Bassfinger

That particular plane took a couple of us over to Belgium for a meeting. It belongs to a chap who was arranging finance for the project we were involved in, so for him he was combining business and pleasure. An industrial geologist deals with the identifidstion and extradcition of metals, rare earth minerals, fossil fuels etc for the purposes of industry. My end of the business deals with the bit between resources being identified and assessed as financially feasible to extract, and full on production. I sit in the middle, involved while such finds are in the process of being set up for industrial level extraction. I spend very little time doing the actual geology I'm qualified for and a lot deciding what equipment will be required, for how long, what's its market value is likely to be when we've finished with it, etc, which I'm not qualified for.

Industrial geologist.

You'll note that i'd smartened myself up and was wearing formal Jesus boots in readiness for my afternoon meeting in Belgium.

No gigging photos, and as I steadfastly refuse to have a smartphone no selfies either. Best I can manage is a snap of me mincing about at work.

I practice, practice, practice for an hour a day when I'm at home. 15 minutes of scales, over and over and over, and 45 of playing along to songs that are taking my fancy. Sometimes the same song many times if I'm keen to perfect it. I do a bit on reading on theory. Nothing heavy, magazine articles and internet tutorials, and it helps to be able to read music. However, I try not to get too hung up on it - some of the most amazing guitar and bass players are breaking pretty much every rule in the musical book yet still make my spine tingle when I listen in. Some of what is good/correct/right is also a bit subjective too. I'm not trying to make a living off it so i'm treading the fine line between having a bit of fun and expanding my knowledge without it getting too onerous. I'll stick to absorbing short tutorials here and there, stopping short and hiring a tutor or buying books on the subject.

I have a thing for Rick-O basses, and wood finishes too so that's a double thumbs up from me too. Ding dong.

Shadow with rosewood for me please chief. I'm a man of simple tastes, which ks likely why I married the ex wife.

Oh my cod! You mean there's no Fish? I'd have got myself straight outta that plaice. You won't have a whale of a time if he's not there, eel be sure of that. It's a damp squid without him.

And it seems I'm being taken to see Elvana next month.

Grand Funk Railroad.

I do hope it clears up for you. Mention this on a guitar forum and you'd see lots of "well Django had no arms and managed ok" type responses.

Never come across that before. Is there anything visible?

I can drive our Smart car just fine, although I discovered its near impossible with my Dad in the passenger seat as he's much the same size as me and we overlap in the middle too much. Ditto my Daughters old Peugeot 107 (that was a fun car to thrash about). No, it seems to be the run of the mill sized cars where I struggle, the Golf's, Mondeo's etc. That's part of the reason I went for the XC90. Work are used to me hiring large cars or pickups when I'm in the field, although my current firm's bean counters got stressey over it when I first joined. I put a stop to it - when I was at the London office for a presentation I popped in to see said bean counter, squeezed into her office chair, and asked how she thought I would fit in a Fiesta when I struggle to even close the drivers door on a Mondeo due to the restricted shoulder width? To be fair she apologised, and as long as I don't extract the urine (no Bentley SUV's etc) I get them signed off ok now. It has occasionally caused problems where I've been unable to squeeze into light aircraft at work. Pilots are, quite rightly, picky about flying with the doors open and more than once I've been left on the tarmac having to find alternative transport (usually sucking it up and hiring a pickup and taking my time, but once the firm sprang for a helo) because I couldn't fit on board. Cessna 15x, 17x, 18x series no problem, Robin's no way, some Socata's are OK (the wide fuselage models, just).

A layer of chrome plate keeps nickel looking nice and shiny.

Christ, I have a hard enough time finding trousers at 6'5" with a 35 inside leg. An extra inch would be ruinous (fnarr).

I supposed it would sell so well if they simply described it as a "brown speaker".

I know my height as that is what the Army measured me at when I had my medical. I was 18 by then so don't suppose I've got any taller.

Yodel jerked me around last week. I'm off work at the moment, but still have a life. Nevertheless, when I got the alert at 0629hrs that the parcel was now out for delivery I elected to remain in all day as it was a large item (a JB body) and I didn't want it left on the doorstep. It didn't arrive until lunchtime the next day. The only one I like is DPD, purely because the Sikh guy that does our local round has been doing it for donkeys and is well known, and doesn't take the pith. If he ever left to do something else we'd be stuffed.

Booked to see Jethro Tull in Aylesbury next September, though doubtless will have seen someone else before then.

Not that I'm a woodologist of any kind, but I'm pretty sure the fingerboard isn't mahogany. I'm not sure how he thinks bolting on £360 worth of bits to a £150 bass suddenly makes the instrument worth £399. Those maths never worked when I was 17 and souping up my Allegro by bolting spoilers and spotlights to it, and nearly 35 years on those maths still don't add up for musical instruments.

If you see a Kay guitar with stickers then they're probably there for structural purposes.

Great player, but leaves me cold. Not my thing at all.

I love the sheen on the headstock.

Don't Believe a Word, Thin Lizzy.