Day 22 & 23: Scottish Sunshine

Hello My Friends!

Wow! We're almost at the end of May already, how on earth did that happen!? It's flown in! It's been a very busy weekend with numerous things happening and I've been working a ton of things so sadly, I've had to leave blogging for a couple days or I wouldn't have been able to get anything else done. But back and I'm here I am now to tell you all about my day. So sit back and relax for a short while whilst you read.

Monday 30th May, bank holiday Monday or in other words; an extra day off school or in my instance, tutoring! I knew I would have to get up early as the workmen were coming to fit a new radiator in my room but I thought I'd push it as long as I possibly could and stay cuddled up in the comfort on my own bed. But at around 9am there was a knock at the door; the workmen had arrived. I don't think I've ever got up as quickly in my life before Mum could answer the door. Quickly, I lifted a pile of thing consisting of my laptop, charger and iPod (you know, the necessities!) and made my way through to the living room whilst Mum let the workmen in. I sat there half asleep on the sofa and decided to make use of getting up early and do some work on my laptop and finish editing things on my laptop.

Within a short period of time, the workmen had finished doing what they were doing and no sooner than they arrived, they left. Mum made us a delicious cooked breakfast whilst I continued to work away on my laptop until it was ready. I think I spent a while chatting to my sister at the table which gave me just enough time to get dressed and make my bed before my Grandparents arrived at the house. We all headed out to TK Maxx for my Grandparent's to have some lunch. We'd already eaten a bigger breakfast so Mum, Laurel and I just had a drink, cake and a scone for me!

Due to the weather being exceptionally nice my parents decided we'd make the most of it and have a barbecue using the barbecue my Mum gave my Dad for Christmas at one of our old houses however, we never got round to using it because we moved to our old flat just a little while later. During that time, the BBQ was stored at my Grandparent's house. Now, we have a lovely big garden with more than enough room for the BBQ! So it was great to finally get some use out of it. Let's face it; how many days are we actually able to have a BBQ in Scotland? Once every blue moon! So we all were able to sit outside and enjoy the sun whilst my Dad and Grandad built up the BBQ for the first time.

Soon enough the food was on the grill and my goodness was it delicious! Yeah, things like sausages and chicken are extremely tasty but I must say the highlights for me anyway is corn on the cobb, red peppers and mushrooms cooked on the BBQ. They seriously taste amazing!

I've been working nonstop on various things of late so haven't had much of a chance to just chill out. So for once, I decided to put everything aside for a couple of hours and pull out some of my art supplies and paint. Not for school or anything, just for my own enjoyment. It's nowhere near complete and it'll probably be a while before the opportunity arises to finish it but who cares!

After we'd all eaten, it became cooler so my Dad and Grandad disappeared into the house to no doubt hog the TV. The bold Robyn is always the last one standing. I like to push it for as long as I possibly can so we all sat out for a while longer watching a dark cloud slowly approach in the distance. And yep, you guessed it! The rain soon began to fall so it was a mad rush to clear everything away and head back inside before it got any heavier. Good old Scottish weather at it's best eh!?

And that brings us to today, Tuesday in other words. Today, I've been bursting with excitement all day. Tomorrow is the big day! Yep, tomorrow we see The Boss, Bruce Springsteen in concert and I'm very excited to say the least! It's been three years since I last saw Bruce at Wembley Stadium and funnily enough, this will be my third Bruce gig and my first time seeing him live in Scotland. I've decided that I'm going to attempt to vlog my day and share it with you guys on YouTube so here's hoping I actually manage to do it! But put it this way, I think it'll be a pretty good vlog-trust me!

Anyway, we dropped Laurel off at school this morning when we got a message from my tutor who had to cancel my music session which was due to take place this afternoon as his first grandchild had just been born. So that's pretty exciting news anyway! And to top if off, I get a wee day to myself! We'd planned to head into town anyway but that meant we didn't have to worry too much about time. So we were able to have a proper look in some of the shops and pick up a few bits and pieces.

