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Beating the Bones Out of It: The Martin D-42 Acoustic Guitar Review

After enjoying the delight of my Eric Clapton acoustic Martin guitar from the great guys at Wildwood, I quickly rediscovered the magnificence and beauty of Martin Guitars.

Once that Martin fire gets reignited in your belly, you fast begin to wonder anew about other guitars in the Martin line and my love and want for a Martin D-42 — the middle child classic with just enough bling and power nestled nicely between the entry-level D-41 and the full gore of a D-45 — that I made the hard decision to thin my current guitars collection herd in order to pay the way for the heartdream of a Martin D-42.

Of course, the first stop for my D-42 wanderlust was Wildwood — “D-40s” Martins can be hard to find in stock at a good price — and while my friend Troy Benns at Wildwood didn’t currently have any D-42 guitars, he could order one for me direct from Martin with a third down and a six-week waiting period.  The price, of course, was excellent, as always, and impossible to resist.  Troy Benns knows how to seal a deal for a great guitar!

I bit.

Troy ordered.

I bided my time.

In two weeks, not six, I had Wildwood photos of my new Martin D-42 fresh from the factory in my Inbox, and a delightful message from Troy telling me the guitar was currently being professionally set up by Wildwood and everything would be ready to ship by the end of the day!  I was amazed and astonished by Troy Benns’ muscle and quickness with Martin on my behalf, and true to Wildwood form, I had this Martin D-42 in hand overnight!

I really love how the silking above and below the bridge is already happening on what is really an infant guitar that still has that “musty vanilla” scent of virgin guitar lacquer.  The whole house smelled of “New Guitar Day” for a week!

Continue reading → Beating the Bones Out of It: The Martin D-42 Acoustic Guitar Review

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Living with MRSA: Nearly Ten Years On

I have MRSA – to be specific I have HA-MRSA.  MRSA is a superbug – its full is name methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria – the HA denotes I contracted it in hospital – if I had contracted it outside of hospital it would be denoted CA-MRSA – community acquired MRSA.

Superbugs are a group of microorganisms that are resistant to at least one or more commonly used antibiotics.  The commonly accepted list of superbugs is as follows:

MRSA  – (Staphylococcus aureus strains resistant to multiple antibiotics) , VRE (Enterococcus species resistant to vancomycin), PRSP (Streptococcus pneumoniae strains resistant to penicillin), ESBLs (Escherichia coli and other Gram-negative bacteria resistant to antibiotics such as cephalosporins and monobactams) and multiple drug-resistant Clostridium difficile.

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Fret Doctor Bores to the Fingerboard Rescue

The internet lives in mysticism and myth — especially when it comes to adding magical mojo to your guitars — but there’s one bit of medicinal shamanism for any non-sealed guitar fingerboard that you should know about right now; and that well-kept secret is a special bore oil formulation called “Fret Doctor.”

I am a wild and obsessive supporter of this miracle oil when it comes to preserving and bringing out the real personality of a rosewood or ebony fretboard.

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Crocs: I Hate You, Now DIE!

When a person is in pain, they will go to any lengths to help ease the suffering.  Ever since my unfortunate Times Square Tripping accident, my left foot has not quite been right.

I’ve had a touch of Plantar fasciitis since the accident and that gives me a bit of heel pain when I walk — and I walk a lot!   A couple of weeks ago, I also wrenched the middle toe on the same foot during a hurried Yoga session — where I learned the hard way to always be present and breathe.

I’m obsessively on the lookout for good and proper shoes, and I’ve heard a lot about Crocs being a great and comfortable shoe.  I never stepped a foot into the mouth of the crocodile because Crocs were hard to find, and because I hate ordering shoes online.

It often takes forever to get shoes delivered — even if you overpay for overnight shipping.  Crocs.com, I discovered the hard way this week, are no better than the Payless when it comes to getting the right shoes on your foot in the nick of time.

Continue reading → Crocs: I Hate You, Now DIE!

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Venice Grand Finale: The Grand Canal

We clambered on board our ferry keeping in mind that this was the one before last we could catch to reach the airport in time. A huge disappointment as this was a closed ferry with only a small window at the front from which to take pictures from and the rest of the windows were covered in watermarks from the spray caused by other boats.

One advantage though — at this stage we were the only people on the ferry at this time.

Due to this restriction, it really was a flash tour of the Grand Canal — impressions only — having said that it is not possible to walk alongside the Grand Canal and, to my knowledge, there are only two places where you can sit at a restaurant and dine overlooking the water.

Some of the grander hotels have a room with a view and small balconies — heaven knows what their room supplements are! So we were stuck with what we got.

I did manage to capture some of the atmosphere — once again there are some beautifully painted buildings and buildings of amazing proportions and stunning architecture. One cannot help but imagine what Venice was like in its heyday and who created and lived in buildings like this.

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Oh, Robbie! Reviewing the Robbie Williams “Take the Crown Tour” in Krieau Stadium Vienna

Time to go what we had come to Vienna for — one of music’s “superstars” and a once in a lifetime chance to see Robbie Williams perform live on his Take the Crown Tour. It was time to be entertained by the best in the business.

Time to go and see one of the stars my romantic heart had grown up with and with whom I had developed a connection.  Robbie had owned a little piece of my heart from the Take That days and at times he sung the words I needed to hear with the voice of an Angel.

Our tickets cost 118 Euros  for seats in the stadium –rather than the pit — cheap in comparison to the UK concerts which were our other main option.

Continue reading → Oh, Robbie! Reviewing the Robbie Williams “Take the Crown Tour” in Krieau Stadium Vienna

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Vienna: The Continuing Saga of the Lost Card

We made our way back to the hotel intending to have dinner at a little restaurant we had spotted at the bottom of the road before turning in for the night. Our trip on the underground took us to THAT STATION — the one where my card got eaten and we thought we could go to the security offices and check for an update.

In the end, we did not need to make that detour — as we met our friendly helpful security guard who gleefully informed us that our card had been found  — and would be posted to our home address in Portugal.   SIGH ( Sigh here means much muttered swearing under breath and sheer desperation).   We double checked it had gone to our Portuguese address and not to the hotel — but, no, he said it had definitely gone to our Portuguese address.  We said thank you as gracefully as we could under the circumstances and rapidly changed our dinner plans for the evening.

We decided to dine in. I always travel with crackers of some kind in case I need something to eat quickly.  We had a bottle of duty-free champagne saved for our night in Venice as well.  We stopped off at the supermarket in the station and bought some pate, cheese and some fruit and bottled water and headed back to the hotel for the night.

Continue reading → Vienna: The Continuing Saga of the Lost Card