I took the week of my birthday off and unfortunately had a cold and I hadn't mentioned that I injured my knee a few months ago and have not been able to run and have struggled to walk on some days but I decided that on my birthday, in the morning I would go for a walk for a few hours. It was a beautiful sunny morning and so I went to Stubbings Wood near Tring. I went there on my last birthday and it was a glorious misty morning then so to see it in the late Autumn in sunlight would be a good contrast. My plan was to walk for a couple of hours and then get an early lunch at a cafe in Tring...it didn't work out that way. Here is the account in WhatsApp messages to my wife and daughters.
My Wife:
My eldest daughter:
My youngest daughter:
I eventually made it back to my car at 1.21pm, 2hr and 21 minutes after my planned finish. My phone ran out at around 12.30 so I had no maps to guide me and my legs and feet were hurting, luckily I had bought food and drink with me but I can honestly say, of all the times I have been lost, and they are numerous, this was properly lost. I didn't get my special lunch and time was so tight once I got home, that I didn't have any time to play my new guitar...
That is a Godin Acousticaster, as thin as an electric but with a resonant tone that means it can be played unplugged, as an acoustic but it has a great neck, is cut away, strings bend easily so it is effectively an acoustic electric as well as a semi acoustic. A dream guitar and I am relearning "Reelin' in the Years" as I've not played that in more than 10 years.
Anyway, still feeling fragile and mortal but I am now over 50 and that is an achievement, even if it is luck more than any form of skill! I am seeing the Doctor on Friday morning to try and get my knee sorted (that's how bad it is!) and Christmas is looming large but I am excited about it. I have 2 more gigs lined up before the end of the year, Airbourne and Ginger's birthday bash on 16th Dec with my youngest daughter, my wife and some close friends and I think my wife is seeing Adam Ant on 21st Dec, probably with our youngest.
In so many ways this has been a difficult year, I've struggled with it and seen the death of so many of my heroes but I am ending this year feeling that it hasn't been a bad year, there are those things that hurt, but doesn't every year have those? 2012, a great year but Malachi died in 2012, but his death didn't mean that the other 365 days (leap year) were filled with sorrow. Life goes on and you do often wonder how, but we are resilient beings, we were born to survive and thrive under all conditions. We live in a World of forever starvation, poverty and plague and yet still manage to live out our lives to a reasonable age and relative happiness (in First World Countries). I feel mortal and know that the bulk of my life is behind me, the glory days of youth and the days of being responsible for my children full time, of being in the prime of life. My joints are failing, my eyesight isn't great and years of musical abuse has put paid to my hearing but all those gigs, all those years of a World in constant motion, all the technology that has come into being in my lifetime, all the people I have met and the places I have seen, life is a wonderful thing and I do tend to forget that from time to time. Here's to the next x amount of years and I intend to fully enjoy them!
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