Next, we zipped in and out of the streets of the town I live in where there seems to be traffic jams wherever you go at the moment and eventually, made it to ASDA. We picked up a few salad items to go with the food we had left over from last night's BBQ as the weather was warmer than yesterday so we thought we might as well have another one. We also popped into the new M&S food hall next to ASDA. We got speaking to a lady and her dog 'Charlie' who were parked next to us, I'm a real sucker for dogs so couldn't help but have a wee hug and stroke-you know how it is!

Back home, Mum was in the kitchen prepping our lunch to take out into the garden and I nipped into my room and just happened to be scrolling through my Facebook when I saw that Richie Sambora and Orianthi are heading back to the UK as a support act for Bad Company later this year. Funnily enough, I'd literally just mentioned them to Mum sitting in Costa a couple of hours earlier saying I bet they're going to head out on tour sometime soon. And then the big announcement came. I was bursting to say the least-I'm such a big fan of theirs!

We spent most of the afternoon chilling out in the garden, only leaving to pick Laurel up and then straight back outside again. Our house seems to be amidst the flightpath of the local airport as there was a constant flow of planes taking off and flying above the house. Seriously, another plane took off everything ten minutes or so-I'd never seen it so busy!

When Dad arrived home from work, he got straight into setting up the BBQ-think he might have been hungry! Again, the BBQ was pretty delicious! Mmmmmm! Here's hoping the sunny weather continues so we can have many more in the coming weeks.

Anyway, I really ought to go folks! It's getting late and I have so much to do before I head to bed! I'll keep you all posted on the Bruce concert tomorrow and like I said earlier, providing all goes well I plan on vlogging the day to take you guys along with me. So keep an eye out for that!

Until next time!

Love & Peace,

The Hat Hippie xx

Song of The Month May 2016

Well, it's that time of the month again where I pick a Song of The Month to share with you guys here on my blog. It's always a difficult decision as they are so many amazing songs out there and being a music geek it's a tricky decision narrowing it down to just one. But somehow I have. So I can now reveal that May's Song of The Month is.............................

Waitin' On A Sunny Day by Bruce Springsteen

As I'm sure I've mentioned on at least a few occasions now, I'm off to see Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band live in Glasgow this week (Wednesday 1st June!) and I am so excited! This will be my third Bruce concert and my first time seeing him in my home country of Scotland. Naturally, I've been gearing up for the gig by listening to his music and also throwing a few of his songs in here and there during my weekly radio show.

Bruce has so many amazing songs however, I decided to choose "Waitin' On A Sunny Day". It's a great song and I love hearing it performed live. Usually, Bruce picks a kid in the audience to sing it with him which is beyond cool and the atmosphere is always absolutely amazing! So here's hoping we'll be blessed with a sunny day in Glasgow this Wednesday and that Bruce might perform it live! But I'll keep you posted with everything that happens at the gig in a future blog post so keep an eye out for that!

In the meantime, enjoy listening to this fabulous tune and be sure to let me know if you're catching Bruce live in the next couple of weeks and what your favourite Bruce song is!

Until next month!
Love & Peace,
The Hat Hippie xx

Day 20 & 21: New Radio Slot!

Hello! Hello! Hello!

It's been yet another busy couple of days so without further ado let's get started shall we!?

Yesterday (all my troubles seemed so far away-sorry I just couldn't help it!), was to some degree a non eventful day as we didn't have the normal get up, eat breakfast, get dressed and take Laurel to school routine due to the fact that Laurel has come down with a sore throat. As much as I feel sorry for Laurel who's poorly, it was on the other hand pretty nice to get an extra long lie in my beloved bed until around 10am. It was around then when I slowly dragged myself out of bed and into the living room. I had a little time to spare before my art tutor arrived early in the afternoon so got my artwork out and continued working on it. Like I said in a previous post, I'm currently working on a collage piece so it's not the most natural thing to me. Give me a paint brush and a pen any day and you're on a winner! I decided I didn't feel confident enough to add anything else to the piece until my tutor arrived as I've grown up with the philosophy that "less is more" so instead opted to use my watercolour pencils to add a little colours to some of the black and white images already in the collage. That however, was like second nature to me.

