Out and about

It's been a sociable few days and very enjoyable as the weather has been beautiful during the day, very sunny and bright, but with a definite nip in the air. We were visited last night by our greatest fan, Gerald had promised to show him the studio and they were tinkering around with sounds much better. Gerald is very good at entertaining people, he can talk for hours, unlike yours truly, I prefer listening.
Today my sister came round and we had a pleasant lunch Al fresco and then went for a short walk in the forest. We even saw a small deer which was unexpected. I can't believe we have lived here for a year already. Yet other times it feels like we have always lived here.
Tomorrow I am being even more sociable and meeting a friend to go to a meditation class, something I haven't been to for ages. Although I meditate at home, I like to go to classes as well, as there is a strong energy and a deep feeling of peacefulness, and most importantly, there are no distractions. So I'm really looking forward to it. I feel that over the last few months, I have neglected myself in a spiritual sense and I would like to look after myself more in that respect.
Will let you know how it goes ..

Pain

After waking up yesterday, I spent most of the day and evening in bed because I had the most excrutiatingly painful migraine. I then went on to sleep for about another ten hours, so maybe it was just my body's way of saying that I needed to rest. All these irregular sleep patterns are no good. Still, I could have done without all that pain and feeling distressed. I need to look after myself more and get some early nights.
Had the strangest dreams last night and I've just remembered that I visited a house that I've been to before, not in real life, but in another dream. How weird, it is giving me a strange sensation of deja vu.
Nyo keeps shrieking and making it impossible for me to do anything without being interrupted, therefore I am going to go and have some breakfast and sit with the dear creature!

Hello from the Cling household, another gorgeous day where the sunshine is streaming into the garden. I can feel the forest calling out to me , inviting me to go running, perhaps I can persuade Gerald to come out on his bike with me. Today is market day on the high street, I normally love to take a wander up there and see all the interesting things on offer. I normally come back with loads of fresh fruit and other little trinkets like candles and incense.
I am reading a book about Africa and something always stirs in my soul when I do such things. I try not to dwell on the past, but I have so many wonderful memories of being there. Plus i got an email from my mum's friend and she was telling us about our little dog and how happy he is in his new home. I felt my heart wrench as I love that little dog so much and it is heartbreaking to know I will probably never see him again. It hurts.
I decided to revamp our bathroom, so I ordered everything I need online and it will be delivered tomorrow, which saves me trawling around the shops. The internet is useful..
Did I mention we are going to do a live radio interview on 1November 2008? We are going to play an unplugged, acoustic version of one of our songs, just to prove that it's not all electronic wizardry. Phoenix Radio is the name, I think it's quite exciting, I've never been on the radio, except in Zimbabwe where you could phone the radio and send dedications to people. the phone lines were always so bad that you had to end up screaming down the phone and there was always this terrible feedback on air, where people used to put the radio too close to their telephones. In the end, you couldn't even enjoy the programme as there was such a cacophony. Oh well anyway ....

The black snake with yellow eyes

Hi everyone, it's a lovely crisp day today, the chill of autumn is definitely in the air. Have just been catching up on everything over the last few days. We needed some photos for our new track Bodiless & Free, this involved me lying in the bath tub, with my bikini on of course, and Gerald had to stand astride on the bath and balance shakily over me to get at the right angle. It was so hilarious, it must have looked really funny, I was in stitches. It's a good job the bath didn't collapse as it would be quite tricky to disentangle us, not to mention the injuries.
The night before last, Gerald was having terrible nightmares and screaming in his sleep, I kept getting a fright as well and having to shake him awake. He said he was being chased by a black snake with yellow eyes, amongst other things. So last when I was driving and I had a sudden excruciating pain in my wrist and couldn't move it, screaming every time I had to change gear, for some reason I kept thinking of the black snake with yellow eyes, like I had been struck by some ancient spell or something. I had to muster all my healing powers just to complete the journey. I recently read a book that was all about voodoo, so my subconscious is making a connection somewhere!
The sunshine is beautiful......

The lantern walk

Hi everyone, the gig was great, the best we ever sounded, could have done with a few more people down there to witness the spectacular performance! Where were you all? Even the sun came out and brightened up what had been a sombre week as far as weather goes. We had some fun and games as well because when we got down there to do a sound check a vital piece of equipment wasn't working, so we came home and debated what to do, Gerald ended up driving to the next town down the road to get a lead for the damn temperamental thing. I say that because when we got back to play, it was just working normally again. Typical.
That night my Mum asked me to go on a lantern walk with her and it was the most amazing thing. It was a walk through the forest at night, but in the forest all the local schoolchildren had made displays and hung them in the trees etc, then they were all lit up with various lights and this turned it into the magic forest. There were ghosts and butterflies, bees and insects, an old pirate's treasure chest, illuminated dinosaur bones, and even a band dressed up as witches and wizards. Of course everyone was carrying an old-fashioned lantern and the way was lit by hundreds of candles in jars. It was the most exhilarating walk I've had in a long time, and believe me if I hadn't been with my Mum I would have thought I was tripping or something. Got back home and I tried to give Gerald a fright, I crept up to the studio window in the darkness, held the lantern up to my face and tried to look as sinister and macabre as possible. He was disappointed that he had not come with us.

Orange butterflies!

