What was meant to be a short-term bolt-hole in escaping from a previous abusive relationship, the glorified bedsit in High Littleton, that had also become "Greyfield Studio," was now entering into it's fourth year of tenancy.

Busking was risky, due to abuse and physical attacks, but also a financial lifeline. As well as the actual joy of performing and the exercise it gave Grod the performances were still being enjoyed by those who saw them.

After each performance, rather then sit around and be a sitting duck to a further attack, Grod would find his way to his hideout, Bath's smallest pub, "The Coeur De Lion." No jukebox, TVs or gaming machines, a pub where you went to get away from it all and read a paper or chat with the bar staff and regulars.

It's difficult to be friendly with people though, when you are suspecting an attack and have no idea who might be related to someone you are trying to avoid.

Fortunately for Grod he was instantly recognizable as the busker they'd often enjoyed and the regulars, staff and owners made him welcome.

As trust began to grow with a few people Grod began to be able to tell people in confidence of the problems he was facing and his side of the story.

When the facts of the situation became known, those who had only known what they did from hearsay began to see the actual picture and gave their support.

If Grod were to run into any trouble in the pub, they'd be a few people who would quickly stop it happening. In fact the pub was a great place for Grod to relax a bit and in return on requests to get his guitar out and lead a sing-a-long, he was always willing to oblige.

One of the bar staff was a Canadian tourist taking time out to explore Europe. In fact the catalyst had been a relationship heading towards marriage, a marriage at heart she knew she didn't want, so jumped ship and went well away for unspecified length of time.

It was the friendship and encouragement from this barmaid that helped Grod get through the day and the motivation to maybe come out another day. While there were several people trying to help Grod keep his feet in troubled times, it was she who did the most.

The trust between them that developed allowed her to start letting Grod stay over occasionally at her wonderful flat in Bath's prestigious "Great Pultney Street." Her renting it courtesy of meeting its owner while working at the pub, and he being away at sea a lot as a navel captain.

With the flat empty, for a small rent he preferred someone to use it and look after it. She happened to be at the right time at the right place. It also helps if you've got a pretty face, dazzling smile and a wicked sense of humour.

Chilling out at her flat when she'd finished work sometimes involved Grod getting his guitar out and serenading her. She'd liked his music when seeing him as a busker, but in her kitchen she got to hear Grod's own songs and liked them immensely.

When eventually going off to her bed, before finding his way to the lounge couch Grod sometimes used the moment to begin to write some new songs. He then played them to her the next time he stayed over and she would give her verdict.

She liked them all, knowing also which one she had inspired. With a long brown coat it didn't take much guessing, "Chocolate Box."

"You are a sweet selection in an all assorted box, you have a soft warm center and a coat of chocolate" (Excerpt of lyrics from "Chocolate Box")

And while Grod wasn't as close to her as the song lyrics suggest, he knew quite a lot about and her own adventures and relationships in life.

Another song was "Mirage", which speaks of the love and togetherness through life that people experience in a life long union of love. So much though she thought the song should be called "Marriage."

But then the penny dropped. It was called "Mirage" because Grod had only very rarely seen such idyllic relationships really exist. Grod knew that the image presented to the outside world is more often a reality away of what happens secretly behind closed doors.

A further song written at Great Pultney Street was "Taking It All To Extremes." The previous songs were typical of Grod's gentle love ballads.

This though was the anger of having a loved one ripped away from you.

That while there is absolutely nothing different you could have done, presently also powerless to do anything, observations are being noted, records kept and quietly and secretly preserved. Waiting for the right time to come to suddenly expose everything and everyone who was involved.

"Oh these times they are a stressing, frightful and distressing, You'll regret in time you're messing with me. For just around the corner, don't say I didn't warn you, is the anger welling up you didn't see." (Excerpt of lyrics from "All To Extremes")

The lyrics of the song don't beat about the bush. It directly refers to the situation Grod faced with losing his young love and muse, through her fear of her own family, friends who weren't friends, negligent authorities and negligent professional advice.

They ripped her away from somewhere she wanted to be and had every right to be. And they helped rip out the love they had physically created by their union. With many illegalities involved, and much consequences.

But all trying now to cover their errors and all believing they were going to get away with it. Grod was biding his time and making sure he survived to tell the tale in the meantime.

It was the fourth and final song that Grod wrote that stood out though.

A song which quickly became part of his busking asset and always met with great applause. A song other buskers sometimes would come and augment, with spaces in the song for them to fly off into an improvised heaven.

A song whose title gives the game away, "All Those Lost Years."

It was what Grod did best, a ballad of the feelings of broken love. The thought afterward of the chunk of your life invested in nurturing something, supporting and loving a partner, only to find your trust has been broken.

Caught out she decides to leave. All those lost years.

"Absently minded you laid down the trail, and the truth all too simple availed, But such were the times, that it all slipped your mind, and why be in love that's gone stale?" (Excerpt of lyrics from "All Those Lost Years.")

It was playing these new songs in her kitchen that the Canadian barmaid made a comical suggestion.

"While you've still got your flat and your recording equipment set up there, maybe you should record those songs, acoustically just like that, the others of yours I like, make a new CD and call it "The Kitchen Sessions!"

