This tune came to me out of nowhere last week and I have dedicated it to my mother in law, Maria Rosaria who lives in Rome.  She is celebrating her 70th Birthday. She is widely admired and respected by many friends and relatives around the world. She is a University professor and author. I’ve called the tune “The Road to Wisdom” 🙂 

I’ve uploaded the sheet music to https://ironbroo.scot/sheet-music-library/  

It’s also attached to this post.  

I’m thinking about what I should do next…

Sometimes I feel pretty indecisive. My head is full of fog and I think that if I stare into space enough the fog will clear and the ideas will come.  Sometimes they do.  The problem is also there are many ideas and I’m not sure which one to tackle first.  My desk is always a mess and I don’t like that.  A cluttered desk, a cluttered mind.    Yon Steve Jobs was right when he went minimalist and threw out all his furniture.  I can’t bring myself to do that though. I need my furniture to store all my crap. Out of sight, out of mind.    “One day I’ll need that.”  It’s something I inherited from generations of frugal Scottish men. I remember my grandpa’s both had blue nylon string, for any occasion.  (“Blue tuow ” as we’d call it.) To replace bucket handles, tie gates shut, hold up plants, nets, just about anything.  Could be an idea for a song…

Thinking on Wisdom, I always thought both my grandparents to be very wise.  I’ve always been intrigued by some of the things they said.  One, who was a fisherman and had served all the six years of WW2 in the navy and was pretty humble and well mannered.  He introduced me to fishing as a child, in Macduff harbour with hand line when I was about 4 years old. It stuck with me for a long time and later as a teenager I was speaking to him about catching mackerel and I mentioned they tasted great cooked the same day you caught them.  He began to shake his head left to right at a moderate speed with a disproving frown and gritted teeth.  “Nnyyiieee..Yi dinna eat mackerel” he said. 

I asked “why?” He wouldn’t give me a reason. Just kept repeating while shaking his head, “Yi dinna eat mackerel”. 

His word was final. No reason was needed.  Wisdom has spoken. It was a fact. Life’s lesson was over. 

I won’t go into why I think he said that in case it puts you off Mackerel. 

I still rather like Mackerel. Now and again. If it’s fresh.  They say it is one of teh healthiest fish you can eat because of the oils in the flesh.

Onyhoo, 

a’ the best,

Charlie