17/07/16

Last night I skidaddled off up to the Swindle shuffle – Swindon’s own version of the Camden Crawl, which is now in it’s tenth year. I’ve played it a few times, but alas not this year. Anyway, I thought it’d be good to make an appearance anyway, albeit in punter format.

Anybody that knows me well, knows that I have long held a strange obsession about wanting to live on a Scottish island. I think it probably stems from my early twenties when myself and a couple of mates decided to go to Scotland on a whim, culminating in a camping escapade on the island of Kerrera just off the west coast of Scotland. I reckon it was this, melded with an increasing urge for intermittant creative solitude that had led to this obsession. One day it will happen, i’m sure, as one knows that ambitions MUST be fulfilled.

I’ve deviated off track, but the reason why i’m telling you about this fifteen year need of being on an island is because last night I was chatting to a local musician at the Shuffle and he mentioned that there was a Tove Jansson documentry on recently and he’d meant to message me on Facebook to let me know. Tove, was the creator of The Moomins and Brendan (the Musician) for a while has likened my drawings to her work, which is rather complimentry, although I know what he is getting at; she lived on a tiny island in Finland and she drew whimsical and homely yet dark images and wrote childlike yet philosphical novels… my drawings are way scrattier, but yeah, there are parallels in there somewhere.

But, so yeah, I thought i’d re-activate my Facey today, cos, although I love my self imposed facebook deactivation, social isolation, and my island dreams, I guess I still harbour a deep need for social interaction… but I can’t lie, I still dream of that island off the coast of Scotland; but I want it on my own terms – a helipad for shipping in friends to come and go, to make music with (in my own recording studio of course) and a pub to frequent when the island shop runs out of tinnies.

I honestly think, this is the dream.