How are you today?

[blue]

Hi folks, it's my annual post, yay!

Rob I hadn't even noticed the location in my profile, I'll get on that now.

Well I've been back in Scotland for over a year now, and am very happily settled. I had a visitor from America back at the end of May / beginning of June this year, none other than our dear Grinning Soul, Ms. Angie LaLuzerne. She came over for a few days with her good friend Steph, on their way to a music festival in Barcelona. Scotland isn't really on the way to Barcelona, but you know. It was so lovely to finally meet in person after all these years, a dream long held and finally realised. We did the trip over to my beloved Isle of Arran and stayed in a little AirBnB there right on the beach in Whiting Bay, gah it was gorgeous.

Next goal is for me to somehow make the return trip to Wisconsin, USA!

Hope you are all doing well, let's see some posts here - catch up time, I mean are you all still alive? We've just been through a pandemic, I need reassurance.

[sound world]

Scotland isn't really on the way to Barcelona, but you know.

Well, they are Americans...

Hope you are all doing well, let's see some posts here - catch up time, I mean are you all still alive? We've just been through a pandemic, I need reassurance.

Still alive in my case (just, I get my bus pass next year ), but the SN action seems to have largely migrated to FB - yours are the first posts here in ages! Talking of FB, your page seems to have vanished?

Oh and talking of Scottish islands, I spent a week on Eigg last week (cue RobB joke) - wonderful.That's the island where the islanders bought out the Laird in the '90s. Fabulous.

[RobB]

Oh and talking of Scottish islands, I spent a week on Eigg last week (cue RobB joke) - wonderful.That's the island where the islanders bought out the Laird in the '90s. Fabulous.

I thought that was the island where you tripped over and you ended up with Eigg on your face?

Hello Beth,lovely to read your message. You should do one every Christmas Day as I understand that there's a vacancy now !!
That was nice for you and Angie to meet up like that...it kind of makes up for having missed out on the London meet-up all those years ago.

[blue]

Hope you are all doing well, let's see some posts here - catch up time, I mean are you all still alive? We've just been through a pandemic, I need reassurance.

Still alive in my case (just, I get my bus pass next year ), but the SN action seems to have largely migrated to FB - yours are the first posts here in ages! Talking of FB, your page seems to have vanished?

Oh and talking of Scottish islands, I spent a week on Eigg last week (cue RobB joke) - wonderful.That's the island where the islanders bought out the Laird in the '90s. Fabulous.

Hi Dave, glad you're still here! Make the most of that bus pass next year, personally I can't bloody wait to get mine in five years, you can get all around Scotland for pennies.

I'll have to look up Eigg, I know roughly where it is but don't know anything about it, how to get there etc. Hopefully you had passable weather, it's been a bit chilly and wet in the west of Scotland this month.

Yes my FB is no more, for erm ... reasons. I did set up a new one that doesn't have my actual name in it, so certain people can't find me, but it's a very small number of people on there.

How's the situation with your psychotic neighbour these days?

[blue]

Hello Beth,lovely to read your message. You should do one every Christmas Day as I understand that there's a vacancy now !!
That was nice for you and Angie to meet up like that...it kind of makes up for having missed out on the London meet-up all those years ago.

Yeah it was so lovely to spend that time together in real life, we've been talking online for nearly 20 years I think! Was it 2004 when I joined the Barbie Board and found you all? Gosh, long time ago. Angie and I have talked consistently all those years in private, so we've basically followed each other's lives for a long time and we've been wanting to meet up somehow for years and years. I think we both thought it might be a bit strange to meet up finally, but the only strange thing was how comfortable and familiar it was! She is so sweet and thoughtful, exactly the person she seems to be.

I still harbour hopes of another forum meet up at some point, Rob. I'm in much different circumstances now than I was back then, more financially stable and able to travel and do stuff, so you never know. London is only a train ride away, although personally I think you should all come to Scotland.

[Franck]

London is only a train ride away, although personally I think you should all come to Scotland.

I do agree. It would be a good reason for me to finally make it to Scotland and visit this nice country.

Btw, it's nice to have good news from you, I remember it hasn't always been easy for you back in the days…

On the FB side, I'm still deceived everything seems to happen there, I don't like this media at all, and use it only for some reason (mainly to promote my music, not sure I succeed in this anyway), but it's such evil.