They both laughed. But it was a joke with a touch of substance about it.

Grod had come a long way since his last all acoustic CD, his 2nd CD "Yours & Mine."

Back then the songs had all previously been recorded to tape before transfer to hard disk. Recording direct to hard disk gave better sound quality and already had a few such acoustic recordings from other CD's.

It also gave the motivation to record these new songs and also a purely acoustic version of "Where Do You Go To My Lovely." While some loved his version at the start of the "Grodsong" CD, some hated it.

What was mutual was that both parties asked if he had any recording of Grod singing it purely acoustically? It was time to oblige.

As well as giving the opportunity to record songs in his set he hadn't previously recorded, that suited just being recorded as guitar and voice, it was also chance for Grod to take a step back in time.

The first band Grod have ever been in was as a teenager with friends from the Bridlington Priory Youth Club. The others all had a musical pedigree on the violin, French horn and piano and seemed comfortably to the swap to guitars, synthesizer and pop music. All could read music in the Priory Choir, Grod had just enthusiasm and a desire to learn.

But Grod had also written some of the songs the band performed. So he was put on the drums. Well, cardboard boxes and pan lids for cymbals. That was until a sympathetic parishioner at the church agreed to sell the Youth club an assortment of drums.

Grod then rather amused the band by setting the snare drum alongside the tom-tom drums. Either he was going to be a truly original drummer or had a lot to learn. So they allowed him to swap places with the lead vocalist on a couple of numbers also.

The Light Emitting Diodes (L.E.D. for short) only ever played 3 gigs, that including a get-together "Farewell Concert" before various members went off to University and Grod began to study for his re-sits. (But got there in the end... and a degree... with a Diploma!)

But during the initial split, it was because the others decided to drop Grod and become classical and with a 1930's/40's feel with a band called "Mood Embassy."

However an aging blues and particular fan of Eric Clapton who occasionally came to the church offered to form a band with him on guitar and Grod on drums.

In fact these were the days when his nickname actually was "Grod."

Along with another church going guitarist/vocalist who wanted to play Gospel Music, the "C.B. Blues Band" was formed.

They played just two gigs, the first gig relying on Grod arriving back from a visit to Saudi Arabia to visit his father and get a bus from London to Yorkshire that would allow him to arrive on time.

For all that drama and anticipation the actual gig was performed to around 30 old age pensioners, during the break of their bible study.

The band decided to play the 15 minute set as rehearsed, including a 3 minute drum solo by Grod. Which famously brought the vicar overseeing the meeting rushing back into the hall as he thought the wall cabinets had come crashing down.

The 2nd gig was as part of the "Farewell L.E.D" Concert, which included performances by "Mood Embassy" and Grod's "C.B. Blues Band."... whose reputation as hell raisers was already established in church circles after their only previous gig.

The C.B. Blues band had basically just two songs. A famous blues classic "Stormy Monday Blues" and "Basketball Joe", made famous by the Cheech & Chong film "Up In Smoke".

The latter included improvised guitar and drum solos and varied between five and fifteen minutes. It was a lot of fun for the performer but somewhat testing of its listeners.

But twenty years on, now a guitarist, "Stormy Monday Blues" had become part of Grod's set, as a way of showing had other styles of play besides ballads and sing-a-longs. Blues.

It also gave Grod a chance in his set to give his voice a rest and show his acoustic rhythm guitar skills. But also with years of his life being in debt and heavy smoking through prolonged stress, he'd also developed quite a genuine blues voice.

At first it got few outings while busking, it was so different to the rest of his set. But then people began to request it. And the more you do something, the better it normally gets.

So "The Kitchen Sessions" allowed the opportunity to record the song. And maybe when copies reached Bridlington in Yorkshire, people might take a second look and wonder what exactly happened over the years?

There was one other track that Grod was frequently asked to record, which had only become part of his set as so many people had requested it.

His own musical opinion was to do what you do best. If you like an Irish song, then maybe it's best performed by a genuine Irishman. But the requests kept coming in.

Grod was now regularly playing with a penny whistle player who had busked in Bath for some twenty years. While originally very dismissive of Grod when he first arrived, even once punching him, they had now become friends.

They were always looking for songs that suited the guitar voice and whistle, and this one easily gave itself up again. "The pipes, the pipes are calling."... for "Danny Boy."

Also recorded for the CD was a version of "Hold Me Close", the David Essex 70's hit. But it is not featured on this CD-ROM as, to be frank, is not very good!

Then it was time to choose the best acoustic tracks already recorded on other CD's, since the release of "Yours & Mine."

To then find they all appeared on the previous CD "UNNO.XXWWXX" so the stories behind these songs are written on the review of that CD, "About UNNO.XXWWXX."

The songs chosen that complete the CD are below.

With the CD recorded it was time to design the covers. Except money was tight so Grod decided that a simple paper packet was enough, using the same photograph of the CD-label, but also with a thank you to all Grod's friends at "The Coeur De Lion."

Especially though to the mysterious Canadian tourist barmaid who inspired the CD's existence. With a photograph of her working behind the bar for the CD label and cover picture.