Monday again, not quite prepared for that.
I'm tired and hungry alot but that's biology...Friday, down the pub met Nevla and his very entertaining friends, that was rather good.
Saturday morning to the shops, saturday afternoon to Little Downham to meet a recording studio and rehearsal studio genius, has made 55 studios so far and is really interested on working on mine. We are off to the warehouse this week to have a good look.
Saturday night with Tobs parents to a quizz at a local school, we came 2nd from bottom but we did get to make our announcement...Sunday, finished the Half Blood Prince, Fabulous and very moving. Tob's parents came round with a big beautiful bunch of flowers (re announcement previous day) All I could think about was will I finish Harry Potter in time for rowing. Then an hour and a half in an VIII on the Cam up and down the reach. Then hours in the bath reading magazines, then watched Ladies in Lavender and got all teary, then to bed at 11. A really lazy Sunday (apart from the rowing).

Ladies in Lavender 4 stars

A wonderfully gentle film about two sisters living in Cornwall in the 1930s who rescue a ship wrecked Polish young man. It was made by the acting, just beautiful. I got quite emotional and teary at the end.

 

 

Yay

 

Winter League 2

We (Simoco Womens Novice VIII) had our 2nd race of the season. We were 1 whole second faster than our first race, apparently there was more wind so the conditions were worse. I think we did really well, we were really stable and I stayed looking ahead and didn't stress what my blade was doing, just rowed for dear life! 

Fabulous day. Went to the Docks Business Park to

look at a warehouse for the Plug in. It's perfect! It's brand new and empty, the Landlord would fit loos etc out of his pocket but has offered to quote me to fit out the inside with partitioning and a ceiling - I would want every room ventilated as they wouldn't have windows. I've got to draw up a plan this weekend so he can quote me. This place has beams in place to put in a Mezzanine so I'm thinking we leave the 1st floor for a year or so to see how we do and then build the 1st floor to say, put a cafe up stairs and make a studio downstairs for example. The place is ideally situated behind the station and Tescos and is gated with 10 parking spaces and a loading bay so it's absoultley beautiful.

On the business idears follow up course, I met a musician who is very interested and has a bit of money to invest so I'm really chuffed that I've generated possible investment without really even trying yet.

No more news on Chantal's blog yet, I hope she got my flowers. As far as I know she's recovering and enjoying lots of visitors right now.

I'm letting my home made mexican food go down with a bottle of Grolsch then I'm going to watch my new Black Books series 2 and probably a Firefly episode for the perfect end to a perfect day.

The operation was a success!

Having spent the morning worrying and praying, I got an email from Sandra, one of Chantal's friends to say the operation was a success. Shortly after, Marcel posted on her blog to say she'd regained conciousness and the doctor says the entire tumour was successfully removed. I am one happy bunny.

Chantal - a beautiful friend

Chantal's just about to undertake something that not many of us have to go through. An operation on her brain to remove a tumor, they go in through her nose and perform microsurgery to remove a tumour somewhere behind her eyes in her brain. I'm terrified so you can imagine what her and Marcel, her hubby are going through.
When I see this beautiful picture I feel like crying, I hope this operation works and she comes out of it with all the stuff they can possibly put right and do to make it work. She is too amazing to get any less than that.
I love her like a sister and for the first time I've really let myself feel how much she means to me - in other words, I'm crying my heart out.
Chantal, I look forward to hearing all about the operatoin afterwards, is all I can say. I can't think of any other outcomes I want to contemplate. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Primrose Hill

We went up to London to see Ali, Si, Sophie and Martin and their new house. We had fun, stayed over in their magnificent house, had a continental breakfast and then went down to Camden for a wonder around followed by a walk up primrose hill. We did lots of research on boots for Tob's warehouse - what trade boots look like, the cheapo ones and that we are better off with better quality ones.
It was good fun to wonder round Camden, the only thing we found worth buying was a large leather coat for Tob at £180 which of course we don't have right now. It was a good day of looking and not spending any money! 

this was another image I found, i doubt I'll use it but I do like it. I got an email responding to my Valentines day top 3 from bbc6 music. The producer of one of the shows emailed me and has booked me in to the BBC radio thing in cambridge to record me talking about my three tracks. As I now have to go to London for Landmark on Monday, I'm going to ring her and ask if it would be possible to do the recording in London. Then again, thinking about it from a business point of view, I might pick up something useful in Cambridge for when I need to be getting publicity for the plug in. Decisions, decisions... I've always wanted to go the bbc in London, what do I choose?
My records were:
the get it on track: Gay Bar - Electric Six - Well, we are a funny couple... When this was on the radio and telly all the time, we would jump up and start posing and gesticulating whilst singing along. By rights this should have been the first dance at our wedding, we plumped for frank sinatra in the end...
The our song track: Small - Lamb It's about going up a hill and looking out over the city and realising that you are entirely small and insignificant, utimatley leaving me with a sense of how free and lucky I am. For me it illustrates how to have it all, you need to give it all away. Tob and I when we first met took a good half year before we were officially a couple despite the intensity of feelings from both sides. I was scared of loosing my independance and survival skills, Tob was scared of letting me down and not being good enough. In order to love each other we both had to let go of our fears and put our humanity into perspective.
The breaking up/heart break track: The Saxophone Song - Kate Bush. The kick inside has seen me through my parents splitting up, adolescence and countless break ups. The thing that takes me through it all is music, music is my first love and the Sax was how I chose to express that. Whether alone or in love, music will be there to love. 

ely plug in

good eh? This is the image I've bought for $5 from an official site where you can buy images for marketing so long as you dont sell it on a t-shirt etc. It's going on my business cards which I've ordered. Very nice.
I've sent umteen letters to organisations, companies and, yes DB's in Utrecht as part of my reaching out and talking to anyone and everyone who might have anything to contribute.
I went rowing thismorning, knakered we were. This week was ovulation week so you can guess why :) Rowing was good, I was grumpy and kack handed but learnt quite a bit.
This afternoon I went in a car wash (in a car) for the first time in my life, me and tobe (who has done this a fair few times) were like a couple of kids! giggling and screaming as the brushes swallowed the car like a giant sea monster. It's the little things eh..
We then did a little tour of the industrial estates in and around ely and got some phone numbers from the to let signs. I'd like it to be on the industrial estate down behind Tescos ideally cos that's not to far from town or the train station.
I had a good look on DB's site, they have moved out of town now and have a veritable world of 17 studios, venues, studios etc. I don't think this is appropriate in Ely but the fact that they went from 10 on to that. I think 10 in Ely will work well and then I branch out to other towns. Tomorrow I visit my first warehouse... 

fat spiders

While I was looking for marketing material for the rehearsal studio, I came across this. I was, incase you are wondering, considering calling it Phatt Spiders, but after our whistle stop marketing course on Tuesday and Thursday of this week have gone for Ely Plug In. I like plug in, it's nice and simple. I might still use phatt spiders for our overall name, a sort of business entity. We shall see. 

Shaun of the dead 3 stars

About what I expected, a few laugh out loud moments, mostly to do with how sad but funny we english are. A bit of a laugh but not brilliant, not particularly a classic what ever they might say. I don't think I could be bothered to watch it again should the opportunity arise.