‘Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans’ – Beautiful Boy, John Lennon

Here I am at my mum’s house, unsure of where I am and what to do next. There’s a lot of sorting out to do (read the last blog if you missed it). That’s not for now though.

The Sisters tour finished in fantastic fashion with great gigs in Bristol (where we righted some wrongs from last time), Liverpool (amazing and beautiful old theatre but could do with some heating) and Sheffield (great punk rock type show).

On the Sunday, we went to see the Near Meth Experience destroy some old Sisters classics at a fundraiser for our fallen comrade Simon Denbigh… what an amazing and life-affirming evening, and exactly what I needed after an awful week. To cut a long story short, Si had a stroke in February this year, which left him paralysed down his left side. Six months of rehabilitation have meant he is able to get around very slowly and steadily, but his flat needs modernising so that he is able to attain a level of independence he doesn’t currently have. I had an idea that we could do a fundraiser for him at the ever-excellent Brudenell Social Club, and before I knew it, I had a million people wanting to lend a hand. From the ace Membranes to the legendary Utah Saints, via a cast of seemingly thousands on merch, plus the Sisters… I mean Near Meth Experience crew, all of whom were working for free (and many of whom had never met Si before, and were doing it just because it is a good cause)… properly life-affirming stuff. The gig was fantastic, everyone pulled together, and Simon had an amazing night – and we raised enough money to not only fix up his bathroom, but also his kitchen.

Giving up a day of your life to radically affect then next 20 years or so of someone else’s is a good feeling and one which I can highly recommend.

Home for a night on my own with the cat, which was… weird, to be honest. But I like my house and where I live so I’m going to try my best to keep it. I’m over in the bosom of my family now for a bit, which is exactly where you should be at times like this.

I’m not looking forward to Christmas.

Chris. X