Met a bloke named Sam at the park a few weeks back. Turkish fella with 4 kids, problems with the wife, but a sharp eye on fitness and wealth. We met Tuesday for a boys night out. A native of the area he filled me in on some of the good places to grab a kabob and showed me some interesting sites. One of which was the largest street market in England – a mile long strip located near Walthamstow Central – that at the time was closed and half full of the day’s rubbish blowing around the street.

We then went to the Walthamstow village square, which is one of my favorite places to hang out at. The square was mostly empty at the time save for two fellas casually bullshitting at a bench near ours. We ended up striking up a conversation with them. One of them was Italian, the other was some smartass from Venezuela I think. Not a smart ass in a provocative kinda way, just one of them folks that doesnt get basic social decorums. One of those folks that you half respect and half dislike for their lack of thought-to-speech filtration.

Sam is 42 years old, and ripped like a godamned Roman statue. How do I know? He was all too happy to show me pictures from his workout session that morning. I had already suspected he was in good shape during our meetups at the park, but its cold ’round these parts so ye really cant tell to what degree. Hell even I look pretty stacked with my coat on. Anyways, the dude is movie star material.

Actually on that note, Sam used to be in a boy band back in the 90s. Travelled up and down the UK doing concerts and festivals. Knew one of the Spice girls as well. Told me about all the crazy times he had back in the day.

Sam doesn’t really drink, only eats during the last 8 hours of the day, and works out 5 days a week. He’s inspired me actually. I really didn’t think you could have a washboard stomach in your 40s. You sure can. I will never have one because I like beer too much – but it is a nice reminder that one can still look like a spartan at this age.

Glasgow is my new favorite town in the UK. Although it was in full shutdown the entire time I was here, it still managed to charm me smitten. I am hoping to come back at some point and give it another go. Although the shutdown literally started as I was on the train to get here, I really lucked out with just about everything else.

My flatmates were extremely nice, quiet, and we all got along very well. One of them – the landlord – named Keira, picked me up from the train station and just happened to have a vehicle that was just large enough to stow two massive suitcases, a guitar, a large backpack, and me. Somewhere toward the end of her twenties, Keira is a beautiful young lady, a devout Christian, a workaholic, who loves the show ‘Friends’, and loves her cat even more.

My other roommate’s name was Kris. A Northern Irishman who has lived in Scotland for half his life, and long enough to sound like a proper Scot. Kris is the polar opposite of Keira in man ways. He loves Death Metal and grind core, he drinks like a sailor on a Friday night (we really hit it off there), and he cusses like one too. But he is also a very mindful and respectful fella, smart too, and he belts his words out when he speaks. Good guy.

Friday we had a little champagne to celebrate the good times we had together, and I gave a toast, thanking them for the hospitality. Saturday Kris made me haggis with mashed potatoes. Im glad I tried it, but Im not sure I ever will again. “Whats in it” I asked, “Oats and Awful”. Oats and what? Awful, like all the awful bits of the animal. Right.

My last day in Glasgow was supposed in involve one last walk around the town, the botanical gardens, etc… But Kris and I spent all night on Friday listening to jams, bullshittin’, playing poker, and more, all while cracking beers. When the beers gave out we moves onto wine, and then liquor. It was fun at the time, but the resulting hangover got up at around 1pm on Saturday, and I still had to pack and clean the room. So no grand departing voyage. I did go to Morrisons grocery store later that evening to pick up some ‘square’ sausage for Graeme.

Oh wait, one other reason I couldn’t go out is that I had some voiceover work to tend to. Must always nurture the income stream.

I lost a brother this month (Jan 12). Although not by blood, he was kin by just about every other measure. There is a certain level of rare friendship you reach with a person where time and distance no longer have much impact on the sum of the relationship. Scottie was one of those people. Over the past few years we didnt get to see eachother much, but when we did – up there in Merkel Texas – it was like the good ol’ days when we were together all the time. He was a mountain of a man with a heart of pure gold. Scottie had the amazing ability to light up a room wherever he went. Our friendship spanned almost 30 years.

He left a world that was truly better off with him in it.

https://www.starbuckfuneralhome.com/obituary/Scott-Lanphear?fbclid=IwAR1IO3V8vVMxJODIiLj4VyLXXoLq8gIqnO1pUZv148j-5vYrWF3yYAKYphs

Scottie was probably the biggest fan of an old band I was in from 10 or so years ago called 12 Gauge Strings. His favorite song was called “The Window”, which he would post periodically on social media. It is an existential tune that is hopeful that we all might meet up again one day on the other side.
It is your song now buddy.

