Another 50 mins being chased by imaginary miniature donkeys down the disused railway track with a new source of pain occurring when I inadvertently misjudged a line around a muddy hole and plunged into a nettle patch. I’d actually taken a mental note to myself yesterday to wear come cammie or trackie trousers as the edges of the path had some nasty briars reaching out for the unwary and stinging nettles crowded the route.Doh! Forgot!
I got back to the studio 10 mins ahead of yesterday’s time and the sweat top I wore defo drew some toxins out! I’d weighed myself yesterday and I came in at 18 stone (114 Kilos) which isn’t too bad when you’re 6’5 (1.9m) . My fighting weight is 15.5 stone but at 16 I start to look too thin. Heaviest I ever carried was 20 stone back in the late 80’s and that was because of lack of touring and too much drinking. I’d also just come back North and rediscovered the wonders of pies!
With around 60 shows in 3 months coming at me from September I decided it was better to get back into a regime now and use the festivals this Summer to re-acclimatise myself to stage work. At 56 it’s a lot harder losing the pounds, as some of you know, so I need a concerted effort to burn myself down and I am aiming at 16.5 stones or 105 kilos.
Simone has sent me a list of food stuffs to eat and those to avoid so yesterday I was down at Tescos picking up the fruit and veg for the week and preparing myself for the new kitchen regime. No mashed tatties for a while and pies are definitely off the menu !
Getting out this week into the garden to clear the last of raised beds still crammed with weeds and blown leeks and plant up salads will be positive and with the builders starting on the extension on Monday I’ll have a second job as part time labourer. There’s a lot of concrete to be jacked and lifted and about 10 meters of stone wall to be dismantled and moved. Between that and my enrollment at the gym in Gullane next week there should be enough to get my cardio up and pump a bit of muscle. I’ll be more than happy to get rid of the “man tits” !
The Polish gig is next up in 2 weeks with Barcelona the week after. Steve Vantsis is up next weekend to help me try and put together the tracks for the remasters, dig out the tapes from the vaults and assemble both the 2013 live downloads and find some definitive Fishheads club shows from the library for both download and physical releases.
It’s been relatively quiet in the last few weeks as the World Cup seems to have grabbed everyone’s imagination and as my German and Dutch promo teams told me there’s no point in attempting anything until it’s over in late July. I just have to put the pieces in place so I can activate them when the time comes.
There’s a lot going on in the background just now and both Calum Malcolm and Mark Wilkinson are setting up their own diaries to find time to work on the re releases and re masters of the catalogue.
All going to plan on all levels I’ll hopefully be cycling down to North Berwick in the next few weeks and most probably getting the train back to Longniddry for a return up the old railway track home.
That run over the Garleton hills is a killer and there’s loads of wee donkeys on that route!
Anyway off for a shower and watch some footy with a spot of gardening before the German game. No doubt I’ll be skyping my lady and my daughter in Dubai later hopefully with big victory smiles!
After watching and hearing from my English friends and recognising that pain and woe that us Scots got used to years ago I quite enjoy being a relative neutral!
The one thing that bothers me is the big footy question that hasn’t been dealt with yet.
Who the hell is the next Hibs manager? We’re supposed to start training on Monday and we don’t even have a bleeding team!! ;-0
