Hi everyone, it seems it hasn't stopped raining for days and don't talk about how cold it is as well, there was even traces of snow the other morning. Can't believe it is almost December either! Coco(our cat), makes me smile because when it's raining and she wants to go out , she will make me open all the different doors in the house, like she thinks the weather will be different from each door. If she does get caught in the rain, it makes her coat lovely and soft, I could just cuddle her for ages. Sometimes when I'm doing my vocal exercises and my voice hits a certain timbre, it sends Coco into a frenzy, she tries to climb all over me and purrs and purrs, it's almost like being the Pied Piper!! I've never experienced that with an animal before.
Our nutty neighbours from next door have gone, they just moved out all of a sudden, they didn't even say goodbye! It will be interesting to see who moves in next, maybe the house will just stay vacant for ages like it was before. It does seem strange that nobody can live in there for very long.
Must confess that I have been watching XFactor, it's the only " reality" tv show that I do watch. I try to imagine what the judges would say about us if it was us up there. It is a bit boring without the terrible twosome now, I think that Joe should win, but then Cheryl will be all smug!
Hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend ..

Raise the stakes

Well, it's been an interesting few days since I last wrote. We've hired a PR firm to up our profile a bit, after all there's only so much you can do yourself, so we'll see what they can do for us. I think they've already lined up some interviews for us, so as long as we get lots more interest and feedback from using them, then that will lead to more gigs etc. And course there will be the new Cd to promote as well. Gerald and I were discussing how if you want to be successful,you have to be so much more than a performer or producer, you to do absolutely everything for yourself that a label would do for you,and more. In the end it takes over your life, so it's great to be able to invest some money and get someone else to do a bit of hard work as well!
Gerald has started work on the final track now for the Cd, and you may wonder what I get up to whilst all of this is going on? Well, I write stuff and keep my voice well exercised and I also work on my live performance. And you thought it was all glamour and excitement! Last night I was so tired, I fell asleep in front of the telly just after 10.30pm- not very rock and roll, I might lose all my street cred.

Thoughts

Another windy , grey, November day. The floods in Cumbria have been terrible, I feel so sorry for all the people whose homes have been wrecked, and what happens to their pets I wonder? The perils of living near water.
Cling has now hired a PR firm to help us get more exposure, after all there's only so much you can do yourself and its time to take things to a new level now. Let's hope it brings us some good fortune. No stone must be left unturned in the quest for success. As I write, the sun has broken through the cloud and is streaming in through the window, making it look deceptively warm. The fields however are waterlogged and all running is now confined to roads and probably will be until the spring.
Sometimes it feels a s if life is a movie and you wonder what on earth your part is in the grand scheme of things. I've been asking myself this for ages.
Have a great weekend xx

Good times

Hi everyone, we've had a great response to Beyond your Dreams so far, if you haven't already listened to it please do and once again, any feedback will be appreciated.
Had a lovely day yesterday, spent all morning being pampered, had the most amazing facial massage which left me totally relaxed and also my skin looks fab now. Since I was up in London I combined the trip with some shopping. I forgot what the shops are like in Oxford Street, such an amazing choice, it's like you don't know where to look sometimes. No wonder people come from all over the world to shop here.
When I got back home, I met Gerald for lunch, then went shopping with him again, cos he wanted to get some stuff. Later on, we went for a lovely walk in the forest,which, as you can imagine , is carpeted in a sea of leaves. We didn't really get to see that much however, as it grew dark really quickly, in fact we ended up walking back in pitch blackness, it was quite exciting, I want to go down there in the middle of the night, under a full moon, it would be so trippy !!
By the way we are going to be doing some more photos soon, looking forward to that...

Chillstep is here

Hi everyone, if you don't already know, Cling are pleased and proud to announce that our new track Beyond your Dreams is now available for you to listen to online. We are very excited about this track as it is a fusion of genres and totally unlike anything we have ever done before. We invite you to have a listen and any feedback, adulation etc will be greatly appreciated! Enjoy our new track!

Excitement....

Great news , our new track is finished and we will put it online by the weekend. So excited about it, it is quite different to anything we have done before. Can't wait to hear what everyone thinks. When you hear a song, it creates so much emotion , you don't actually think of the practical side of it , like how many hours work goes into getting it sounding right and all the pain and sweat the artists go through.
Same thing when you go on stage, the audience don't think about what it's taken to get there, they just want to be entertained!
Life is full of magic and things can change so much from on day to the next, don't close your eyes to the beauty that surrounds you and live life for the moment.

My little bird

Received some good news today that we were played on BBC Radio Essex last night, yes please, we'll have some more of that!! This was a welcome diversion because Nyo has been really ill and each day that she survives now is like a miracle. My poor little friend, how attached I have become to that ball of feathers and it was horrible for me because I wasn't at home yesterday and I kept thinking I would phone to check up and she would be gone. She seems a bit better today though. I have never come across a creature with such a will to survive and that is something I will never forget about her, apart from all the joy and laughter she's brought me over the last fifteen years. She is an irreplaceable character.

