James Shearer

It’s been a long time in the making but it is finally online - JT Music website has landed

May the internet make way. Other websites will be envious, bloggers shall rejoice, search engines will lick their lips and people from across the globe will take a look, double take then bite right in and may they savour the sweet, sweet taste as jtmusicshop.com is here to stay.

And stay it must, for this is no ordinary website… oh no, this website is filled with evidence of burnings, mucus, excessive party going, strings and things, and experimental rocking like there has never been.

Monkey can switch off, lean back and breathe a sigh of relief. Tiger can get some Tiger and Monkey time while the Mighty Thurstons mightiness grows mighter with their sudden and loud landing in cyberspace.

Watch out world. The local shop is not just for local people now, oh no…. No longer will people have to use the road to bring their strange accents and funny money to buy. Now the road of cables and computers links the local shop to the rest of the world. The local music shop is local to us all.

There is no excuse, they put in the effort, now you go check it out because if you don’t, they will know. They might be rocking, but they are watching….

JTMusic - Fort William, Scotland
“The coolest, friendliest and over-rocked music shop”

I grew up in my family run hotel in Kingussie, Scotland. A few days ago my mother had a rather interesting tale to tell. Running a hotel you have more than a fair share of interesting tales… it makes Faulty Towers look tame.

Here is the events as told by my mum when she and her husband Bill entered the twilightzone…

–

At 3am I woke up. I am such a light sleeper but did not realise then that
something must have disturbed my sleep.

I could not go back to sleep again but at 4am a bang woke Bill up. I was
just drifting off then and wanted to think it was Guests at their car, as I
had already been awake for an hour. Bill (who does not move quickly when he
first wakes up) jumped out of bed and into his dressing gown.

Bill came downstairs to the office for his torch and I put the CCTV on. I
looked out of my window, at the front, over the car park which had 4 very
expensive beautiful MGs as well as our car. I could see the beam from Bill’s
very powerful torch but all seemed fine. No one was at the cars.

Then Bill went round the office and shone his torch down the steps to the
drive and out into the garden. All seemed fine there too.

So Bill went out of the office down the toilet passageway through the ‘open’
Restaurant door and had a good look into the garden. Then through the bar
and kitchens to the back door. Then he retraced his steps, still searching
for what caused the bang.

When he came upstairs he told me that everything was fine. Nothing strange.
And then he told me!!

He said that I must have forgotten to lock the Restaurant glass-door to the
toilet passageway. As soon as he said that I knew, without any doubt at all,
that someone was inside. This door is locked from the Restaurant side with a
bolt and I always keep it locked, day and night.

So Brave Bill went back downstairs and I did my bit by plugging my phone in!
He came back to the office and shouted up to me that one window in the
Restaurant was wide open and someone had climbed in as there was soil on my
nice clean white cloth. Several other windows were also open a little as
well and chairs had been positioned in front of these windows probably for
the burgler(s) to jump onto and out of the window if need be. The burgler
(s) obviously went out the same window they came in, which they had forced
from the outside and damaged the frame very slightly.
and sheered off the security brackets. The glass was not broken.

The Builder who came to put it right said the burgler knew exactly how the
windows are made and what to do to get in.

Strangely enough there was no damage to the things on the window sill, or
the table they clambered onto in the Restaurant, which was in the Sun Lounge
end of the Restaurant with my big elephants on and a really old typewriter
and the old phone from Miskin Road.

The Police came and as soon as they saw the evidence they called the sniffer
dog which was actually busy just then. They phoned Forensic in Inverness.

Just after they had finished searching the Hotel they received a phone call
that someone had reported a man trying car doors in the Close just in front
of the Hotel. So two of our three policemen went after the man trying to
steal a car. When they returned they told us that no one was in sight.

We were very lucky Brave Bill disturbed them as they took off with
absolutely nothing. When the burgler(s) were in the Restaurant they slid
the bolt across the glass-door to the toilet passageway, which leads to the
front door, the Hotel. and the office. The bang which woke Bill at 4am was
the door banging shut - it takes at least one minute to shut loudly so the
bang must have surprised them but they went back and wedged it wide open
with the plant, which I have in front of it to prevent Guests from using the
door.

They did not use the front door or the patio doors, in the Restaurant, and
we are assuming they must have thought the doors were alarmed.

Forensic arrived about 6am and after a thorough search for evidence, all
around, dusted and lifted a foot print on the inside window sill.

–

More information on my mum’s hotel can be found at:
Columba House Hotel . com

Any information relating to this event should be reported to: Northern Constabulary

Waking up on my birthday to find the hundreds of emails from victims of the MyDoom virus is not the best way to start the day! See Symantec’s security response to this worm.

My wandering travel friend Pia has finally, and I do mean finally, put together some of her incredible pictures and though provoking travel diary and produced a travel guide to India - Amazing India. If you are interested in travelling to India or want to learn about the varied cultures across one of the most populated countries in the world, Amazing India has it all. Check it out! (Now I want to go!)

Now I have to fight my way through the snow storms and deepening drifts in Glencoe to get to Glasgow! Some of my winter pictures are online here - Scotland Winter Photos.

The Fort William nightlife finally offered up an irresistible delight in the form of a rock concert. Five Bands Please at the BA Club featured musical talent from across Scotland with performances by The X-Certs, 10 Easy Wishes, Dionyssus, Fickle Public and the local boys of Carson.

In the traditional Scottish way of having a good ol� time, drinking, dancing and partying it up with a couple of the bands after the gig was on the menu for the evening, night and morning! Worth waiting 4 months for something interesting to happen in this town? No question. Fantastic!

Photograph of Dionyssus on the night.

The X-Certs
10 Easy Wishes
Dionyssus
Fickle Public
Carson