At that point I felt like I was at a dead end and didn't have a clue where to take my work. It was nowhere near complete, that's for sure! However, my tutor arrived and worked her magic and within a short period of time helped me completely transform it using watercolours and a gradient technique in the background. It's amazing how different it now looks!

Afterwards, I made a start on preparation for my radio show the following day. I like to have notes and a list of songs that help give me a rough basis for my show. Although, it normally develops and changes depending upon how I feel, what's happening in the world or sometimes I hear a song on the radio and think 'Oh! I think I might play that this week!'. I love the fact that I've become confident enough on radio to be able to do that. And just like every other night I sit down with my laptop to work on my Blog and edit my a little more of my radio interview.

So Thursday (yesterday); the busiest day of the week came and went. My tutor arrived at the usual time for my bass lesson and again, we revisited the last song I'd been working on 'Ruby Tuesday' by The Rolling Stones. I absolutely love jamming to that song-it's so much fun! I also started learning to play 'Under My Thumb' which was good but for whatever reason there was one note I kept playing a little longer than required. However, I'll persist with it until I get it right so wish me luck!

The mad Thursday rush soon pursued as I got organised to head out the door to make my way to 3TFM in time for my show. So a quick bite of lunch was in order as well as organised the CDs and note required during the show. 

When I arrived at the station, I received the exciting news that from Thursday 9th June onwards, I'll be changing shifts and will instead be hosting an evening show which I'd been hoping to eventually progress to. So next Thursday will be my last one o'clock slot and then it'll be the start of a new chapter! I have lots of ideas for my show that would work best in the evenings so it'll be great to finally put them into action. Ironically, I aired my first ever live radio show almost a exactly a year to date on the 11th of June so it'll be an anniversary show in many respects too. If you're about on the 9th, be sure to tune in and join me!

My show went pretty well which is always a good thing for me, the presenter. There's nothing worse than when a technical issues arises hehe! But that's showbiz for you I suppose! The show had a particularly good playlist if I do say so myself. And of course it was the fabulous Stevie Nicks' birthday so I had to play one of her songs as you all know how much I admire her. So Stevie, if you're reading this (if only!) I wish you the most amazing Birthday!

On route back home, Mum and I did the weekly supermarket shop and stopped for a quick refreshment in the café beforehand as I usually need something cold to clear my throat as I talk too much! Once back home we unpacked the shopping (everybody hates that job!) and put it away. Nothing exciting really!

Laurel has decided to go vegetarian and has been trying various vegetarian foods lately. Somehow, without thinking I've been followed suit to some degree and have eaten very little meat during the past couple of weeks. I am by no manner or means a vegetarian; I know for a fact I'd struggle facing a roast chicken and not being able to eat it. That would be my worst nightmare. Anyway, the long and the short of what I was about to say is; we both tried these amazing Mexican bean burgers from Sainsbury's with homemade sweet potato chips and salad and it was absolutely delicious! The burgers are definitely worth a try folks!

And just like every other night this week I ended the evening watching Britain's Got Talent, I can't quite believe we're almost at the end of this year's series! It's seriously flown in! At the same time I was working away on my laptop attempting to set up my Mum's art blog. I'm going to show how her to upload her posts etc and then she'll be able to start writing so I'll be sure to let you all know when it's live. You're going to love her work, she's an amazing artist!
I also order an exciting parcel, the contents of it will come in handy particularly over the next couples of weeks. I can't wait to try the mystery item out and use it here on the world of the internet. I really should have ordered it earlier but never got round to it, I was a little worried about whether it would arrive on time as it's a bank holiday this weekend and I really need it ASAP. So I decided to pay a little extra for one day delivery so providing all goes well, it should arrive on Saturday-here's hoping!

