The Moon On a Stick and Preferably Yesterday

Sunday 6th April 2014

Bit of a lie in then a few hours on the net. Changed an inner tube on the street bike then when out for half an hour in the car park on the industrial estate in Moorside. Did a very swift NaPoWriMo, wrote some feedback on others’ poems. Thanks to Mark and Mandy for feedback on work. Pleased to get over to Jen’s this evening. 10.57 pm.

Monday 7th April 2014

Woke Jenni up by yawning loudly. I thought I was still asleep. But you know what thought did… She was up before me. We went out this afternoon to Newcastle. I bought a copy of THRILL longboarding magazine then we checked out the NaPoWriMo prompt at the library: love poem for an inanimate object. Hot footed it over to the Goose for a carvery. My poem was about the food. Enjoyed it. Then a stressful hour being hassled by the library computer. Got my poem keyed in then the page ‘expired’. How the hell does a Facebook note page expire? Eventually got it done. Good to see some of Dominic Berry’s end of residency group anthology event at the Globe gallery, before videoing Red Squirrel Press Sara Park Memorial Short Story Competition event at the Lit and Phil. Now in the Centurian, talking shop and having a laugh; reminiscing about past glories and monumental fuck-ups in the publishing world. 10.50 pm.

Tuesday 8th April 2014

Good day. Clothes washed at the laundrette next to Jen’s place. Had chicken jalfrezi with Jenni and got my poem uploaded to Facebook with correct line-breaks in it. Bought another longboarding magazine at Native Skates. Then Anti-Slam: poets were great – too good to be called bad. I was timekeeper and poetry gobshite. Walking back into town now. Gonna get chips and pizza. 11.35 pm.

Wednesday 9th April 2014

Read a bit of THRILL this morning while Jenni slept. Came home this afternoon. Consett fucking freezing again. Made a poem out of ten Spotify listed popular Nine Inch Nails songs and watched videos. Bikes, boards and a belly full of food. 10.46 pm.

Thursday 10th April 2014

Lethargic. Distracted. Not getting very much done of late. Only managed journal copy-ups and marathon admin. Hoping tomorrow will be better. Read bits and pieces of poetry online. NaPoWriMo done, got some clutter out of the bedroom but still lots elsewhere. Would be good to get out on the bike if not so tired. Watched some great longboarding videos and found a pic online of the Kryptonics Denny Riordon deck I had in 1988. Talked to Mam and Ernie on the phone. They’re doing okay. 10.18 pm.

Friday 11th April 2014

Finally got my notes copied up but posted very little. Watched extreme sports online and felt numb most of the day. Decided to put the heating on for a few hours and started to feel better. Watched a brilliant documentary about American pro skater Alissa Streamer. Listened to A Feast of Consequences – going to see Fish at the Gala Theatre next month and haven’t played this latest album for a while. Was tempted to cut the grass instead of reshuffling lesson plans, but ended up doing neither. Posted a reminder on Facebook for next weekend’s writing marathon – two places left. 9.24 pm.

Saturday 12th April 2014

Good to get out on the bike today, albeit briefly. Got a NaPoWriMo substitute poem out of it. Checked out the trials skills of a nine-year-old Adam Morewood on YouTube. There’s a vid charting his development from a toddler on stabilizers to World Champion full-on rock-hopper. Awesome.

On the X70 to Jenni’s. Seems like years since I last took this Saturday night journey. Have a big bag of food and a much better mood than that of the last three days. 7.50 pm.

Sunday 13th April 2014

Lazy day at Jen’s. Enjoyed action movie Stormbreaker this afternoon after a lovely chicken jalfrezi. Great to see Danny MacAskell’s Imaginate trials film on tv as well. Nice to have a walk out despite windy weather. Cherry pie and custard when we got back. Watched Richard E Grant antique hunting in France. Did NaPoWriMo when I got home. Pleased to have posted every day for that so far. 11.36 pm.

Monday 14th April 2014

Didn’t go to bed till nearly two this morning, but somehow managed to get more work done today than most of the last week. NaPoWriMo done by mid afternoon. Saw a great little vid of a 60 year-old skateboarder. He was dropping in off the coping and cruising graceful arcs over the slopes. Made me want to take my trials bike out. So I did. Unfortunately trials requires more than balance. Arms aching after two minutes, but my hands held out well. Don’t want to buy any upgrades unless I am sticking with it, so at present the low straight handlebars are a total pain. And the bottom bracket grunts a lot. Think I’d be better off trail riding than trials riding. Dirt tracks are much easier than rockfields; you get to sit down too. But we’ll see. I am over twelve stone in weight. When I did biketrial full on eight years ago I would sweat six pounds and come home under eleven stone every morning. The good old days. 10.38 pm.