Music, and ink, and pounds, and pots and pots of love...

I've just had my favourite band name tattooed onto my side. Why? Well...

I think it was 1989 (I know I was 15, so it might have been 1990…), my pal’s big brother was going to Glasgow to a gig.  For reasons I can’t even remember we were deemed worthy of going with him and his mate. My pre-parenthood life is all very hazy so I’m not sure who supported who, but the bands we saw were Texas and GUN.  I dunno where we even were, Glasgow somewhere!

Texas were pretty cool, I still have a soft spot for them. But GUN were just right up my street.  Their first album hadn't long been released and once I had it bought, it was played LOTS! I still count Taking on the World as one of the most perfect albums I own, it still makes me just as happy when I play it now, 27 years later. Actually, I think I probably appreciate it even more now.

I have no idea how many times in the 1990s I saw GUN (and Texas!) live, but lots!  I do remember the first time I chatted to any of them – it was 1994 at the very first T in the park at Strathclyde Country Park.  I went with my pal Caroline, we worked together in RBS.  We had a very funny chat with Mark Rankin, their original singer, (there were a few pints of Tennents involved…) and Peter Cunnah from D:Ream about the use of punctuation in their band name. Again, hazy but it’s in there somewhere!

They released lots more cracking material, I went to some phenomenal gigs.  I was a teenager – I had posters up in my bedroom J  In 1997 (no longer a teen, but still obsessed!), Radio Forth had a weekend long competition running. Each show they would play a GUN track and you had to phone in when you heard it.  The prize each time was the GUN back catalogue on CD, plus entry in to the draw for the big prize – a weekend in Lisbon, Portugal where the guys were playing a festival.

I sat in front of the radio all weekend.  I remember my mum and dad going up to see the grandparents Dundee and to visit my old auntie in Kirriemuir, but I refused to leave the house as I was so desperate to win the big prize!  I actually ended up winning 3 x back catalogues of CDs AND the trip to Portugal!  Happy days!!!

It was a great weekend, I took my friend Lynne and we had a ball with all the people from other areas in the UK who had won.  It’s a bit hazy yet again, there was a lot of booze! But we got to hang out with the guys backstage and there are lots of cool photos from the weekend. 

But not long after that they announced they were splitting up – gutted!  I had a lovely letter from the girl from A&M records who had been with us in Lisbon, inviting us to the last show but I wasn’t able to make it L

Round about the same time, I was 24 so either late 1997 or early 1998, my brothers and I had all discussed getting a tattoo as they were both moving away.  We never did get this arranged, but I had the idea of a tattoo in my head so decided to get one anyway. I toyed with various ideas, one being a GUN one.  But as they had split I decided to go with something else, a small spiral thingy on my ankle.

>>FF to 2008 – they’re back! Well, Jools and Dante from the original line-up are back - and with Toby Jepson on vocals! I quite liked Little Angels when Toby was with them so was keen to hear the new sound. They played a cracking gig at the Carling Academy in Dec 2008, that was a really cool night! By now, though, I had a 5 year old little munchkin on my hands and as much as I would have loved to have gone to see them more, it just wasn’t feasible.  Cash and childcare were limited. And then Toby left the band in 2010, I wondered if that was the end again but no, Dante moved from bass and took over vocals.  Happy days again!

Since then it has been like watching them start all over again, with all the highs and lows that that brings.  I know I get sick of seeing comments like “it’s shit without Mark Rankin on vocals” on YouTube videos etc., so I’ll assume it’s a bit tiresome for them too! 

The first time I saw them with Dante on vocals was at Electric Circus in Edinburgh in 2012 when they released a new album – Break the Silence. It was SO good seeing them again! Stuck around briefly after the gig to say hi but I had to run off for the last train back to sunny Fife.

Over the past few years I’ve been able to get to a lot more gigs again.  My little 5 year old munchkin is now a strapping big 13 year old who could probably look after me better than I can look after him! They even played PJ Molloys in Dunfermline a few years back! Wah! My favourite band in my favourite pub, 5 minutes from my house – awesome!!

The guys have just finished a UK tour, I saw them in Dundee, Edinburgh, and Aberdeen and had a nice wee night out with them.  

Every time I see them live these days they seem better and better each time.  I’ve seen them 5 times this year and even from seeing them in May to seeing them in October, they have upped their game so much.  I’m so proud! Especially of Jools and Dante for just keeping pushing on.  They really have had to come back and start again but my god they’re writing the book on how to do that!

Since that gig in Edinburgh in 2012 I’ve been toying with the idea of getting a GUN tattoo again.  Over the past couple of years, somehow, I don’t know how other than Slimming World just really suits me – I’ve lost so far 8.5 stone in weight and finally have the confidence to bounce around at the front of the crowd without being bothered about jiggling my wobbly bits! I was looking for a non-food based reward for myself for when I get to my target weight, and the tattoo idea did a wee ninja stealth crawl to the front of my mind – I like to think it’s been in hibernation for the past 20 years, just waiting for the right time.

That's me on the far left (obviously, given that the rest of them are men...) after their 2012 Dunfermline gig:

And this is me almost half the size, after their soundcheck in Aberdeen last month:

I’m now only a couple of pounds from target, and here it is!  