Anyway, I better go for now folks!
Love & Peace,

The Hat Hippie xx

Day 19: The Temptations of A Music Geek in HMV

Tuesday, a day further into the week. That's always a good thing! I can't quite believe how quickly the week has flown in! But I guess that means it's a week closer to the Summer holidays!

As I write I'm sitting here listening to the amazing Stevie Nicks up full blast in my headphones because what else do you do at half past twelve in the morning!? The night owl in me strikes again! Anyway, let's talk a bit about what I got up to on this fine day.

We dropped poor Laurel off at school this morning stressed beyond belief as she had part two of a big maths test first thing this morning. I'm absolutely hate maths (I'm completely useless at it!) so my heart really went out to Laurel and the rest of her class. However, Mum got a text from her a little while late to say she had done extremely well in the first part of the test. I'm so pleased for her as she works so hard-so a huge well done to my amazing sister! I'm so proud of her!

Tuesday is an afternoon tutoring session which means we have the morning free to do as we please. Usually, we go out for a bite to eat in order to save cooking lunch when we arrived home as it often entails a bit of a rush due to the times my tutors come at. I decided on going into town this morning and having breakfast at Debenhams as well as a look round the shops before they begin to get busy. I hate shopping when it's busy; it just isn't worth it in my opinion.

We had a wee nosy in Primark where Mum found a couple of lovely tops so decided to try them on in the shop changing rooms. As I waited outside for her I noticed that a chair had been placed in front of the disabled changing rooms (see photo above) and there was no staff on hand to move it. So unfortunately, any disabled customers would be unable to access the changing rooms independently. Normally I'd have given them the benefit of doubt and thought perhaps it had been left there during the night and no one had got round to moving it as it was so early on in the morning. However, there has been previous occasions in the same store where I've waiting on someone from my family in the changing rooms or needed to use it myself and noticed that clothing rails blocking the door or other customers have been encouraged to leave their shopping baskets in front of it. I can't say I'm terribly happy about it hence why I want to make use of my blog and highlight issues such as this one. It will also be something I mention in the next customer survey that they ask you to complete on the shop receipts. Rant over!

I decided to pay HMV a visit as I was well overdue a browse. Within minutes I found myself getting a little carried away. All I'm going to say is never let a music geek loose in a music shop! Trust me; it never ends well! They had an array of Prince CDs and vinyl that I'd only ever seen available online so my eyes were glistening with excitement! Somehow, I managed to muster enough willpower to refrain from buying anything. Although, I think I really have to give my Mum the credit for that; she had me out of there before I could even think about heading to the checkout. I know I'd regret it next week when I hit Bruce Springsteen's merch stall so really, it was a good idea in the long run.

Finally, it had reached opening time for Debenhams café (it always opens half an hour later than the shop itself) where I ordered a cook breakfast (as you do!). And my goodness was it delicious! Although, the highlight for me was the 80s music they were playing in store. The playlist included 'Sweet Little Mystery' by Wet Wet Wet which was quite funny to think that exactly a week ago to the date I interviewed Graeme, WWW's bassist for radio. Needless to say I enjoyed singing along!

Laurel's delicious Malteaser milkshake!

Two o'clock and music tutor arrived for my lesson. Again, carrying on with The Rolling Stones theme we once again went over 'Get Off Of My Cloud' and made a start on 'Ruby Tuesday'. According to my music book the bass parts are mostly played on cello however my tutor show me this technique where you strum the bass at the end of fret board to create a deeper cello/double bass sound. I've since become addicted to jamming along to it and spent most of the evening in my room practicing it. Being able to play an instrument is an absolute privilege and I'm so glad I've persisted with it and never gave up-it's totally worth it!

And that's it really, nothing more to report for today I'm afraid. Well apart from Laurel making the most delicious Malteaser milkshakes-mmmmm!

