Another Seven Days On Planet Steve

Sunday 24th February 2013

I’m at Plugged Inn on Holmeside in Sunderland. It’s ten past five, the promoter isn’t here yet and I’m fucking freezing. Easily the coldest my hands have been this winter. And there isn’t even any snow on the ground. I don’t think anything will happen till around seven. Don’t understand – billed from 5.00pm but no-one is here.

Read a few chapters of Just a Boy by Richard McCann on the bus then had to ask a couple of people how to get here. The venue is just over the road from the Independent where I saw the Cruxshadows play. Had I known that before, I’d have found it easily. I’m pretty nervous coz I’m not sure how my material will go down. I’m not really Mr hip-hop. We’ll see...

LATER: Grateful to ArtAngelz for being nice this evening. Good of them to give me two sets instead of short mini-slots. First set was a little ropey as I opened the night from the floor and had a few microphone problems but pleased to get a good second set: five pieces from memory clean and from the stage. I had a blast. But some great young freestylers made me look positively geriatric. People enthusiastic about the acts. Be good to see some of them at JibbaJabba.

Got the ten past ten bus to Consett. Won’t get home till after midnight, but it’s been worth it. Got the buzz from old standards that can’t be done in Tyneside anymore. 10.40pm.

Monday 25th February 2013

Got 52 writing prompts together for two marathons. Took a long time. Still have to come up with a workshop plan for tomorrow. But took time out to watch a documentary about Aylesbury prison. Life behind bars must be the worst thing ever. Got a huge gas bill today. Over half my monthly earnings just to survive the cold weather. Fuck. Really tired now. No chapbook work today. Hopefully tomorrow. 10.10pm.

Tuesday 26th February 2013

Good little workshop at Waddy this afternoon. Started with Begin by Brendan Kennelly and ended with Ode to the Boom Box by Kevin Coval. Some great odes from the group about chocolate, porridge, Prince and peanut butter. Lost my thermal hat on the way home. First one in a while. Always losing something. Home to cheese, leak and ham pasta and the woes of the six o’clock news. Then prompt copy-ups for tomorrow’s half-marathon.

   Jenni sat puzzled watching me cut the edge off an envelope.

   “What are you doing?” she asked.

   “Opening this,” I replied.

   “That’s not how you do it.”

   “It is when you buy a pack of twenty five and the bastards are all sealed shut!”

   She burst out laughing and couldn’t stop for ages.

   Tried to watch Lewis but got confused by it. At one point I was convinced the producers had cobbled together a load of deleted scenes from random episodes and said, “Just put that out, no-one will know the difference.” – Happy times, but sleepy now. 10.17pm.

Wednesday 27th February 2013

Did a half-marathon writing workshop at Waddy this morning. Some people found it hard to stick to guidelines but on the whole a pretty good two hours of writing and read-backs. Nine rounds, some great stuff from the group that could be developed for future use. Have been pretty hammered since. Slept on the bus home. Slept much of this evening, so no work done on the book. Trying to do proofs and editing on low batteries is just pretty pointless really. Jenni went to bed just after nine. I’ve been nodding off on the couch since. Could do with a day at home tomorrow but will be back at Waddy for one-to-one surgery sessions. Always find it hard to do journal on work days. All played out. Be good to have a few days at home from Friday for book work. Only 32 days to get it ship shape, printed and bound. Researched a bit on government debt today. Very disconcerting. Money is always a concern for me. Done here. 9.55pm.

Thursday 28th February 2013

Great day at Waddy. Got there about half eleven and did a poetry one to one then went along the road for mince and dumplings with some of the workshop regulars. It’s always nice to sit in on a staff break as well though and today I got to rant and rave about obscene wealth and poverty, and how the real news is likely to result in severe anxiety. Then I did ninety minutes poetry discussion – Bukowski, Olds, Neruda, Lochhead, Duffy, CK Williams, Tesco’s newspaper statement (?!?!), Poetry Jam – analysis and feedback. I like informal workshops; you can do so much more – speak off the cuff. Pleased I went on Facebook afterwards: Jenni left instructions for JibbaJabba and Sheila has someone in mind as a Poetry Jam guest replacement. I’m on the 21 to Newcastle. Just looked over the biogs for tonight’s gig guests: Ebby, Julian Lee and Scott Tyrrell. It’ll be the first time I’ve hosted an event at the Cumberland. Looking forward to it. Right now though I could do with a little sleep. Hope I don’t get a migraine tonight. 4.47pm.

