flossie suvara

And for that matter, "honour"

Unless of course you're an american, in which case I apologise.

Flossie

I went to Tobermory with my daughter last Easter - here's what I can tell you:

The Oban-Mull ferry docks at Craignure - it's about 25 miles from Tobermory. The road to Tobermory is a mixture of normal roads and single track with passing places - it's the done thing to pull in to let cars past you (we got stopped by the police and told this).

Balamory is no longer in production, although there is still a lot of kids toys and stickers available in the local stores. You will notice major changes from the telly however - Edi Mcreedie's garage is now a chocolate shop. Josie Jumps house is owned by a grizzled old curmudgeon, who apparently delights in telling kids who ask where Josie is that he's killed her and buried her under the floorboards.

Archie's castle is not in Tobermory - it's near North Berwick

All the other houses are there - you can (or at least could) pick up a location map showing where all the houses are.

If it rains, then you'd better have lots of toys and games with you, as there is nothing more depressing than a small Scottish seaside town in the rain - there's very little to do.

If the weather is fine, then there's walks and beaches, with nature abounding - plenty of dolphins, seals, etc.

Shopwise, there's some nice craft and gift shops along the sea front.

If you're driving to Oban, the Green Welly stop at Tyndrum is a hodgepodge of shops (mainly Scottish craft and outdoor stuff) with an ok restaurant.

And a bit of trivia - apparently, the show was called Balamory to avoid confusion with the womble character Tobermory.

Hope that helps

Flossie

It was in today's P&J and Evening Express (at least the online versions)...

Funnily enough, the band you refer to were mentioned in the article...

Flossie

I stopped using spray deodorants about 6 years ago and now use solid aromarant deodorant from Lush (sandalwood) - I can heartily recommend it. (I did try the patchouli flavoured one, but it makes you smell like a hippy who has slept in a ditch)

Regards

Flossie

Of course, if you don't put inverted commas around your band name, then google will search for each individual word, rather than the phrase itself - which could mean a stewards inquiry for a number of the listed results....

For example - with band names in inverted commas

Your Own Disaster - 48,600

My Chemical Romance - 3, 210,000

Regards

Flossie

I won one of the blue moon travel guitars in a competition a couple of years ago

The Hobgoblin Acoustic Guitar Front Page

It's ok - the teardrop shape makes it a bit strange to play sitting down initially, but it's got a decent enough sound, and has survived quite a few trips to festivals and scout camps - comes with a gigbag with shoulder straps, but there's not much padding in it.

Regards

Flossie

Try charity shops - The VSA have one on George Street (right hand side heading up towards Kittybrewster, just before the Hutcheon Street lights) that is specifically for curtains, blankets and bedding. They've also got a massive one on the Gallowgate beside St Margaret's chuch (opposite the Blue Lamp). They wash everything (I think) so it shouldn't smell.

Regards

Flossie

2007 has been (so far) a good year for additions to the Flossie Music Room (although Mrs Flossie is putting her foot down and forbidding any more purchases until I move into the loft, excepting a harp).

This year I have acquired

1 clay ocarina

2 antique fiddles

1 antique single row melodeon

1 set of boomwhackers (accidentals only)

and am awaiting delivery of

1 xaphoon

1 solid electic twin pickup electric mandolin

and yesterday I bought from a charity shop, for the princely sum of 9, an electo-classical guitar (with no soundhole!?!) - done some research and apparently it's a "convertible" guitar - the bridge can be changed from nylon to steelstrung - if you have the bridge, which I don't.

So I'm quite pleased.

Regards

Flossie

Far far too many to list here, but I think the majority of them can be found here

The Lorelei

Regards

Flossie

After 20 years or so, you still astound me with your ability to find weird and wonderful instruments...

That thing looks (and sounds) great. You getting one?

Merry Christmas, by the way...

I'm tempted, but having received various monetary gifts for Christmas, I've got my heart set on this first

GR3142 Ashbury FM60 Electric Mandolin

Maybe if there's anything left over after my birthday I may investigate a Xaphoon.

Hope everyone at Frosty Towers had a great day too

Flossie

Alternatively, if pennies are scarce after Christmas, there's this:

Xaphoon - The Maui Xaphoon (Bamboo Sax or Bamboo Flute)

Hobgoblin music are selling it for 45 (Other Woodwind - Hobgoblin Music)

Regards

Flossie

That's right - Boleskine House -

Boleskine House - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Crowley's life and work are interesting, but he was a bit of a fruit loop...