Love & Peace,

The Hat Hippie xx

Day 18: Befriending the Neigbhour's Cat

I'm afraid we're going to skip another day folks and instead just focus solely on today (Monday). It's amazing how whenever you set out with good intentions that everything crops up at the one time and trying to keep on top of it all is never easy. Slowly but surely I'm getting everything ticked off the list one by one and then hopefully it'll make it easier to write each day. Until then I'll just keep dabbling from day to day with a mixture of daily and combo posts. Thankfully, the Summer holidays aren't too far off and I'll have a little more time to myself to spend getting things done!

Monday is never a favourite day of the week for me I'm afraid; the weekend has come to an end and Friday seems so far off in the horizon. Although, today wasn't all that bad. For a Monday it was surprisingly pleasant. Don't worry! I promise I'm not coming down with something!

Today was my longest tutoring session of the week which is mainly set aside for the John Muir Award however, with my health playing up as much I haven't always been able to use the sessions for that specific reason and instead had a longer music lesson. So today's music session was rather taxing I'm not gonna lie. I played non stop for a couple of hours and needless to say my hand was ready to fall off by the end of it.

Working our way through some of my music books, we focused on 'The Rolling Stones' section and revisited 'I Can't Get No Satisfaction' which I worked on the other day. This was then followed by 'Get Off Of My Cloud', a particular favourite Rolling Stones song of mine which I remembering enjoying when I was little. The Rolling Stones are actually high up on my bucket list of bands I'd like to see in concert and I hope that one day it'll actually happen. The closest I've ever got to seeing them was at their Crossfire Hurricane premiere in London back in 2012 where I heard them being interviewed on the red carpet and saw a glimpse of Mick Jagger's head. What a claim to fame eh!? Anyway, what a great band and being able to actually play long to their music is amazing!

My tutor also suggested that we work on a Bruce Springsteen song of my choice as I'm off to see him in concert in just over a weeks time. I had a scroll through the list of Bruce songs on YouTube and decided on a more unusual track 'Spirit In The Night'. It was the first time my tutor had heard it and I think he seemed to really like it. For those of you who only really know Bruce's biggest hits as well as the 'Born In The USA'/'Born To Run' albums; it's a completely different sound for Bruce. It has more of jazz feel to it, or at least that's how I think it's best to describe it. Seriously though, if you haven't heard it before go give it a listen and let me know your thoughts!

Enough of talking about music for now. After tutoring my Grandparents joined Mum and I for lunch at TK Maxx café (the usual haunt) after bringing some more garden stuff we'd been storing at their house for quite a while now. Again, it was great to take full advantage of my new wheelchair and push myself around in TK Maxx. It's great to browse at my own free will and take myself wherever I want to go. Honestly, words cannot begin to describe just how much of a difference that makes to me and I've only had it less than week.

Following lunch, a trip to the supermarket followed suit to pick up food for tonight's dinner or we'd otherwise starve not to be too drastic or anything! My Grandad wanted to purchase a new SD card for his camera so I took him to the techy isle and helped him decide on what one to buy. I'm a bit of a camera fanatic I must admit!

The afternoon always flies by and before you know, you're sitting outside my sister's school in the car picking her up. Where does the day go?! It's always nice to get back home and have the rest of the day free to do what you like. Although, I'm usually working on something because I don't think it's physically possibly for me to sit still with nothing to do these days.

The weather has been particularly kind to us of late and today was exceptionally nice so I did manage to spend some time chilling out in the garden. It's not every day you get to eat alfresco style in Scotland so why not make the most out of it? One of our neighbour's cats has decided to adopt us for whatever reason and won't leave us alone. Seriously, wherever we live there's always a cat who wants to befriend us and this house is no exception. My Mum isn't keen on encouraging it as it'll scare the birds however, it sneaked up behind me and I couldn't help but befriend it (guilty face). Its so cute though! I just couldn't help it!

After a frantic search around the house for the missing garden hut keys we eventually came across them-phew! And I spent the rest of the evening trying to help set up a blog for my Mum. It's taking a while as we purchased a cute template from Etsy and I'm 'attempting' to install for her. I don't whether it's just me or not but it's all rather technical-we'll get there in the end! I know for a fact that Mum's blog will look fab and she'll have some really amazing pieces of artwork to share with you guys. I promise I'll let you know when it's live and ready to read!
Love & Peace,
The Hat Hippie xx

Day 16 & 17: It's The Weekend!

