david bowie 2016

ten years ago i woke up to a text from mum:

David Bowie’s dead :’(

it was the last moments of christmas break and i was staying at my aunt’s house. i came down to the kitchen in tears and my aunt sighed sadly and gave me a cup of tea. we all felt it— there was something about David Bowie that felt like ‘ours’.

i cried on and off for the two days before travelling down to London to complete my songwriting course. when I got back to south London I went to the Bowie mural in Brixton, to where people were laying flowers. these are the pictures i took on that day:

12.01.26

monday

• uncle got inducted into the supreme court (supreme!!!)

• he had to swear an oath and sign the ‘oath book’

• i ate cheese souffle and creme brulee

• lots of talking and family time

• the coolest bit was walking towards big ben at 8:15am and being like “we’re going there” (not entirely but the building was in parliament square)

• my tiny face was on bbc parliament tv you can see me in the background hehehe

(lord ‘doori’ thank you subtitles)

11.01.25

Been so busy lately. Last week was my first week back at work after the Christmas break, and I am training up the new starter who is going to take over my job when I leave :’)

My last day at work is the 16th, and I am purposely not thinking about it too hard. I could write a book about my time at Jerwood — all eight years of it. It has been the one constant whilst I’ve moved around in London, ended and started relationships, made new friends and bid old ones goodbye, produced my first EP and debut album, lived through a pandemic, had so many successes and not-yets, and small wins and losses.

My little Instagram experiment is slowing up a bit, as my motivation wanes and the initial ‘boost’ in visibility wears off. But it has been really interesting — more of an experiment in telling my story and not being afraid of the “again, again, again” involved with self-promotion. My album had over 700 streams last week on Spotify alone, so that’s something.

I have a month and a half to come up with an abstract for the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research’s conference in Oslo. This is such a stupid sentence, but it’s honestly something I’m pursuing right now because, why not? This is an area I am interested in. I want to create a piece of music or theatre related to Antarctica and the way we think about it in relation to ourselves. It’s a place which is very real but also has an imaginary quality to it. I just hope I can formulate something quick enough to submit in time. I’m not entirely sure what I want to do but my first idea was ‘Scales of Change’ — selecting one local place in Scotland and then using it as a comparison for the continent of Antarctica, perhaps the way they may change in the next 10,000 years, just using one measure? Or perhaps even looking 10,000 years back, or longer, which means I’d have actual data and things to work with to create a piece of music. It feels so big and way above my comfort zone but there’s something about it being so outlandish for me — me! at a scientific conference! — that it actually feels like play. Playing to get there.

Leaping

Flying back this morning. The drive was a little bit precarious but the trick is to not stop, I think.

In Scotland we have gritters with names:

Naturally, this is Aberdeen’s one:

I’m pretty sure we saw Ploos by the airport just as we were pulling in!

I guess it’s time to start thinking about 2026. The main objectives are to secure work and a place to live in Glasgow. And then beyond that, secure meaningful work and a place that feels like home in Glasgow. I’m excited but also fully in this zone of the unknown right now, where I’ve let go of London but am yet to be caught by anything in Scotland.

What else are my goals for 2026? I want to develop and learn, really. That’s what I want to do the most. Become a better skilled artist and performer. A better communicator of my ideas and vision. And execute some projects:

• I want to finish writing and mix/master album 2… release the first single etc (Oct?)

• I want to go to the SCAR conference in Oslo this year with an abstract about music, time and Antarctica

• I want to do my mini Winter Olympics songwriting challenge

I think that’s what I want to do… most important is getting album 2 out in the world.

Here’s to a new and interesting 2026. I’m excited to see what happens. This really does feel like the first year in a while where I’m leaping into the unknown.