Regards

Flossie

Without a shadow of a doubt, if you want to:

a) Get yourself known outwith Aberdeen and

b) Dramatically improve yourselves as a band

then gigging outside Aberdeen is a must.

A looong time ago (early to mid 90's), my band (The Lorelei, now reformed, and appearing at the Lemon Tree on December 23rd, along with Eric Euan and Onion Terror) did what a lot of current Aberdeen bands do - played Aberdeen to death. Before long, we noticed that attendance at our Aberdeen gigs were dropping - purely because we were playing Aberdeen too often.

So we took the first tentative steps on the road to futher afield, and bought an ex-council minibus, took the back 2 rows of seats out and started gigging elsewhere - Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Turriff (!?). At this time, most of the band had full-time jobs, and managed trips away by either taking holidays, or by travelling there after work, doing the gig then travelling back the same night, which made for some very tired working days (especially when the van broke down and we only got home courtesy of the AA at 6am, before starting work again at 8:30)

Before too long, that first van blew up (threw a rod through the engine block), but we persevered and bought another ex-council minibus and continued. We ended up playing further and further afield, from Shetland to London, Cardiff to Ullapool. At one point we played almost 100 gigs in 1 year (and recorded our second album which took the best part of 2 months).

All the band at that point had taken the massive step of jacking in their full time jobs, and believe me it IS a massive step. However, there are a few downsides to constant gigging.

1) Prepare to be really poor - At one point, in preperation for a trip to London, I was reduced to using the Marks and Spencers vouchers I got as a leaving present from my work to buy food (soup, tins of cold meat, etc) from Markies, and also packed a camping stove and kettle, so I didn't have to pay extortionate prices in service stations for a cup of coffee.

2) Make sure you don't drink your money away whilst on tour - otherwise you might not have enough to pay for fuel on the way home. (Or food - see below) We had to pass the hat round a few times whilst playing in London to make sure we could get further than Watford gap - mind you , the second van was a tad thirsty.

3) Be prepared to be bored and hungry. Unless you're lucky enough to be wealthy already, you'll live on cheap white bread, cheap cold meat, etc. And because you'll spend what little money you make at gigs on food/fuel, there's no money spare to spend on actually seeing the sights of where you're playing. Some venues supply food and/or accomodation for touring bands (kudos to The Wheatsheaf in Leighton Buzzard, who, although only a pub, ensured that bands playing their got a huge meal of chili after the soundcheck, and who also had a deal with the local indian restaurant which meant that the leftovers from the buffet could be eaten by bands.)

4) Be prepared in general. (I am a scout leader, so it's second nature to me) Think of every possible disaster and take what steps you can to avoid it:

Join the AA

Take spare everything - batteries, strings, kettle leads, jack leads, drumsticks

Take camping equipment - a tent is a godsend when there's only enough room in the van to sleep 3 people comfortably(ish) and there's 6 in the band, and the aforementioned stove can save you being ripped off too much by service stations.

If you're passionate about your music, and are reasonably good, then playing gigs outside Aberdeen can only make you better. If you've done lots of Aberdeen gigs, then you're probably lucky enough to have had the use of the in-house PAs in most places. A lot of places don't have their own PAs, so you'll have to buy your own small vocal PA, and being restrained this way really makes you think about how you should go about setting up and getting the best sound possible. Some venues are small, some are tiny (we played in a windowsill in one pub in Inverness) and some are relatively large. Beware however of only playing the same set wherever you go - it was one of the (many) downfalls of The Lorelei first time round that we spent so much time travelling and playing gigs that we didn't put enough work into writing new material.

That's my perspective - hope it's useful.

Regards

Flossie

• 
  Baby on Board signs on the backs of cars.......exactly why the fuck do I or any other road users need to know this? Is it there in an effort to make other road users drive more safely, if so, shouldn't that 'luxury' be extended to everyone regardless?? Just reeks of smug/twee 'look what we made' parents. Bugs my tits

They're not there for other road users, but for paramedics/emergency services, so that in the case of a crash, they can prioritise the vehicles most likely carrying small children.

Regards

Flossie

Sounds like a great idea to me.