It's the weekend again! I've decided I'm going to combine Friday and Saturday's posts again due to the fact that I'm still catching up on things. Yes I know; excuses, excuses! Honestly, May and June are always the busiest months in the year for me or at least it's been that way during the past couple of years.

Yesterday (Friday) was a rather ordinary day to be honest, nothing very exciting to report I'm afraid. Well apart from a visit into town in the morning and a coffee in Costa before heading back home and passing time that I really couldn't afford to loose pottering around in my room. I suppose you could say I was making my bed and putting on a little makeup to cover up my ghost like face. But if the truth be known I was tired from staying up late to watch Bruce Springsteen's live stream at Rock in Rio Lisbon the previous night. Before I knew it, it was almost twelve o'clock and had around half a hour to spare before my tutor was due to arrive. By this point Mum had put lunch in the oven so I quickly ate that and got my art stuff out and continued working on it until my tutor came.

We're working on a collage type thing as a final piece although, I wouldn't exactly say collages are my forte. I'm much better with a paint brush and pencils, it feels a lot more natural to me. Then again when you're doing a Nat 4 in art I suppose you have to show examples of varies types of media which I've done and like everyone else there's definitely some materials I prefer to use than others.

As I sit here writing this, I'm actually attempting to wrack my brains and remember what else happened yesterday yet nothing seems to spring to mind. It really was one of those boring days to be completely honest. To be honest, I spent most of the evening working away on my laptop trying to catch up and actually get things done.

Saturday, is one of the best day of the week in my opinion! I managed to actually have a long lie for once until around mid day. I hate being so lazy but the extra sleep seriously did me the world of good! That's what's great about weekends; you can catch up on sleep, leisurely get up and just take things slowly-bliss!

Mum, Laurel and I enjoyed a leisurely lunch before Dad arrived home from work in the afternoon to watch the football which everyone seemed to be watching. Well at least that's what it seemed like according to my Facebook page-I don't have a clue about it to be honest!

Us girls decided to head out into town for a coffee and to do some birthday present shopping for my sister's friends who all seem to be born in June. I'm not much of a shopper unless it involves music or vintage shops but it was still nice to have a wee look round. My sister picked up some lovely things for her friends which I they'll absolutely love! I'd tell you more but seeing as the internet is a very public place, I better not! I don't think my Sister would be too chuffed at me if I gave it away and one of her friends saw it.

We were pretty disappointed to see that Store 21, one of the shops we often pop into as we like the home wear department is closing down. Didn't see that one coming! It was a little strange going inside to see what was on sale an area filled with Christmas decorations as well as Christmas jumpers that they're trying to sell off. The reductions were pretty good but honestly, there's nothing more bizarre than going into a shop near the end of May and seeing Christmas things everywhere. And to top it all off a kid had found one of those musical ornaments and all I could hear was Christmas carols-don't quite know how to feel about that! It was definitely a weird experience.

Dinner time was drawing near as we left the town centre and I think we were all becoming rather hungry so paid our favourite Chinese Takeaway a visit to order a Saturday night treat. Again, I had my favourite Singapore chow mein which was rather delicious! And of course to top it all off, sitting down to watch Britain's Got Talent is always the highlight of my Saturday night! Oh, what a sad life I have! But let's face it; it's all a bit of good old fashioned fun!

Day 14 & 15: New Wheelchair!

Angie and I at the wheelchair clinic

In order to catch up with my daily blog posts I thought I'd combine both yesterday and Wednesday's posts so that from today onwards I'll hopefully get back into the swing of things.

Wednesday morning, a very tried Robyn dragged herself out of bed after the excitement of the day before. Normally, I'd of had a lie in as my tutor wasn't due to come out until the afternoon however I had an appointment to pick up my new wheelchair at something like quarter to ten in the morning. So no lie in for me I'm afraid!

