Ms Mad Lemon

Get yourself a nice big warm mug of tea, coffee, chocolate or whatever you have. This will be a hearty blog post, since I have a lot to share. I’ve summarized everything the best I can.

Firstly, my apologies for not being around much lately. A few of you have been messaging and commenting, asking where I am and if everything’s okay or wondering why I’m quiet. Life has been very involved since I returned from Egypt and things need sorting out.

As you may have known from a previous blog post or if you follow me on Mastodon, Facebook or Twitter. I stayed in Egypt for a month visiting relatives and friends.

And probably one of the reasons for such a hearty post is that there’s been a lot of processing and catching up to do.

Content-wise, I’ve been catching up, filming, working on my album and a lot around that. I also filmed a lot in Egypt and did some photography there also. You will see snippets in my music video I just posted, more about that below.

I’ve Been Quiet

A little moment to explain a couple of things about me which most may not realize. I tend to be sentimental about things and there’s a good reason.

My memory is strong and I’m that person who remembers people vividly who have probably long forgotten me. Names may slip from my mind, but faces don’t. There’s been many times where someone has walked past me, not recognizing me, yet I’ve remembered them from infant school despite seeing them for the first time after 32 years.

I know it’s very unusual to have this kind of memory especially after having a discussion with Rich about it the other day. This is probably why I feel strong pangs of nostalgia for my life in the 80s and 90s.

Sure I harness this and use it as the fuel for my creativity, but it can also be a curse as well as a blessing. Sometimes you want to forget certain things but you cannot. Sometimes, especially after leaving a place, you miss people for a longer duration than they would miss you.

I’m still missing people from Egypt, honestly speaking I struggled to part with some of you there, more than you realised. I always keep that part to myself.

Anyway, I met a lot of dear people there, my friend Marwa who I’ve known for many years.

Malak, a beautiful soul who I had an amazing time with.

And little Mostafa who wanted to come back to the UK with me.

Of course these are just a few of many.

It’s February and I can’t believe it’s been over a month since I returned. I have to say I still think about you all in Egypt, you have left such a big impression on me <3 <3

I can be quite reserved about who I let close to me, but once I make a genuine connection with someone, then I won’t forget them.

Still now, there are people messaging me from Egypt saying “Come back! We miss you”. It’s so heart warming. I definitely feel I’ve left parts of my self over there still and I hope to visit again soon.

Also not only people In Egypt. since I’ve been away, I have been missing the back and forth with some of you regulars who comment on my channel. I notice and I’m aware of some of you more than you realise.

So it really is time to get a nice hot mug of tea and catch up with everything and messages online.

I hope you’re all keeping warm and cosy this winter. <3

New Album Release

Some of you know that I released a new album recently called ‘Step Inside’. I hope those of you who got yourself a copy are enjoying it. I know some of you are and have sent me messages and others have commented around.

Thank you!

Those of you who don’t know about it, my previous blog post goes into more detail.

In case you missed it, I’ve created a music video of the title track ‘Step Inside’.

And yes with some footage from Egypt, specifically Sharm El-Sheikh.

First of all, thank you all so much for the wonderful comments and feedback! I’m touched by some of the things some of you say and the support you give. <3

There’s a few of you who’ve said they’ll be recording it onto tape, others requesting physical releases. Which excites me actually. I do love physical releases, ideally I would love to have my music on vinyl record. I would have to do it just one time at least if I can. But I’m definitely going to do a limited run of cassettes, I’ve been considering it for a while now.

I also need to record a Minidisc of it for Robin (Rich’s dad). Each time I release an album, I always record a copy for him as he’s always looking forward to my new releases. <3

Trip to Egypt And My Return

I have so much more to show about Egypt. In a nutshell I’ve had a very interesting month while there, I’m missing everyone so much right now. All the relatives and friends. People constantly telling me not to leave and making me promise to return soon <3

I also got such a warm welcome back from my family when I returned. It was so nice to see Rich at the station. Rich’s lovely daughter Alice, his son Luke, his parents Robin and Jan as well as his sister Sarah all welcomed me and I got to share a bit of Egypt with them all.

Although not only bringing stuff back to share, Rich’s daughter Alice also left her mark in Egypt.

I showed both Rich and Alice a photo of how everything is so dusty in Cairo, people cover their cars there. So she pleaded me to draw something very specific on a car.

So please don’t look at me, I was literally following orders!

*Ahem* SWIFTLY MOVING ON…..

I brought a lot back from there and it was not enough. I am also missing eating guavas every day, the organic fruit and veg, not to mention the cuisine too.

Yeah, I see you squinting!

Yes you’re seeing correctly. I noticed ‘Windows’ crisps there which made me laugh. I just had to bring a pack back for Rich, who I’m sure, as a hardcore Linux user, would really appreciate them 😉

Before I left, Rich’s sister Sarah actually created a wonderful piece of artwork for me, something for me to take and think of them while I was away.

It traveled with me around Egypt. Sarah’s work of art is back home with me and I’ll surely be treasuring it <3

While there, I met up with a friend Tamer, who has been watching my channel for a while. He basically opened up the world of vintage audio equipment of Egypt for me.

So I visited him and his lovely family who welcomed me with open arms and needless to say we did a lot of retro filming there. I was hoping to come back home with audio tapes from Egypt, and thanks to Tamer, I did!

Videos upcoming of course!

It’s nice to be back, especially after the warm welcome from everyone. We all went out for a meal and Rich’s daughter Alice is happy to have me back also.

I missed everyone here <3

Even Neelix missed me, although he’d never admit it directly, he didn’t leave my lap for hours that day and evening <3

And Finally, Channel Plans.

Speaking of videos upcoming, It’s extremely difficult for me to plan or script any video. I like to express feelings “off the cuff” as described about me in that issue of Amiga future magazine which I featured in some time back (Issue 127).

Also, I still have to make a video on and explore my ZX Spectrum Next, which arrived while I was in Egypt.

Yeah I know I’m probably the last person to do a video on the ZX Spectrum Next, but who cares. I would like to share my exploration of it with you all not to mention I have an exciting Spectrum build upcoming too.

So I’ve had a couple of videos Commodore 64 videos posted and ZX Spectrum is upcoming.

I wish to however get back into Amiga again at some point because I’m getting Amiga withdrawals. Although I’m still including elements of it in my videos and still using it and writing music.

Catch ups

If you haven’t watched the two boombox videos and the two Ultimate 64 build videos yet then here they are:

Thank you for sticking around, wishing you warmth <3