Travelling fast on a Monday

So here we are at the start of another week.

I was digitising some music over the weekend (I am a shamefully late convert to the ipod and itunes generation) and rediscovered some of the music which has been lurking in boxes in my barn for the last 2 years. If you want to hear an uplifting track to get you going on a Monday morning then check out 'Cold Outside' from the album 'We Travel Fast' by Chungking. It gets a 5 star rating on my itunes page anyway. And so then I search for Chungking and find out that they have gone and released a new album called 'Stay Up Forever' - well it was released last year actually which just goes to show you how out of the loop I am.

Still, it's on my amazon wish list if anyone's interested!

I am about to start work on a new refurbishment project for a client in Turton. They are converting their downstairs into one large open space and have asked me to help them with their plans. This type of work is just up my street (check out http://www.silverlininginteriors.co.uk/) and I've attached one of the design perspectives I have done for them. Enjoy!

Water, water everywhere

Will we ever have a summer? I know this is what happens to you when you get older, but I can't help thinking that the summers in my childhood were long and sunny... and endless. Is it climate change, or is it age change - who knows. I am certain that it's a bit miserable at the moment, still, let's look on the bright side - no sign of a hose pipe ban near me anyway.

Latent ambition

One of the main impacts recently of starting my blog has been a kickstart to my writing ambitions. I have been faffing about for years with the idea of writing a book and regular input into a blog (OK 2 posts hardly counts as regular but is certainly diligent for me) has made me more motivated to commit to the regular discipline of putting something down on paper (or, more accurately, on dongle). I have been doing up my house for nearly two years, with most possessions in storage for over three, and now that the end is in sight, I can start to concentrate on some more abstract objectives and creative writing is right up there.

A very elderly lady called Kathleen Lees passed away last year. She lived in Jacketman's Cottage which is the only other house up our lane. The house has just been sold and we are awaiting the arrival our new neighbours. We befriended Kathleen when we moved in to our house and so remember the Jacketmans when it was full of her personality which was much more significant than her frail 95 year old shell. As she was housebound when she lived there, and now the house is empty, we have come to think of the lane as only leading to our house so things are going to change when Andrew, Michelle and their daughter, who's name I can't remember, move in.

I want to try and find out more about the hamlet of Whittlestone Head too. I know the main road to Blackburn was used as a smuggler's run from Liverpool and Jake, the crazy son of a local scrap merchant, lives in the house that used to be the Toll House along the main road. Still, this is just a snippet, absorbed along with a Bushmills on ice one night in the pub (yes there might only be 9 houses in the hamlet spread across 100 acres of wild moorland, but we do have a great pub). Check it out here - http://www.fatbadgers.co.uk/lancashire.htm

My first blog

Well here I am stepping out rubbing my eyes and blinking into the RGB glare of the virtual blogging sunshine. Yes this is my first post/update/message ... whatever. Just like a novice stepping into an Unreal Tournament arena - I feel a bit vulnerable. Still, let's see what happens from here on in ... and where's that rocket launcher?