LATER: Pleased to get a meal at Goose. Pleased to get through the Jibba gig okay. Good night, but I got a migraine. Felt like hurling my guts up but couldn’t. Grateful to Sheila for the ride home. Pleased to be in bed. 11.10pm.

Friday 1st March 2013

Felt a lot better when I woke this morning. Talked to Jenni about last night’s Jibba Jabba, showed her the pix I took but none good enough for the net. She did me a favour in checking out energy providers online. Haven’t switched yet but I intend to. After lunch I went into town for the weekly food shopping. Not long after getting home I fell asleep on the couch. When I woke up Jenni was asleep. She woke up but then went to bed so I did some editing. Craft creations are sending out colour samples for my chapbook next week. Got a replacement guest Mel McEvoy for Poetry Jam c/o Sheila Wakefield. Listened to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds new album ‘Push the Sky Away’ and oldie ‘Tender Prey’ this evening as I worked. Downstairs again and it’s cold, probably won’t stay up much longer. 10.38pm.

Saturday 2nd March 2013

Another beautiful blue sky morning and were it not for my joints aching I’d be tempted to go out on the mountain bike. I think it will require some maintenance first though. After nearly a year lying dormant in the back room the air pressure in the forks will be gone and I don’t have the correct pump to put them right. Shaun’s shop ‘Bits 4 Bikes’ in Consett is the best bet to do it as the other one will charge a fortune. I want the forks rock solid when the suspension lock is on. And just a little bit of give when it isn’t.

James Oates is doing the C2C bike ride in May. It would be great to join him for this but ten weeks probably isn’t long enough for me to reach fitness for 70 miles per day.

I haven’t bought a bike mag for years. I liked ‘Single Track’ for all the fantastic landscape photography, but there’s a pile of old Mountain Biking UK monthlies stashed under a chair in the back bedroom; I could take inspiration from them. Things don’t change that much. And of course, you can get up to the minute info on equipment trends and fitness advice online. If you’ve got access to the net, you’re pretty much sorted info-wise for everything on the planet, though, aren’t you?

I was pleased to get the Poetry Jam flyer amended with new guest Mel McEvoy on it to replace Ally May who had to drop out. I hope Ally is okay. I was pleased to get my work journal copied up and five days of the blog. Must get some work done on my chapbook this weekend.

Would really like to get out on the bike as well though. Want to lose a bit of belly flab. After my carvery at Goose on Thursday I feel it’s time to start cutting back on the calories. Didn’t have a proper meal yesterday, just porridge, a cheese and tomato sandwich and peanut butter on toast and some sweet snacks. Trying to curb my spending. When the weather picks up I could reduce my travel expenses by biking into Waddy.

Sick of feeling sluggish. Want to get outside and get active. I might – if my right knee can take the strain – start training for this September’s “The Beast” Durham Big Ride. I did it in 2011 but Beast is a polite name for it. Coz it should really begin with C and end in T. Fifty miles around County Durham taking in some of the steepest climbs the organisers can find. I wanted to do it again last year but the weather was so crap most of the time I couldn’t get out to train. I’m not scared of the wind and rain, but my throat doesn’t like it and I had a lot of gigs last year. Really missed the bike in 2012. Hopefully this year should better.

LATER: Big air pressure in my Rock Shock TORA forks now. Shaun only charged a quid! So chuffed, I had a little blast through Consett and over towards my old school in Blackfyne – got down and dirty as the resurfaced Blue Heaps steps led into a mud bath of a trail. Had to ride across the all-weather pitch to get my tires moderately clean before hitting the roads again at speed or I’d have been up to the eyes in clarts. Felt good to be out on the bike again. Might go out for another little ride in a day or two if the weather holds. All mights, shoulds and musts. Hope I can make this stick. 3.13pm.