It’s my day off today. The weather down here is…well its Invercargill so I got another load of firewood in this morning and haven’t gone back outside since. It means I can have a good practice and learn some more stuff on the gat though so all is well. I have been learning ‘Here Comes the Sun’ by George H and ‘Hey Hey’ by Eric C. This is such a great website to expand on your style with.

I was born and raised in Levin and came down here to do paediatric social work at the local hospital until I needed to get away from all the over developed senses of entitlement. I thought I would work at the prison that’s a step away from social work. Not really. Prisoners complain to amuse themselves and the political environment tends to err on the side of the prisoner more and more in its attempt to recognise a persons' rights.

Working at the prison has some laughs though. A prisoner asked me a question the other day. He said “ Hey mister, what’s the best thing about living a stone’s throw away from your mother in law?” I considered his question thinking about his sentence plan. I replied “I don’t know, maybe minding the kids, that’s always helpful?” He said “nah it’s having a gravel driveway”

It’s an interesting place Invercargill, built over reclaimed swampland in the majority. Summer starts around mid January and roughly by the end of February it turns grey cold windy and wet and stays that way until January the next year. It’s ok if you don’t mind the elements and a low wind chill from the pole. I like to hunt so I don’t mind it unless I need to paint or mow the lawns. If you need to paint your house, they say the trick is to have a working bee so it’s done in one day just allowing drying time before it rains again… otherwise it’s a saga.

I have been mostly a classical guitar player since I learnt guitar. I used to play bass guitar in garage bands before that but eventually wanted to actually progress from garages so switched to the more solo pursuit of classical music. Funny thing I noticed since being in Invercargill that there is only one Spanish Style classical guitar for sale in the local music shop here. All the rest are plectrums and electrics. I’m not joking they only have one. I don’t think they have many classical guitarists here.

I was thinking once I cross off some of the projects I have going at present I could maybe do some serious work at getting back into the guitar more. I just finished restoring an old Grey Sport BSA women’s bicycle for Cindy. It’s around 1950s. I will put a photo of it on the album later when I can find the camera. Before that I did a 1940’s Ladies black BSA loop frame. Unfortunately it has 28 inch wheels so is too high for Cindy to comfortably ride hence the second bike being a 26 inch sport model. I put the seat down as low as it would go too lol.