[RobB]

I still harbour hopes of another forum meet up at some point, Rob. I'm in much different circumstances now than I was back then, more financially stable and able to travel and do stuff, so you never know. London is only a train ride away, although personally I think you should all come to Scotland.

Well,if Stina ever does release a new album, we'll certainly all have to get together...somewhere...to celebrate the occasion. I've always wanted to visit Scotland but Snowdonia is closer so I tend to go there most years instead.

[blue]

London is only a train ride away, although personally I think you should all come to Scotland.

I do agree. It would be a good reason for me to finally make it to Scotland and visit this nice country.

Btw, it's nice to have good news from you, I remember it hasn't always been easy for you back in the days…

On the FB side, I'm still deceived everything seems to happen there, I don't like this media at all, and use it only for some reason (mainly to promote my music, not sure I succeed in this anyway), but it's such evil.

Yeah I agree Franck, I barely have a profile on FB now and I certainly don't participate in any groups there. I did look at the Stina one but it's not the same, I miss the old forum days. You can have a proper conversation / discussion with people in this format, it's a shame it all went to 'social media', but I guess that says something about the attention span of most people eh.

Franck if you ever get to Glasgow, I'm only a bus ride away down the River Clyde, you will always be welcome to come visit here!

[Franck]

Franck if you ever get to Glasgow, I'm only a bus ride away down the River Clyde, you will always be welcome to come visit here!

Thanks! I'll let you know if it happens!

[Angie]

Oh my gosh, HELLO! I was emailing Beth this morning and thought, oh, I should let the Barbie Board folks know that we finally met up last year. Yes, it was so long in the making and a total living dream that it actually happened! It started out as my friend and I joking about going to Primavera Sound in Barcelona and then joking about also going to visit Beth in Scotland and then it wasn't a joke anymore.... I often think about pulling up to her flat, thinking holy shit we are HERE, getting my bags out of the car, and then suddenly she was standing next to me and we had the biggest hug and a great adventure and I don't think we stopped chatting the whole time. Scotland is GORGEOUS and I would love to get there again someday.

[sound world]

Wow! Amazing to see you back, Angie! It must be knocking on 20 years since we were all chattering away on CQD etc.
And how great that these things can bring people together from miles apart, such as you and Beth.
How are your children? My son is 27 now - where does the time go?

[Angie]

Wow! Amazing to see you back, Angie! It must be knocking on 20 years since we were all chattering away on CQD etc.
And how great that these things can bring people together from miles apart, such as you and Beth.
How are your children? My son is 27 now - where does the time go?

Hi, Dave! I can't believe your son is 27. His name is Robin, right? Does he live near you? Ellis is 12 and Henry is 15, we're about to look into driving schools. It seems impossible.

Yes, I love the friendships that have grown out of this community. Correspondence between Beth and me would wax and wane over the years, til it really increased a while back. I really treasure our friendship and am still amazed I was in Scotland just under a year ago! Funny (and I suppose a little sad), I don't think we mentioned Stina once during the visit. I really hope that woman is doing well, wherever she is.

Beth's little town is so lovely, the Isle of Arran too... absolutely stunning, and Glasgow was so fun. It felt almost familiar to me, not unlike Milwaukee actually, but much older and cooler.

As for me, I left the job where I spent all that time on these message boards after 20÷ years. I work in circulation at a library now, and I'm much happier. Still going to as many concerts as we can... my boys have seen Tori a couple of times now. We've got tickets for Ministry and Gary Numan in a few weeks, Sparks this summer, and Nick Cave and Depeche Mode in the fall. We also saw a wonderful artist who goes by Weyes Blood recently, that was a great show.

[blue]

Yes, I love the friendships that have grown out of this community. Correspondence between Beth and me would wax and wane over the years, til it really increased a while back. I really treasure our friendship and am still amazed I was in Scotland just under a year ago! Funny (and I suppose a little sad), I don't think we mentioned Stina once during the visit. I really hope that woman is doing well, wherever she is.

Ha, no I don't think we did Angie! In fact I don't think we talked about or even listened to music, we were so busy conversing. I'm sure Stina is just fine, she always seems to land on her feet (sometimes resulting in a broken leg mind you, but still ...)