Hi everyone, it's showtime again tomorrow. I never really feel nervous until the day. Today I saw a beautiful sight. at the back of our house we have an enormous hedge that is in full flower, I noticed loads of bees buzzing around it and then this afternoon the sun came out and all of a sudden a colony of orange and black butterflies descended upon it, it was one of the most beautiful and inspiring sights that I have seen in a long time. I marvelled at them for ages and took it as a good omen.
So tonight we are just going to take it easy, maybe get a pizza or something and watch a film. Perfect excuse to light a fire as well, with those cosy logs that we bought the other day.
By the way a friend of ours took some photos of our last gig, you can see them on my page.
All you London and Essex folk, don't forget we are playing in Epping tomorrow so come and see us ok??

What a day

Hi everyone, does anyone have a problem with their Facebook page at the moment? Mine is driving me crazy as certain things won't work properly, must have a few bugs on there. I noticed it's raining again, how's anyone supposed to go running, not that I mind getting wet, it's just a bit treacherous. We only have limited time now to rehearse for Saturday and Gerald has just called to inform me that he has been delayed owing to someone messing up an appointment that he had. So things will be a bit rushed when he comes home. Got hardly any sleep as the person across the road had a tree surgeon over and they were feeding chopped branches into a shredder which made such a racket and vibrated throughout the neighbourhood, and what can you say when it's during working hours? Anyway, I discovered a wonderful pick-me-up, if you have a juicer, combine apple, carrot and a slice of fresh ginger, it really perks you up. In fact, I'm gonna have one right now!

Still preparing

Hi everyone, thought I would take advantage of the incessant rain and catch up on all my on-line stuff. In-between all the rehearsing and running and stuff, I have been at those conifers again, it has become like an obsession with me, I am determined to get it done . I think I'm about half way there now.
So really, all we've been doing is getting our set together for Saturday. Did I mention the awful terror I felt before our performance on Friday, at one time I felt quite ill. I'm assured that it is a natural way to feel, but I don't think that it is something I will ever get used to. My solar plexus was thumping like a kick drum. I had to go outside and sit in the car to do some deep breathing exercises and other calming things. I'm not sure if any of it worked because everything happened so quickly after that.
Just waiting for Gerald to come home now. We went and bought some coal and logs today from a place in the forest, these two old blokes were sitting in their little hut with their gas ring, waiting for business. Very old fashioned and much better than supporting the smelly garages that rip us off for petrol.

Hi everyone, woke up feeling really, really tired today. The gig was great last night, after I overcame my nervousness, we were even asked to come back and play again in November. I'm not sure if anyone got any photos, we didn't take any ourselves, things always get a bit hectic and you never know what the venue will be like until you get there. Just as I was going on , Gerald told me that the adapter for the keyboard had broken, so we had to do some quick improvising, but fortunately it isn't a vital piece of equipment. That's the thing about playing live, there's always the edge of not knowing what's going to happen next. Now it's all systems go again as we will be playing next weekend. Since it is a daytime thing and we are playing in a big marquee, I hope it's not still going to be raining, otherwise it will put people off coming. I've never known so much rain as we've had these last few weeks, now I know why everyone complains about the weather, because even I am. So I am going to rest now. Thanks to those people from Myspace and Facebook that came to the gig last night, hope you enjoyed it and hope to see you at our future gigs.

Tuesday

Hi there, I'm just having a coffee before I get in the bath, I feel totally tired after another day of rehearsing and other arbitrary things that one must do in order to exist in a civilised fashion. Some strange person left a silly remark about my last blog- what was the object in doing that as obviously I'm not going to approve it on my page? It looks like they even took the trouble to create a foolish sounding email account to send it from, why go to such lengths? Which leads me to the next question , why am I even bothering to write about it? I guess human nature makes me curious at times.
I have taken on the precarious task of trimming the row of conifers that we have in the garden. Most evenings you will see me balancing treacherously on the ladders, armed with all the necessary tools, arms and neck aching from looking upwards, trying to reach those elusive branches. We didn't want anyone else to come and do it because lots of birds build their nests in there and we didn't want them frightened by some callous workman . Had we known it was going to be such a mammoth task, we might have reconsidered. The problem with being a perfectionist is that now I won't be happy until it all looks neat and tidy. It will probably take so long that the first bits I trimmed will have grown back by the time I've finished the last ones. I'll be in a continuous cycle and develop the thick arms and neck of a body builder.

Have outfit, will perform!

Hi everyone, at last I have a few minutes to catch up with you all. Life has been hectic since we got back, we have made major changes to our live set which has seen poor Gerald working till 4am every day, and I myself have been caught up in the preparations for Friday. Today I had to go to London to try and find an outfit, I spent the whole day there just about, but at last I found something in the depths of Camden. It is quite an outrageous outfit, just what I wanted, sexy but futuristic, like a 21st Century Barbarella. I think people will be shocked when they see me in it, Gerald's eyes nearly popped out of his head and he is used to seeing me in some strange garments. If there's one thing I've learned it's that image is so important. All I have to do now is get up there and give a good show. So the rest of the week is just going to be taken up with rehearsing and preparations. Our holiday seems like a long way away now and I'm missing the sun. I've never known England to have such a rancid summer as we've just had. The solution is to make lots of dosh and go and live somewhere tropical again. You'll never catch me complaining about the heat!