Tues 28th April
Today was a potter day. I relaxed in bed for a while then walked into Campbeltown to have a look round the shops. As I mentioned in a previous post, I have started using shops/craft shops as galleries and inspiration. I went into one that had lovely jewellery and paintings, and I bought two cards for family birthdays. I stumbled across a chocolate shop with fancy chocolates where you can compile your own box, so I chose 3 to my liking. Within some of the gift/craft shops, I had noticed that some artists use shells to paint scenes on. So rather than me just have a stash of shells doing nothing, I thought I would buy myself some paints when I spotted them in a local wool/craft shop. I then popped to the grocers to stock up on some fresh food; I planned to make a curry today. Then I popped to Co-op to get chocolate supplies and other such items and also send the birthday cards off at the post office attached.
I have a chip on my windscreen, which occurred on my very first day travelling in the van, and I’ve been meaning to pop into a garage to see if they can fill it. I passed by the one in Campbeltown to ask if they did windscreen repairs, but they have a specialist come in to do those jobs. I didn’t want to pay to have someone come into town especially, so left it.
As I was heading out of town I remembered I needed my water bottles filling. I had 4 altogether with me. I walked into a café and asked for them to be filled, but only handed over 2, as I wasn’t actually buying anything. I just feel guilty and rude always asking, so didn’t want to push my luck with 4.
On the way into town, I came across the public loos. These are always a treat, being able to use the loo without having to buy a drink in a pub or feel guilty for not buying anything. I made sure I used them again before the walk back to the van. Although I stopped at a picnic bench as I walked, with the bay to my left, to finish my flask of tea and have the chocolate I’d bought, while I read a bit of my book.
It was a long walk back with the water now weighing down my backpack, and the shopping bag full of shopping pulling on my arm. I had a quick cuppa when I got back and then cracked on with dinner. When cooking in the van you have to have a process, as you don’t have the same amount of room as you do at home, you don’t have water/space to be washing up as you go along, and you don’t have the same amount of equipment. So, I prepped my veg before moving onto preparing the chicken. I used onion, mushroom, carrots, leek and garlic, oooh what a treat. I just used a bog standard medium curry powder, but oh my it was delicious, I thoroughly enjoyed eating it with my picture-perfect view outside to look at, along with the gannets diving in the bay.
I’d needed to get dinner going early as I was off out tonight. I’d made contact with the local brass band to see if I could attend their rehearsal and they were more then happy to have me there. Campbeltown have 3 bands, a beginner, junior and senior, with the senior band being in the 2nd section, which is the same section as Birmingham Band who I used to play with. I thought I was going to be late, as I was having problems finding it at 6.50, and they started at 7pm, but as I popped my head round the door there was only the MD and one player! They explained there may not be a great attendance, as the majority of the band are students and a lot of them had exams on. I spoke to Katrina at the end, who I assume is the chairperson, and she explained that all the players come from the town, which I think is amazing. She mentioned how they are always evolving and shifting players around, as players get better or older they move up, and they are always working on the new players coming through. Owen is the MD and brass teacher in the town, but the council only allocate 10 hours for him to give lessons, so the band have to fund the rest of the time they want him for lessons by finding grants. Katrina also explained that the man who used to own the Springbank distillery left a trust when he died. He was apparently a millionaire and has millions in his trust to give to young brass players. If they decide to study music at university the trust pays for a new instrument and for all accommodation costs. They were a lovely bunch of players, and we played a few pieces I knew, Blue Rondo Alla Turk, Pastime with Good Company, Pirates of the Caribbean. They had also come 2nd at their local area contest, which meant they were going to the national finals in York in September, so we got the music out (Song of Courage by Eric Ball) and read through it as we listened to a recording. Interesting piece, but the recording tended to pull the tempos around a bit, not sure if it’s meant to be like that, or if the band on the recording were using artistic licence.