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

Day 13: My First Radio Interview

Borrowed this pic from Graeme

You may have noticed an absence on my blog the past couple as I didn't get round to posting anything because I was up to something. I just so happened to be preparing for my first ever radio interview which took place yesterday (Tuesday). I'm a night owl anyway but I was up until silly o'clock making sure I had everything needed so that in the morning I could just pick it up and go. 

I physically don't know how I managed to leave the house yesterday morning without forgetting something. Yet, somehow I did. We dropped Laurel off at school and made our way to my Grandparent's where I popped in to see the live video stream from inside my Grandad's birdhouse as all the baby birds had hatched. Oh my goodness! They're so cute!

From there we headed up to Glasgow for the second time this week (hmm! I think I was there already this week!) and parked at Kelvingrove Art gallery. We popped inside for a little while in order to pass some time before I had to be somewhere. I felt a little bit nostalgic visiting there as I'm pretty sure the last time I stepped foot in the building was back during my last week of P7 which feels like a lifetime ago now. I miss my primary school days a lot so it's strange going back there and reliving my old memories.

My Grandparents and Mum wanted a cake and coffee so we nipped into the café whilst I nervously sipped on a bottle of juice admiring the building. I don't think I fully appreciated just how beautiful a building it was up until then. Above the lobby area (pictured in the photograph) is the most beautiful organ which as far as I know is played at least once a day but unfortunately, I was there too early in the day to hear it. 

A little while we left the art gallery and headed in direction of Kelvingrove Park which is just over the road really. It's a really quaint and peacful park which is reminiscent of the parks I enjoyed visiting during my many hospital stays in London when I was younger. We took a leisurely stroll through the park to a familiar place that I visited last year for a certain gig. It was a little café called 'An Clachan' hidden in the park where I saw Graeme Clark from the Scottish band Wet Wet Wet perform live last June. And funnily enough, that just so happened to be who I was meeting up with.

Graeme kindly agreed to sit down with me for my first ever radio interview which was pretty exciting and a little nerve-wracking all at the same time. I'm not going to give too much away because it was an interview after all and obviously, it's still to be aired on live radio (more details to come). However, it was great to sit down and chat with Graeme about music and his career. It was also great to chat a bit about bass as we both play the instrument. For me, it was pretty inspiring to talk someone who's had an amazing career thanks to playing the same instrument as me and ask him about it. He even signed some of my Wet Wet Wet vinyl for me addressing it to 'The Hat Hippie'!

I'd been wanting to do my first radio interview for a while now and in true Robyn style had to start big so I'm ever so grateful to Graeme for firstly agreeing to it in the first place and being so supportive and sweet during the interview itself. I'm not going to lie, I was rather nervous and probably sound it during the recording but you know what? I'm proud of it and can't wait to go out there and do more interviews in future! And I'll always have a great story to tell about my very first one!

On route back home following the interview we stopped in Dalry to pay a visit to The Factory Shop which I've not been to in ages and can't believe how much it had changed! They have ALOT of cute knickknacks which was right up my Mum's street in particular. The décor is really quite quirky and colourful now; I seriously can't get over how different it is now!

We dropped Gran and Grandad off at their house and popped in for a little while so I could use their internet to show them the selfie Graeme had posted online of us both. My Mum and Gran ended up watching something on TV (couldn't tell you what as I wasn't paying much attention) whilst I nodded off on the sofa due to being absolutely exhausted from the exciting events of the day. Mum woke me up a short while later so we could head home and I could get some much needed rest.

Back home I managed to keep myself awake long enough to eat dinner and tell my Dad about how everything went before settling down in my room to update my blog. As you can see, I never quite got that far! I think I must have typed a couple of words before nodding off in mid sentence-oops! I stirred a couple of times thanks to my hamster creating havoc in her cage before waking up later on to find that it was dark outside and that everyone besides Mum had headed off to bed-I must have been asleep for a while!

So that's the story of my first ever interview in as short and as brief a description as possible and what a cool interview it was! Again, I owe a huge thanks to Graeme for putting up with me and being so enthusiastic about everything! It really was a pleasure to chat to him! Really, looking forward to his gig at Siempre Café in a couple of weeks time, I think it'll be a great evening!

Anyway, I'll go for now. Thanks for stopping by, I really hope you enjoyed reading about my day! I'll be back soon with the next post!
Love & Peace,

The Hat Hippie xx

Day 12: A Shopping Trip to Glasgow

It's late and I've been glued to my laptop for hours on end working on various things so I'm guessing this'll be a fairly short post as I ought to get to bed and get some rest as I have tutoring in the morning. Sadly, that's the weekend over for another week but at the same time it's one less week until the Summer holidays which are drawing near so I'll hold onto that in the meantime.