Memories..

Bonfire night tonight, of course as any Zimbabwean will tell you, this is something we missed out on as kids because you just couldn't get fireworks and I think for a while they were banned anyway as they sounded too much like gunshots. Anyway, I've just been reminded of the history of bonfire night on the radio. I bet there will be some spectacular firework displays about, either tonight or the weekend.
Talking of Zimbabwe,some of my earliest memories are when my mum used to take us for walks in the bush, always in the when my dad was sleeping and didn't want to be disturbed. It was so fascinating to discover everything, all the sights and smells. How comforting it was to sit under the umbrella of an acacia tree, chewing on a long blade of grass, watching all the insects and birds going about their business. My mum was forever pointing things out to us and teaching us, like some live National Geo programme. The time would pass quickly and would always end with us drawing pictures with sticks in the sand.

Chilly Days

Got up early this morning and went for a run while it was still sunny and I 'm glad I did as the weather has taken a turn for the worse and it's got very chilly. A few months ago I discovered some new fields to go running across. I very rarely see anyone there, on one occasion I saw a man training what I thought was a hawk and then another time I was nearly trampled by some horses and riders. I like going there because it feels like I am in the middle of nowhere and the scenery is stunning. Like there is this panoramic view of the countryside and in the middle of a field stands this enormous tree, which despite being completely bare at the moment, has such an imposing and majestic aura, it totally dominates the autumn skyline. So it's pleasant to be distracted from all the physical exertion. And now it's warm and cosy inside the house and I just feel like falling asleep!!

Our delightful neighbours

I'm sure the house next door is haunted because everyone who lives there seems to go off the rails. When we first moved in here our neighbours were a young couple and another guy who had a pit-bull terrier. My mum befriended the guy with the dog and he was OK , but eventually moved out because the couple were having really violent arguments and had not paid their share of the rent for months. They were a mean looking pair and obviously used to drink a lot, on more than one occasion the police were round there because their fighting got so bad, she was just as bad as him and used to give as good as she got.
Thankfully they moved out and peace reigned once more, the house was vacant for a very long time, until the arrival of our new neighbours, a couple and their toddler. At first they were all respectable and friendly, I always liked the woman , but there was just something about her husband that wasn't totally genuine, something shifty in his eyes and the fact that he always seemed to be lurking around in the garden, peering over into ours. Anyway one day I came home and he had cut down all the trees and hedging separating our gardens, I was horrified and mad with him, but managed not to confront him about it, all we did was put up a fence which turned out to be much better. The only one who used to speak to him after that was my mum as he used to wait for her to go outside in the mornings. One day I saw this really rough looking character coming down the road, as we passed I realised it was him and was quite shocked by his appearance. Then he started doing all weird things like pacing up and down his garden in an agitated manner for ages. One morning he rang our bell at 830 to ask us for cigarette papers, we were so groggy and shocked, I still can't believe it. Then we saw the police around there a couple of times and he disappeared for about a week. He always seems to be arguing with his wife, who looks like a frightened rabbit and yesterday he was hammering on their front door for several hours, demanding that she let him in. So don't ask me what's going on there, something tells me that house will be vacant again soon.

Focus

Woke up a bit groggy, trying to get some order and discipline back into my life. I have a terrible habit of starting to do something , then in the middle of it I'll think of something else and get totally sidetracked. But I think even being away for a few days was good for us, just to be somewhere different and away from what is normal.

Later I will go running for the first time in a week, I notice if I don't do any exercise for a little while, my body seems to start to seize up. I still do yoga, I aim to do a little bit everyday at least, as it is good for balancing and focus.

I love the lazy life of cats, all they do is sleep, take Coco for example , stretched out like the queen on the sofa, lying on her back sunbathing, with her front paws covering her eyes and her little pink tongue sticking out, what a cutie! She has been in that position all morning, after sleeping all night with us. The only time she got up was to have some roast chicken and go outside briefly. Where do you go in your dreams, beautiful Coco???

A day to be curled up in bed

I noticed during our museum tours of Amsterdam that we were struck by a mysterious condition where although we were meandering around really slowly and not exerting ourselves at all, we found ourselves really exhausted, barely able to place one foot in front of the other and could quite easily have fallen asleep instantly. I wonder if anyone else has ever experienced this be kind of thing? Maybe that's what the chairs are for in galleries, to stop people collapsing.
Lovely autumn day today, windy and hammering down with rain, the kind of day to stay curled up in bed, or alternatively go to China Town, have steaming bowls of dim sum and then return to bed. Personally, I quite fancy putting on my raincoat and going for a muddy walk across the fields, but I can't find any volunteers to come with me. I think the best that will happen is that we'll go out for a coffee, no complaints.
All is quiet in the Cling household, Gerald is doing some promo work, Coco is sleeping on the sofa, Nyo is sleeping in her cage , my mum is pottering about and I am here in my yoga room/office looking at the enormous amount of leaves on the lawn- I only picked up a whole load yesterday!!