After dropping Laurel off at school we stopped on route to pick up a bouquet of flowers for Angie, who I met at the wheelchair clinic who unlike most professionals I've met in my time wanted to make a difference to my life and I wanted to say 'Thank-You' for her help. She really thought out of the box and wanted to give me as much independence as possible. It's rare that happens nowadays usually because it often means putting more thought and effort into something.

Due to almost being eighteen I've now been referred to the wheelchair clinics for adults so I attended my first appointment a few weeks ago because my old chair was in need of replacing. Angie was very enthusiastic and wanted to find something much more sleek and modern compared to what I'm used to. So on Wednesday we attended the clinic to pick it up and I'm absolutely delighted with the result! The difference is incredible! It's so much lighter and much easier on the eyes. I've taken full advantage of it since we got it and enjoyed pushing myself around without any assistance from my family. My name is now on a waiting list for wheelchair training so I can learn how to bump it up onto pavements and go over unsteady surfaces such as gravel which will make a huge difference and allow me more independence! So the sooner that happens, the better!

I called my Grandparents on route home to let them know we were heading  home as they had plants to give us for the garden. We also needed something from the supermarket so by the time we took a detour to Sainsbury's they'd arrived at the house. Grandad unloaded their car before the four us went to get a bite to eat at TK Maxx before my tutor was due to arrive later that afternoon. I must admit I had a great time looking round the shop at my own free reign with no difficulty pushing myself!

My art tutor arrived a little while later, this week has just been a continuation of what I've been working on of late in art. But what really made my day was a very cool email that Mum received. I'm not going to say what exactly it's about just yet. What I can say is that it'll entail another exciting day and blog post to follow in the not so distant future-so stay tuned!

Yesterday, (Thursday to be exact) is always the busiest day of the week for us. A Thursday usually consists of music tuition in the morning and my weekly radio show in the early afternoon. Thursday's music session consisted of learning 'I Can't Get No Satisfaction' by The Rolling Stones-great song by the way! And the very famous 'Smoke On The Water' by Deep Purple. 'Smoke On The Water' was the first riff I ever learned to play on guitar when I must was around ten years old just like every other guitar player however, the bass parts are completely different to the guitar riff which changed things up a little.

The usual Thursday rush soon pursued; organise music for my radio show, put makeup on and eat an early lunch before setting off to 3TFM. As always my show went in extremely quickly and was great fun! And of course it's always great to catch up with my fellow presenters at the station. It's seriously an absolute privilege being able to do something I love so much and I'll be forever grateful for the opportunity!

After picking up Laurel up from school it was time for the weekly shop. I know it's got to be done otherwise we'd starve but none of us are particularly big fans of doing it. Again, I had a great time using the new wheelchair in the supermarket though; it was like a scene out of Christmas With The Kranks where Mrs Krank and another woman were racing to get the last ham on Christmas eve except this time it was Laurel trying to keep up with me. All good fun!

Mum, Laurel and I enjoyed a soft drink in the café where we bumped into a friend of ours who came and chatted for a while. We hadn't seen him for a while so it was nice to catch up and get a hug from his lovely dog Toto in the carpark. I'd really love a dog of my own one day, they make such amazing friends!

Back home we ate dinner (as you do!) and I pretty much spent the evening on my laptop working away like always. Although, I enjoyed watching my sister Laurel's reaction to some of the 1980s music videos my Dad happened to be watching on TV. By this point I was on the verge of nodding off again (this seems to be becoming a bit of a habit these days) but someone how woke up a little just in time to watch a livestream of Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band performing at Rock In Rio, Lisbon. It was a brilliant show as always (not that you'd expect anything less from Bruce and the gang) and was a great build up for the Bruce gig I'm going to in less than two weeks-so so so excited!

Anyway, that's about as interesting as my life has been these past two days so I suppose I'll bring this post to an end.

Love & Peace,

The Hat Hippie xx