Well today saw a last minute visit to Glasgow this afternoon although it was verging on a little too busy for me I'm not gonna lie! Our first stop (well for Mum and I anyway) was into TK Maxx (surprise! surprise!) and I treated myself to a new top and bag as I'd been looking for a new one for quite a while now. I'm trying to remember exactly where we went and in which order but my tired brain is taking it's time on the minor details. Then again I suppose the order doesn't really matter too much. I do remember we took a short detour to avoid the biz through the Argyle Arcade which reminds me of something you'd see in a movie. The entire arcade is filled with upmarket jewellery shops with window displays filled with glistening jewellery.

As we came to the other end of the arcade we made our way a little further up Buchanan Street and into Princes Square, another arcade style shopping centre. It's here where one of my favourite jewellery shops called Argento is. We used to visit one of its sister branches situated in the Brunswick Centre which was just a short walk away from the hospital I attended in London. You can find some really beautiful jewellery in there which would make lovely gifts at such reasonable prices. I could easily have left the shop with a couple of purchases but decided to refrain and save my money for going away during the Summer. It was a difficult decision though!

Laurel and Mum popped into Lush for a visit whilst Dad and I waited outside. Normally, I'd have joined them but considering how busy it was I decided I was safer outside and wouldn't be able to see very much from my wheelchair with all the other customers in the shop. Heading further up the street we dodged the hundreds of other shoppers that had also decided to flock to Glasgow this afternoon. Seriously, it's a nerve-wracking experience from a wheelchair users point of view when everyone looks straight ahead and not down below.

We decided to pop into the Hard Rock Café as I haven't got round to paying it a visit since it opened and wanted a nosy in the merch shop. However, I was very disappointed in the disabled access. The main entrance can only be access via a flight of steps and the accessible entrance is through an alleyway if you like to the side of the building where all the bins are kept (get the picture I'm trying to build up?).

We took the small lift to the next floor up where we worked the merch shop was situated. As far as I could see there was no signage to direct customers to what was on each floor. There could have been but as far as I could see it wasn't very clear. We arrived on the shop floor (or at least that's what we thought) and were immediately met by yet another stumbling block; the shop was situated down a flight of steps with no way of access for wheelchair users or those with mobility issues. Considering it is a new restaurant and was only opened just a couple of years ago you'd think it would have to accessible under all the strict rules and regulations nowadays! I am very disappointed about this and will be writing to the Hard Rock franchise regarding this issues. Not acceptable! 

Next, we popped into Paperchase which is a firm favourite with us. I love all the cute stationary and bits and bobs they sell in there. They also have a brilliant arts and craft department which is so exciting for someone like me who is studying art in school and would to some degree like to pursue this at some point down the line. There is so much to look at! But again, I managed to refrain from spending any money.

On the way back down Buchanan Street we were planning to pop into Starbucks but everyone else seemed to have the same idea so we ended up getting a takeaway and sitting on a bench and watching one of the moving statues dressed as the Duke of Wellington statue with the traffic cone on his head pulling faces in people's photographs when they weren't looking. Children's reactions to it are also pretty hilarious! Although, I know how I felt about those sort of things when I was little. To be honest, they still freak me out a little so I always tend to keep my distance. Watching from afar is fun though!

Mum and Laurel appeared with our orders; I had a chocolate Frappuccino minus the cream today; a change from the strawberries and cream one that I always opt for. I don't really know why I bother getting one though because every time without fail my body ends up uncontrollably shaking. I think the ice in it shocks my nervous system which is already sensitive enough because of my condition. So I'm guessing that's why I shiver as much. Ah well, as long as I enjoy the drink; that's all that matters!

Returning to the car, we made our way to SeeWoo the oriental supermarket to stock up on ingredients that my Dad uses when cooking. I love SeeWoo because I find it interesting to look at all the different foods you can buy. They sell some pretty delicious snacks too I must add! I always enjoy the seasoned peanuts particularly the coconut cream ones which I happily munched on during the car ride home. Mmmm!

So that's the most interesting part of my day. I've spent the rest of the evening working away so there's not much else to report I'm afraid. Tomorrow's the start of what looks like a busy week so stayed tuned to read about it hear on my blog. Have a great week folks!

Love & Peace,

The Hat Hippie xx