How do you know when the fog is lifting……

It’s been a very difficult and often confusing last few months on a personal level, that Fog of Depression fell heavily and it can have some very odd effects on a person, time can just drift without you getting anything done, even the most basic tasks can be started and then disappear into space. But hey, it is what it is and with some help and trying to get the right balance of medication we will get there. with a bit of luck and continuing to try and get something done each day we will get out of the mire.

Yesterday got out for a walk with the family to a wonderful calming place that I’ve mentioned before and National Botanical Gardens in Glasnevin, Dublin is that place for me, always has been, and alongside getting out for a lovely walk I managed to bring along the camera and take some photos, so a productive day, and with nature providing us with some beautiful colour at this time of year it’s a nice time to get out there.

My son bumped into some squirrel friends and a few ducks along the way and I don’t think we’ve ever managed to get so close to Heron’s and a Moorhen that hangs around in one of the Ponds, these are all things out in the fresh air that manage to clear the head a little and help you to feel a little more like yourself, I think I’ll get up early one morning next week and get down for a few hours. The little guy doesn’t normally take much notice of the wildlife around the Gardens, but he had a good laugh with one of the squirrels yesterday which was nice to see, and then he decided he wanted to get in a Mini Digger that the workers were using to clear out and area, can’t bring him anywhere 🙂

There is something though about being out in nature that changes the mind frame in a positive way. The quiet is generally only interrupted by the running of water cascading around, or birds rustling in the trees and scrabbling with ducks for some visitors scraps..

Really need to get the walking and diet back on track and alongside it the some of the other things will start to fix themselves. Sleep alongside exercise and diet make a huge difference, but when you are down in a hole it’s just so easy to fall off the rails a bit, or a lot, and not as easy to get back on track again when you do it. Wellbeing is a work in progress now, there is no doubt in my mind that the pandemic and issues that came along with it piled onto already strained mental capacity. What I would advise to anyone though is don’t just try and deal with it on your own, when you reach a point where you are no longer picking yourself up and feeling better by yourself, go talk to people, family, friends or professional, just do it, sometimes talking won’t be enough and medication will be needed to help you back up on the ladder, it’s a process and it can take some time, there’s not defining it to say you will be better in two weeks.

Currently, like many places in Europe Ireland is once again suffering from rising Covid cases, to an extent where our hospitals are again at full capacity and going forward it’s an unsustainable situation. Staff are overstretched and there’s clearly not enough of them to cover surges, illness cover for themselves or God forbid any sort of major incident that required a number of ICU beds, they simply aren’t available. So for the moment entertainment is back open, but for how long, I’m still missing gigs terribly, had to skip a couple last week, but fingers crossed will get to a small show this weekend, I know already that getting to live music helps me mentally, so if some form of events are still on I’ll try and get to them, but would definitely think again about Sold Out shows at busy venues, catching Covid isn’t something that would help at all right now. From tomorrow Thursday 18th November in Ireland Pubs/Nightclubs will have to close by Midnight, which will more than likely have a knock on effect on gigs planned for venues with Nightclubs, if a decision is made to not open the venues for Nightclubs they may also decide to stay closed, showing it’s still a very difficult time for Venues and Promoters, and of course for bands and workers in the industry. We can just hope that some sort of stability comes back soon, even though gigs are back in the UK and other countries they are far from stable, far from the way things should be and a lot of the time you don’t really know who’s on a lineup until you are there.

So far the new medication seems to be having no bad effects with the other medications I’m on, so that’s definitely a positive, the increase in strength is a balancing act much like my Epilepsy medication, so nothing I’m not used to and once it’s correct things should start to feel a lot better, fingers crossed. All we can do is keep working on these thing and look after our mental health as much as possible, it seems to be much more difficult in this day and age when it should in many ways be much easier, what a strange time we live in. But this week I’m not feeling quite so lost, let’s see if we can keep track of the days, as that’s definitely something that has fallen to the wayside recently, hours disappear into days, days into weeks and all of a sudden it’s nearly the end of 2021. Won’t be sad to see the end of another year which hasn’t brought much good to us all, but even mid November I look forward to 2022 and what it may bring, more gigs, better health and hopefully a World with a better way of dealing with the Covid crisis.

