Where we're at......

A restarted blog needs a little background info to establish where things are at this point in time (November 2024) and what's happened in the last few years.

2020 saw the beginning of some of the biggest changes I've experienced in my life. As with so many people around the world, COVID-19 reshaped the way life had to be lived, but it was also the year my mother passed away, almost 14 years to the day that my father died back in 2006. The impact of her death was both profound and significant, triggering an awful period of mental health illness and some pretty seismic life changes. Professional achievements happened, old relationships ended, a new relationship began, a serious illness occurred that created a defining shift in my way of thinking and living, remarrying for the second time and a life-altering decision that  caused a radical change of direction resulting in my wife and I relocating to Scotland in July of 2024.

Much of what I did and who I was has now changed beyond recognition. Music is taking something of a significant breather in my life, a decision made soon after we relocated to Scotland, probably not a permanent thing, but for now, it's a bit of a closed chapter. Our new life in Scotland has awoken me to new experiences and adventures that I never dared dream were possible, such as hill-walking, waterfall hunting and sleeping under the stars, all of which with a camera in my hand.

Professionally, I now enjoy a job and work life that is both satisfying and rewarding on so many levels. As a professionally qualified and accredited embalmer, each day brings new opportunities to help those who have lost loved ones. This is a profession that I genuinely wish I had discovered 30 years ago. And that is most likely the last I will say about what I do for a living, that part of my life isn't really what this blog is intended to be about.

So, as I said in the first posty bloggy thing, new life, new country, new job, new home, new wife and that's just for starters. The more serious bits needed to start this bloggy thing are now said and done, moving on from all that, things are all about a life to be lived, creating new memories, experiencing all the wonderful things our new home country has to offer and recording what we can of our adventures with our cameras.

To quote Jean Luc-Picard:

"Let's see what's out there!!!"

The long and the short that'll probably be more long than short, but you never know......

 And here we go......

I've had this bloggy spotty thing for quite a lot of years now.

At one time, it was regularly updated with all my rants, raves and everything in between.

It was predominantly about my musical misadventures, sometimes about my photography and often laced with my opinion on something.

Then I stopped and deleted the lot in a bid to escape the burgeoning and depressive virtual life.

It's worked for quite a while now. My social media activity these days is bordering on non-existent, preferring Instagram (I know, same meat, different gravy) to Facebook, no Tik-Tok, Snapchat etc. etc. etc. and enjoying the freedom of mind that comes from relinquishing the hitherto unexplained, self-inflicted psychological demands of the Internet.

I post on Instagram with some regularity to document for myself some of what goes on in my life. So for me, it's currently acting as something of a personal journal, a timeline of how my life has been going. This is then automatically ported over to Facebook. I do this as I have made acquaintances with a number of people over the years who've shown active interest in what I get up to or who I know personally, be it through work, music or photography. And it's way to keep some measure of contact with friends and family since relocating to another country (more of that in a bit).

I'm now in a position where the dust of the last few years is finally showing signs of settling, which in turn is allowing me a little more time for life, the universe and living in another country.

Yeah, that.

Amongst many other changes, I now live and work in Scotland. My wife Ebony (yes, I've remarried) and I made the move four months ago (July 2024) from Norwich in the East Anglian county of Norfolk, to a village just outside Kilmarnock in East Ayrshire, Scotland. So far, it's bloody great and we're loving it.

And, in part, that's kind of where this bloggy-spotty-posty-webby-loggy thing is now coming in. Living and working in this country has opened a new word of adventures and experiences for us, and I feel that writing a blog is the best way for me to document all the things we get up to. We did seriously consider setting up a YouTube channel about our adventures, but alas, the time and effort needed to maintain that, as well as holding down busy jobs that fund these adventures, are simply too much and we would struggle to create the kind of content that would be needed.

So let's see how long this lasts for, I'm a notorious non-finisher, easily distracted by the things that life has to offer.

The bets are on!!!

Right, I'm back......again

Okay, okay, calm yourselves.

Yep, going for another attempt at maintaining a weblog, not really sure how long it'll last, but hey, you have to give these things a go every once in a while.

Way too much has changed, or is now different. New life, new country, new job, new home, new wife and that's just for starters.

Abridged details probably in the next posty thingy.

This one is all about the big shout that this blog is back up and running.

You have been warned.

Now, let's see if anyone or anything notices......