What to tell?...

So as I look back at the little pocket of time between January and now, what is there to tell? Work ticks along, with it's own peaks and troughs of satisfaction and stress, but a generally pleasant time. My inability to get down to writing any decent songs frustrates, especially when there are moments, often late at night with my acoustic guitar on my knee, that I actually do stumble across something that works... but alas it is never written down and is forgotten by the next morning.

I found myself in Edinburgh a few weeks ago, for the record (and in case I ever try to convince any of you) it does not take 6.5 hours to drive to Edinburgh from Wiltshire, especially on a Friday night. Well at least I had the company of a good friend, followed by the company of several good friends on my arrival. I realised just how much I miss all the things that have remained in Edinburgh, especially the church family at Charlotte Chapel.

Maybe if I post more often, then I'll have more to write about, for the moment why not read my brother's blog, he writes so much better than I and finds himself in a situation with so many interesting things to write about.

The Rock and Roll Lifestyle...

As soon as the wave of Christmas had started to subside, I found myself driving a rather overloaded car to North Wales, with the tingle of anticipation evident in all three of us. After a stop to buy the essentials (drum sticks, strings and picks) we found ourselves amongst the beauty of the Welsh mountains, my brother Jim in the backseat cleaning and restringing the guitars and Rob (who might as well be one of the family) controlling the tunes to get us fired up for what lay ahead.

After a little appehension as to whether the scrap of paper Rob was holding contained sufficient directions to get us there, we ended up in the quirky studio perched on the side of a Hill, and once set up retired to the Mongolian Yurt which would the temporary home for the three of us.

All in all it was a fantastic three days, a great end to 2006.

Jim hitting all the right chords..

It was worth buying those sticks after all...

Rob rocking it up in the control room...

Christmas chez Barne

After my first ever work Christmas lunch (a significant milestone) I found myself travelling back from London late on the 22nd December with precious little time to finish my Christmas shopping. Fortunately the rather unexpectably placed delicatessant in a nearby village saved the day, and Christmas rolled on.

Altogether a lovely family time, the highlight being perhaps the musical crackers. Each one contained a whistle which played a different note, and our hats all had numbers on them. From behind a score sheet, the musically minded among us directed the rabble into our own little carol orchestra.

However the real musical highlight was to come over the next few days....