Musically, I have been to a sum total of one weekend of Live Music so far this year, with some luck 2021 will finish with me being at a few more and maybe even getting to shoot some of them, starting this weekend.

Shrapnel at This Is Not An Uprising in Firebug, Leicester.

Stay safe out there, even when you have been vaccinated you can still catch Covid, still end up in Hospital or very sick, so hand washing, wearing a facemask, whatever is in place, let’s keep on helping each other by doing it. In 2022 I’ld like to be able to travel to Gigs and Festivals again, in Northern Ireland, the rest of the UK and Europe if I can, it may not be easy. but lets be honest, life often isn’t that easy, but we get through it, so a bit more positive thinking may be in order to help us get there.At the end of the day it’s a lot more involved than just being able to travel to a venue, the festivals this year have been ravaged by losing so many US and European acts that had either made the decision not to travel this year, were unable to do so anyway, or the sheer logistics could not be figured out to make things work. Here’s hoping to an improved time for the industry as a whole, I’m looking forward to catching bands, but most importantly to catching up with friends that I’ve not been able to see in person for 2 years now. Even if that turns into 3 years, it will happen again and that will be some feeling.

Trying to stay a bit productive in lockdown central….

Like most of us, it’s not easy being stuck in this Lockdown, especially when there’s a very active young child bouncing around the walls of the house, so the new set of Jabra Elite 65T wireless earbuds was a really good investment to try and keep things a little more quiet when trying to work from home. Honestly I picked them up for my daily walks as sometimes you can catch your hands in the cables of standard headphones and that was an annoyance that wasn’t needed, I saw them on offer and decided it made sense, and yep, they have been great for walking outdoors and also being around the house.

 

One positive of being stuck around the house is that it would appear I have finally been able to get back to doing some review writing again, So go check out the latest couple of reviews over on my Reviews – Albums/Gigs 2020 and seeing as there aren’t going to be any gig reviews for some time it’s great to be back in the saddle so to speak on the Album Review front.  Latest additions are the brilliant new Dynasty album and yet another excellent release from Newman, both for my good friends over at RockposerDotCom.  Links to both reviews are on the page below, hope you like them, there will, touch wood, be many more to follow.  Also, without new gigs, will be looking back at some from last year and will add them to the page as well.

Reviews – Albums/Gigs 2020

 

Hope everyone is keeping busy, healthy and sane throughout this crisis, it is of course more difficult depending on your situation, I have to be extra careful since the heart attack, and still need to get out and exercise. Sadly even if I didn’t can’t visit my sick mother, so that’s an extra strain, but I know she is being well looked after by a caring group of staff where she is, so that is a comfort. Right time to get out and have that walk, stick a new album on the headphones and see where the walk today leads, it’s really important to get fresh air for mental health, four walls no matter what sort of accommodation you live in can close in around you after a period of time, add to that being stuck in it’s much more difficult to eat healthy foods, get a little down and it’s much easier to reach for chocolate rather than fruit, but I will hopefully get there. As more and more gigs and Festivals are either cancelled or postponed until next year it’s looking like a very quiet Summer ahead. But 2021 is going to be crazy busy for gigs, so bring it on, will definitely be trying to get to some different places next year, if Germany doesn’t happen this year then next year will try and bring the camera along.

 

The little man is being a brat today, but he’s going to have good days and bad too, gotta try and keep patient with everyone and everything, new music is out there, lots to listen to, new albums to buy and keep helping out your favourite acts if of course you can in difficult financial times, and hopefully we’ll all be out at a gig on the other side of this thing.

#stayhome #staysafe