The Window – Lyrics by Kati (Weldon) Horton

It’s 3 am and I’m lookin’ out my window

I realize that this life is passin’ me by

This life is fadin’ fast, As I journey back

Down the road that I’ve come along so far

I used to think that I had forever

To do the things that I wanted to get done

But forever is snatched away, at any moment of any day

I’ll never know when my day might come

Will I see you when I get there

Will it be the same as it is here

Will we pick up with life

Where we left off

Will the pain go away that I try to hide

Will the end result be worth the ride

And can I be sure that I’ll see you on the other side

Will I want to go if I find out they won’t be there

They’ve made my life what it is today

The other side just won’t suit me

Cuz my friends are a part of me

We’ll make this time worth each and every day

Nah nahs FOREVER

Crypto woes

Talk about a real pisser. For nearly 4 years I’ve been nurturing about 2k’s worth of crypto investing. I grew it to about $7k before having to finally tap into it. Just before moving here to Scotland I put all of my money into stable coin (maintains a dollar to dollar value), thereby effectively ending any further gains while mitigating any losses. Wouldn’t ya know it that the very next week the mkt swelled in a 3-year bull run that would have doubled my money. Oh well, a gain is a gain. And I know a few folks that fared much worse playing this game.

In fact, my Mother was telling me some fella cant unlock some crazy amount, like $200 million in crypto coz he forgot his password. Can you imagine?? Apparently the guy stated that he’s made peace with it all. I hope so. I wonder if a hypnotist could pull the password out of him? Of course then they would have the PW too. Probably wouldn’t be too hard to prove though if he ran off with it.

Wednesday, January 20^th

Went exploring today. Some beautiful parks that straddle the river Kelvin here. Everyone seems happy and content. The city is much cleaner than what Ive seen in London. But there again, rating parks in a city of 600,000 against one of 9 million presents a few hang-on-a-minutes.

Found a great place to pick up swill here in Glasgow. Place is called Valhalla’s Goat, and inside you’ll find labels from all over the world displayed proudly on the chests of a sea of perching bottles. From wine, to scotch, to beer, to cigars. I immediately went to the Belgium beer section and stood in awe at all the brands I had never heard of. Still though, it didn’t keep me from purchasing two old favorites, one Chimay Red and one Orval. Both are sold in the states and both are somewhat difficult to find, with the latter being more so.

One more thing, while I was in the store the BBC was streaming the presidential inauguration of the 46^th US President, Joe Biden. I had completely forgotten that was today. “Everything been stable so far?” I asked the clerk. “So far so good”.

One thing I’ve discovered here in the UK is that, if you ever need to know how things are going in the US, ask any European.

AS well, I got to discussing Scotch with the man. He gave me some good brands to check out since I like Balvenie so much. Lets see, this one here…(forgot name/fuzzy pic) ignore the shelf, this isn’t a highlands, it’s a speyside. “All highlands want to be Speysides” he said.

Really liking Glasgow. A very friendly place. Went to a Starbucks today and ordered a hot drink for 5 pounds or so. The barista said they don’t take non-contactless cards (mine is the old chip style card from the States), and that due to covid 19 they couldn’t take my cash either. OK no drink then. But the man insisted they would make it anyways and give it to me on the house. Just remember us and bring a contactless form of payment next time. Sure, do not see that kinda treatment in London much. It was a good drink.

Well after considerable deliberation as to how to handle three weeks’ worth of radical living changes here in London, I’ve decided to move to Scotland for a minimum of 1 month. The house I am presently staying in is being remodeled to include a loft conversion, effectively making it into a 3-story home. Now, in order to add a third floor, you have to remove the roof from the second. This open-heart phase of the operation will last almost one month, and will dramatically cut down on the available living space for us all.

So off to Scotland I go on a wild hare journey to Glasgow.

Ill be staying with two flat-mates I met online, who seem to be very friendly and chill. It will be interesting living as a tenant in a sublet home, as it was just a year or so ago that I was on the other side of the table, renting out a third room in Denton (this actually gives me an idea for a future post Roomies: The Best and Worst of). Im looking forward to it, but to be one-hundred percent honest, Im a wee bit nervous, and a bit sad. Im going to miss the family here.

This might be the coldest time of year to be in Scotland, but I am very much looking forward to seeing as much as I can. As such, Ill be bringing along my camera, tripods and whatever else I can think of to preserve the moments.