AndyTravis

Thank you @Mottlefeeder x

Heroic - thank you so much, also - big thanks to @briansbrew and his Stealth Aguilar thread - and @Beedster for having zero willpower for bass parts 🤣

These donations (and all of the others) have been amazing. Bowled over x

Thank you mate - The original gesture was amazing, the fact you’ve then bought yourself a beauty of a shirt is just superb xxx

Ah well. back with Tobie now. its a stunner.

Just in the way home from work. After a bad day - this has absolutely cheered me up. Thank you x

Ah yeah, I miss Jaco (my old cat, don’t ask)… he’d scoot across the bed…crop dust…and then run away. The dogs just monopolise any space. ”we’re not letting them on the bed” I went away for a weekend with @walshyand they stayed on the bed… That was in March… bloody nightmare. Iris joins us every morning around 4 - she struggles with comfort (we’re 4 mattresses in and cannot get one for her - but…all the other kids have various bloody posh mattresses now 🙄😆

No, not a thing… just 4am, a miniature hand on either side of my face “SSH daddy…listen, I just farted” Is an absolute liberty…

Had a great rehearsal last night. The singer announced a few weeks ago that he’s been hiding a gretsch baritone from me for the year I’ve been in the band… But it’s now in the rack - I’m not only playing it, but one very old idea has resurfaced and I might end up singing 😳

Yeah, woke up in a more positive mood x

Looks ashy to me.

I’m sort of sat deflated by the conversation with the plumber tonight. And I messaged some of my beautiful mates @bassfan @walshy @lee650 @LukeFRCand @hiram.k.hackenbacker I thought about this statement they wanted us to write… and I just typed. Jen is looking at it and adjusting it. Not to achieve anything other than making them think of the shitshow they’ve made…of the entire thing. “Iris has absolutely made our family. Every single day living in fear of losing my kid because her brain is a ticking time bomb has given me a resilience and resolve I didn’t know was possible. The fact we were told that in more than 50% of cases, parents choose to terminate (up to 28 weeks). That we could legally abort at basically full term… That she would have “no quality of life” and would basically “live in a vegetative state” - based upon her scans… I look at a 6 year old who loves to dance, I look at a little girl who can swim, climb and crawl - who can stand with support; who would love nothing more than to walk and run with her friends - but has the emotional maturity to understand that it’s a “work in progress” at just 6 years old. Has a reading age of 10 (one year off being able to access GCSE papers). A mathematical age of 7.5 years. Who struggles to control a pen, so has slightly scruffy (but legible) handwriting… She’s missing 20% of her spine, and her nervous system is a basket of broken wires… She makes fart jokes. Constantly. Her laugh makes people laugh, she’s cheeky, she’s naughty at times. She’s mine. She’s ours. She has more life in her than a lot of people without diagnosis/disability. She’s Iris. Come and meet her, realise why she needs a bit of a hand sometimes…but doesn’t need a pity statement.” Jenny will sort the other bits about the shifting goalposts and hoop jumping.

The basschat response to this has been an absolute highlight of my entire life: I’ve never really known anything like it in response to something to do with me. I never ask for help nor expect it - never had much as a kid and worked bloody hard to get to where I am. So to receive such unanimous support, and so many people having so many wonderful words of support and kindness (some whom I’ve never met, some I know very well and some I’ve sent a spare grub screw to) is absolutely mind blowing. You’re all absolutely fantastic. So… Slight update on the work… Wetroom is “easy” according to Ryan our Plumber (Family member) Our boiler is “near the end of its life” - so that’s a joyous revelation… The other work to facilitate a shared living room is more complicated and requires more investigation…to swap a kitchen and small living room (currently a bedroom for Ella) requires the water mains to be at the opposite end of the house. So, back to the drawing board there…the costs involved might kill that idea. We’ll figure it out, but I feel like that conversation has left me looking at a jigsaw without the helpful illustration on the box. More news next week when the prices start rolling in. @bassinthefacei have mentioned your message to my guy, so again - thank you so much for that x

Yeah - the aim is 2032 She’s currently the youngest person in the UK training for WCMX

Yeah x (my previous band from 2022 ish)

Believe me, if I were a wealthier man…it would be here in Salford

On her ramps tonight

My cabs of choice, they’re brilliant

You’re in, probably more active than me in bass playing 😂

Lashings of fuzz, skinny jeans and a beard… Hiding all my messy playing. so different to the intricate slappy funk jazz stuff I was doing 2 years ago 😂