12th August 2020 and if the COVID-19 pandemic wasn’t bad enough, my studio flooded. A torrential downpour overwhelmed the badly maintained drainage system in the road leading to my studio and within ten minutes, the basement was under 25cm of dirty road-water. You can read all about that here. A devastating experience, I was in no state of mind to begin looking for new premises for Plasma Music.
The road drainage system is of course, not the responsibility of my landlords, so despite having been at my previous premises for ten years, I was concerned that the same thing might happen again and reluctantly, made the decision to leave.
20th November 2020 was my last day. On the evening of the 19th, my wife Julie and my good friend Tony, made one last trip to the old studio. It was a little emotional, to say the least. As I said, we'd been there for almost ten years. All three of us took a sigh and were very aware of what we were individually feeling. I designed the whole place and Tony paid for a lot of the build. ‘Area 51’ had a lot of good memories, not just for us but many friends and customers. A final goodbye, Tony and Julie reminded me that it was time to move on.
Since then, my wife and I have been carefully negotiating the huge stacks of equipment that accommodate every corner of our home. Of course I haven’t been able to do anything music-wise but I have tried to carry on with repairs, service and design and manufacturing. It’s been a real struggle.
Trying to dig out tools, equipment and parts has sometimes been like looking for a needle in a haystack.
People comment on how my stuff looks like I bought it yesterday. That's because I look after it! Stuff had to be stacked and stored carefully and properly. I also had a lot of customer repairs in progress. Their status needed to logged, parts kept in place and of course, looked after like my own gear.
Anyway, seven months later and it seems that I have new premises for Plasma Music. It’s a large detached house which is going to need a lot of work before I even consider moving my stuff in. Last week I ripped out the kitchen which is going to be replaced with something a little scaled down.
Upstairs isn’t too bad and basically just needs redecorating. Apart from the kitchen, downstairs also needs a lot of the flooring replaced and a little damp sorting out.
I’d just like to take this opportunity to say THANK YOU to my lovely family, my awesome friends and my kind neighbours. My youngest daughter, Tsunami was actually responsible to motivate me (kick my arse) to make a start. She’s just graduated with a 1st but has put her dad first, too!
My wife Julie, has been incredibly patient over the past few months, what with our home seemingly disappearing under a deluge of amplifiers, keyboards, mixing desks, guitars and a lot more. Julie has also been helping with stripping wallpaper and organising skips, etc.
Then there’s my neighbour Mike Graves who pulled up the damaged flooring and has already made a start on preparing for the new galley-style kitchen. Mike knows a lot more than I do about building and has been so helpful sorting out lots of bits ‘n’ pieces.
While focusing on the inside of the house, another neighbour, Joe Scibetta, has done an awesome job on the gardens. Joe worked tirelessly to get the lawns into a half decent state. He ripped down the old shed and removed a tree that was growing out of control. He even put up a new fence panel which apart from looking awesome, has improved security from the front aspect of the property.
I reckon it’s going to take a few months before I consider moving stuff over but I quite honestly, can’ wait.