2 January 2018
Slightly late but I just wanted to wish you all an outrageously happy New Year and hope you had a fine and chilled out Christmas. Thanks for all your support on so many levels in 2017 and for attending that great run of UK shows that brought a testing year to a close in style and smiles.
The day after the show in Glasgow the lurking lurgy wiped me out and laid me low across the entire holidays. The persistent cough is all that remains of my wee plague and it doesn’t look like leaving anytime soon.
I was lucky to have been able to have avoided it throughout the tour.It was around in various guises from Stirling onward and when Lazuli turned up in Cardiff with a very ill singer I was incredibly nervous.Their retirement from the tour before the London gigs was sad to witness and I genuinely felt for Domi and the band. Our circus was taking casualties and when John Beck went down I contemplated deserting the ‘Clown Carrier’ and leaving the band to travel alone while I took the train to Cambridge and then Newcastle for the last shows.I figured I was just as likely to pick up a virus on public transport as I was in the carrier and soldiered on.The early wake up calls for the Newcastle and Glasgow drives weren’t welcome and all I could do was focus on the last gig and suck on strepsils with fingers well and truly crossed around necks of bottles of water laced with beroccas.
I couldn’t have sung after Glasgow as I’d held back slightly at Newcastle and let loose on the last night well aware there was no more recovery required. I still woke up next day in a panic before I reminded myself that there wasn’t a show that night.
Over the next few days the texts and mails came in from the troupe all over the country declaring wipe out with Adrian our merch elf actually in hospital as he’d torn muscles from coughing so much.I just macramed myself into the couch in front of the fire and a warm TV screen for days on end, taking in movie after movie and wading my way through series after series while the lurgy dissipated and the gunge left my body.
Christmas was quiet with just Simone and my Mum here. I managed to wrangle with the turkey and between all of us we rustled up a fine meal.We saw Tara last Friday and had a great night together before heading to the football on Saturday and then a dinner party later that night which we had to leave early as my back was playing up.
My back and legs many of you may have noticed had been ‘playing up’ on the tour and necessitated me having a stool on the stage to give me some respite during shows.It’s been going on for a while and even before my wedding in October I had to get a couple of guided steroid injections so I was able to whirl an eight some reel on the dance floor. I saw my back specialist then and although an MRI scan showed no more need for invasive surgery and no further degradation I do however need to explore an intensive physio regime to sort out my ‘core muscles’. I admit to being in agony on stage at the end of the performances and had serious difficulty walking as my tendons were like piano strings. I’ve realised I have to seriously address this before I go on the road next.
And thus I discovered my New Year resolution.
I’d stopped going to the gym back in May when I had heart fibrillation issues but with those now dealt with I am now entering a period where I can put together a fitness regime over a long term and sort out these long standing problems. A good friend of mine has suggested Yoga and I’m looking at starting classes in the next couple of weeks as well as getting back to the gym.With no gigs on the cards until the summer it’s a great chance to get myself in shape and clear my head for writing the new album.
I’m excited about 2018 as I know it’s going to throw me some curveballs of opportunity that I am well used to hitting. The plans I am certain will go aglae but I believe this could be a year of massive changes which I’m sure will be mainly positive. I have a good feeling.
Happy New Year
Fish