Andrew Giddings' Diary - August 2006

Greetings Dear Friends near and far!

You’re right, it has been a long time since I posted anything and frankly I haven’t got an excuse, let alone a good one, sorry.

So, for those of you that haven’t been visiting relatives on another planet, you’ll know that Ian is out and about taming various orchestras, accompanied by his merry men from the homeland. They’ve got quite a schedule and I’m sure you’ll give them all a warm welcome when they visit your town.

Meanwhile, back at our castle in the hills the rest of us Tull boys have been attending to all the stuff we forgot to do before we left for the last tour. In fact, I haven’t seen the others around the place muchlately, so Jon is probably in Italy, Martin is almost certainly in the great outdoors doing something energetic that makes him all sweaty, and Doane is most likely trying to stay out of the sun somewhere, PDA to hand, and sandals to feet.

For the first time in a good few years I saw summer in England, (yes, there is one) and it has been a mixture of leisure and work, not necessarily in that order.

Rather fantastically I managed a little holiday in the Balearic Islands with some other Giddings’s’s’s’s whereupon I rented a beautiful farmhouse to accommodate all of us. I’ve got some photos somewhere but I’ll spare you the images of ‘me on the beach, smoking’, ‘me at an Indian restaurant, smoking’ and ‘me at a bar, smoking’. There were far too many mes and way too much smoke there anyway.

Imagine though, the joy of arriving on holiday just in time to see the final two days of the International Aerobatics Championships! For those who don’t care about flying and who could care even less about me doing it, skip the next paragraph!

After relaxing in the sun it was time to get back up in the air. A whole bunch of us took eight planes to Le Touquet France, and Jersey in the Channel Islands, just for lunch! I recently acquired my Instrument Rating, in fact just last Saturday, so I’m very pleased with myself. A few daft pictures are available for your delight at the address below…..

Musically speaking I’ve also started something of a project at my newly refitted studio back in England, the details of which are at www.myspace.com/andrewgiddingsmusic
I’m working very hard on it even if it means not sitting around in the heatwave we have enjoyed for the last few weeks, so I have to say it’s gonna be darn good!

Before I sign off then, a big thank you for the emails enquiring about Tull dates.
You know I’ve always liked a full inbox, and in answer to many I have to advise that there isn’t much on the calendar as far as Tull is concerned for the remainder of this year. We thought long and hard as to whether to come and see you all again this summer but so far have been continually thwarted by inflated visa costs and regulations, high production costs, and now it seems that even getting inside an airport is being made difficult.

We’ll come and visit when it all settles down again, promise.

Take care, stay warm and well.

Best wishes from sunny England
AG

this month Andy reviews...

  > vacation
  > new studio