Nothing to do for gig bookings

November 23

Melanie dropped us off at Hexham and We Steal Flyers played our first of three gigs.

It was nice enough and there were more album sales. We are also doing well online with streams and itunes.

Working hard and touring is paying off as the years go by.

November 24

Another nice day at home and a lot of kitchen time playing songs on Spotify, hearing some old Christmas songs.

Some of my favourites are I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day (even before my three gigs supporting Roy Wood and taking the family to see him twice more), Fairytale Of New York, Don’t Let The Bells End (amazing seeing The Darkness live last year) and Winter’s Tale. I love more than 30 Christmas songs a lot, then even more not as much.

Locally, Carl Cape has a great song called It Must Be Christmas Time. You need to hear it.

I love Bird In Bush in Elsdon, a great back room gig, full of people who want to hear us. This is a gig we look forward to.

November 25

Ellie and Rebecca stayed with grandparents Derrick and Diane so Melanie could drive us to Yorkshire, another road trip.

I love every day so I liked the trip, loved the gig, and liked heading home. At 2pm we left and got home at midnight so we could watch a film. Melanie would be up at 7am to get Ellie and Rebecca off to school.

Melanie just gets on with her life. She inspires me to live and try to be the person I have to be to be myself.

November 26

It was nice to read Haunted again, by James Herbert. It reminded me of days and nights that I would never have remembered had I not read it again. Mostly, I remembered the cold and having to light up a fire with logs and sticks to stay warm. It was amazing.

The walk with Ellie was dark and cold. We talked about lots of things we have done and the many walks we have walked.

There was more Christmas shopping, and Rebecca loved Running Club.

I started the new book. Matt Haig has a few books to catch up on and my first one is Father Christmas And Me, with magical illustrations.

November 27

We have been waiting to see the new Christmas Chronicles film for months and it was brilliant. Melanie made up lots of Christmas food too.

It is nice to have two Christmas songs streaming and selling around the world right now, and soon the new We Steal Flyers single The Magic Of Christmas will join them.

November 28

Ellie loves her walking poles and new bag. We did a good walk of around 10 miles. We are looking forward to the April Coast to Coast walk in Scotland for autism.

November 29

There is not a lot I can do now as far as bookings go. Everyone is preparing for Christmas so the dates we have are all we have until March, and usually a few of them will cancel with Dry January, venues closing down or losing money for a month or two.

As long as they survive, all is fine. I can try to double-up on gigs, it just means we have to do 180 gigs in 10 months, not 12.

Ellie loved the last Thursday of cricket in Newcastle. Next week is the same place for Northumberland County trials. Hopefully, Northumberland County Cricket training will be held in Northumberland one day if everything is moving on.

Christmas shopping in the MetroCentre was great fun. We found a Christmas shop and bought a Santa head.