20 years in the making, 27 years of being a Gunette, now fully branded! I love it, love the lads, love the tunes, love my fellow Gunette/Gunner family, love that the guys make us crazy fans feel like we’re all the 6^th member of the band.  It has been suggested that I should claim that the tattoo is a permanent ticket to all future gigs, ha ha!!  I just might work on that one!

Big love, always,

Jill xxx

Saturday night's alright for biting...

Apologies for another cringe worthy title (sorry, not sorry... :) )

The past couple of days I have been suffering from 'slimmer's memory', it's a real thing! ;)
I forget that I've had biscuits, crisps, extra little bits creep in to my meals, and then there are the 'f**k it' moments.  When I remember all the things I've already eaten, know i've gone over my Slimming World syns, but think 'f**k it' and eat more anyway. Might as well get hung for a sheep as a lamb, eh?

Then on Friday night, after a really busy week being back at work after 4 weeks holiday (yes, I know, I AM lucky!) I took myself off to bed early, I think I was asleep by about 10pm-ish and slept til 9am, lovely! And I had a pile of Facebook notifications, loads of them, very odd! However, lovely Clair my current Slimming World consultant had invited lots of people to like the page for this blog, and my numbers had doubled overnight!  How nice, it even prompted me to make my breakfast of wheat biscuits and berries look pretty and take a picture of it to post rather than just throwing it down my neck.  It also really helped to refocus my efforts and stop sabotaging myself this week. So hello! Welcome, and thank you so much for being here, I truly appreciate it!

I had already taken the time to plan my meals for the coming week, so I was almost back on track, but my snacks were the problem.  So today I have been much better. I made a big pot of chicken, leek and rice soup and have been snacking on it throughout the day.  I'm also making a bigger effort to drink more water as I often forget to at the weekends.  But it's Saturday and I know I will need nibbles for the evening ahead.  I'm a grazer in the evenings.

So I've made some hummus and dippy veggies (or crudites for the less heathen like amongst you!), sweet potato skins scooped out and mixed with bacon and spring onion, topped with melted cheese (my Healthy Extra A allowance), and then a mix of fat free greek yogurt and some chopped chives (this was just the result of messing about with what was in the fridge - try it!), and a wee packet of chocolate buttons for 4 syns. There was also a bowl of pickled onions and beetroot but I scoffed them. I'm going to have a cheeky wee Jack Daniels and diet coke too (4.5 syns for 35ml), it IS the weekend :)

That wee lot should keep me going all evening!!

Oh and just to prove that I really do eat a huge amount of food, this was tea from 2 hours ago:

Lamb leg steaks with visible fat removed, marinated all day in fat free yogurt and harissa paste (a tiny 0.5 syns per level tspn!), couscous loaded with red onion, green chillis, tomatoes, lime juice, and fresh mint, coriander and flat leaf parsley. A favourite tea that I had forgotten about til I saw a jar of harissa in Asda last week.

Hope these give you some ideas if you are following Slimming World, but to be honest it's just tasty grub for anyone.

Big love,
Jill xxx

Dear Slimming World group...

...I love you. I actually really love you. All of you. All of the people who have been in groups I've gone to in the past, all of the people in my current group. Consultants, members, just everyone, I love you all!

No, I'm not drunk, honest! 

Last week was shit. You cant polish a turd, as they say! I won't go into why much, but as a single mum to a hormonal teenager, sometimes it all gets a little much to cope with alone.  It was just one of those weeks. Every time one of us spoke World War III broke out. Then the dog joined in by creating this display of dog food and plain flour on the kitchen floor...

That was the straw that broke the camel's back.  Once the tears started there was no stopping them, sometimes you just need a good blub! 

It had been bubbling up all week and every day I went over my max amount of slimming world syns. Not by much, but regularly. But amidst my floods of tears on Friday night, I thought about stuffing my face with junk food, then told myself that would only make me feel worse. 'Haud the bus!', I thought, WHAT???

I've been an emotional eater for most of my adult life, if I'm happy I celebrate with food. If I'm sad I console myself with food. If I'm feeling really low I really go to town: pizza, cake, biscuits - whole packets at a time, cheese cheese and more cheese, nachos, chocolate, crisps...anything. I've often thought it's a kind if self harm, like I want to hurt myself, but i do it with junk food.

So to have the clarity of thought at that point to not bother even starting was massive for me.  Yes, I had been overdoing snacks a little all week but at my lowest point I didn't decide to do my impression of a Tasmanian Devil in the bakery aisle of Asda.  And that realisation made me cry some more, but happy tears!

And my boy came home later in a great mood. We had a good chat about us both trying harder, and it's been so much better this week.  And if the past week cost me a 1.5lb gain on the scales then I think that's a bargain.

But seriously, thank you to everyone who has ever propped me up in group, people I've never met on the group Facebook page, anyone who has given me ideas for recipes, shared their good times and bad times, to my past consultants Nikki and Debbie, and my current consultant Dawn, for keeping me motivated enough to stick to a plan for long enough that my old habits have changed without me even noticing.

 I might be a bit misty eyed again just now, wonder if I could cry 1.5lbs of tears out tonight... (I'm kidding!!) 

Big love,

Jill xxx