Yesterday was the first Open Mic of the year at the Sanctuary Bar. I was told variously it was on/not on. And only got told it was definitely on near the start time. By then I'd arranged to watch the Liverpool league match against Wolves in the Head of Steam. I was a little disappointed, as originally I'd said I'd miss the football to go to Open Mic, but once it was arranged it was too late to change things. In any case, I don't like missing games on the telly when they are on. Had a nice couple of pints in the HoS with Ste - watching Liverpool win again. Woohoo!

As it happened we went down to the Sanctuary and I got a slot to go and play. After a few beers I'm usually not great remembering all the lyrics (at least not in the correct order) so it was a risk. However I ended up playing four songs and did pretty well. So all was good: I saw the game and played some tunes and listened to some too. Win, win, win.

Went for four of my most usual songs:

• Somewhere Down the Road
• Couldn't Get Arrested
• Sweet Carolina
• Splendid Isolation (with a wee segue from Knockin' on Heaven's Door)

Ste hadn't seen me for ages and commented he was surprised how good I was now. Which basically means I was shit when he first saw me.

Onwards and upwards. I need to get some songs written and learn some new ones too. Here's to many more Open Mics throughout 2020!