In the depths of the past, The Lorelei toured regularly, with about a dozen trips down to london. Transport was an ex-council transit minibus which regularly broke down, and which was even thirstier than some of the band, so fuel costs there and back would be at least 200. Add the costs of food onto that and it was lucky that we could make enough from gigs to make it home, let alone eat. More than once we ended up busking or passing the hat round in pubs to try and get enough donations so we could make it back to Aberdeen.

If MMW get enough donations from this to get a decent bus which doesn't break down so regularly that you get on first name terms with the AA man at Dumfries services, then that's magic. If they actually get enough money so that they can afford to tour AND eat properly, and even afford a couple of pints, that's a bonus. Take it from me - touring on a shoestring is shit.

Regards

Flossie

I mind being told of a 'hidden' street behing the Jessops on Market street ages ago. I thought it was just a wind up but who knows.

The other one I was told was that the pole thing on Justice Mill Lane (on the junction between the Foundry and Glentanar pubs) is to allow air out/in of an underground tunnel that runs right under aberdeen down to the beach. Again I thought someone was taking the piss.o_O

Don't know about it being for an underground tunnel, but it's certainly a ventilator - I was under the impression that it was for the sewers though, to stop a build up of methane gas. I think there's one on Hutcheon street as well

Just done a quick search - it's certainly a ventilation shaft, but for what - who can say....

http://www.scottishironwork.org/datacat.asp?type=st

Regards

Flossie

when i was in venture scouts we used to have a bothy down by lunan bay. great times!

/x

Was that the one right on the edge of the cliff, with Electricity, pool table in the woodshed next door, and overlooking the old lime kiln? If so, I took my Ventures to it many years ago (oh, at least 8 years ago I think). We knew it as "Arthur's Bothy", but I don't know if that name means anything to you.

Regards

Flossie

No. They like animals. Not humans.

Not tested on animals...

But what is some were to fall onto a dog? (one of my favourite Royle family quotes)

Regards

Flossie

Apologies to Jews and Muslims everywhere. With these two faiths' date=' I can't quite fathom the necessity of prohibiting the eating of porcine meat.[/quote']

If I remember my RE class at school correctly, it's most likely that the prohibition against Pork was due to health reasons - Islam and Judaism originating in a hot/desert region, where pork would quickly spoil and be host to lots of unpleasant parasites.

Regards

Flossie

A very interesting question, and one which has already brought forth interesting replies, with no doubt more to come - here's my tuppenceworth.

As a warranted explorer scout leader, it's part of the promise I make to "do my duty to God" - which kind of fits in quite nicely with my beliefs. I'm not a religious person, but I am a spiritual person. I'm a great believer in "gnosis", which is personal connection between God and the individual - so "my" duty to god, is how I personally view/interact/believe. In my opinion, organised religion is, in the whole, a barrier to any individual connecting with the divine, as there are too many conflicting rules, "Thou shalt nots", bigotry, fundamentalists, hatred and general crapness involved.

As to what "God" is, I'm not sure. I believe that there is definately something which is "divine" (for want of a better word). However, as to what this divinity is - I don't know, and to be honest I don't think it matters. It could be either macrocosmic - a huge incomprehensible force that permeates the entire universe (like the traditional Christian view of God) or microcosmic - the tiny spark within all of us that is life. (Similar to the monkeys and typewriters - you could put the chemical elements that make up a living thing in an infinite number of testtubes in infinite varying quantities and never achieve "life" - something would always be missing).

Regards

Flossie

Does nobody sell Babycham anymore? That's pear cider, or Perry...

Flossie

Patsy Kensit

However,

Chaka Khan

but

Brian Cant;

Walt Disney

and

Michael Winna (Winner)

Regards

Flossie

Try the Sue Ryder Charity shops - there's one at Holburn Junction (just down from the church, but before the PDSA charity shop) and another on George Street (just up from the old Superbowl) - they're selling acoustic guitars (new) for about 30. Don't know what the quality would be like, but I'm sure they'd be more than suitable for campfire singalongs.

Regards

Flossie

We'll be finished by about 12:30am (onstage at about 11:20 ish)

Regards

Flossie

Sounds fairly simple to fix - get some wooden match sticks (remove the bit you strike) and put one (or two if it's a big hole) into the hole where the screw goes. Cut the end of the matchstick(s) flush with the bass, then try screwing the strap button back in. The wood of the matchstick should give the screw something to bite on, and should ensure a strong hold.

Regards

Flossie