn't the oldest there!

Something I haven't got round to yet though is buying one of their cds. 

At Curious Arts, I'd left my money in the tent; last week I took my money along but was put off by the crowds flocking round the merch table after the gig. 

Still, it just means I'll have to see them again ...