Battles, Bottle Shots and Bunny Rabbits

Sunday 1st February 2015

Dizzy, sickly with headache when I woke. Despite the carvery at the Goose with Jenni yesterday I don’t think my calorific intake for the last 36 hours was high enough. Felt okay after ibuprofen and toast. I came home this afternoon. Set up the printer – with online help from Jenni. She is still a bit unwell too. I’m feeling rotten: cold, shivers, snotty nose. Not looking forward to the week ahead. Fuck this! 9.45 pm.

Monday 2nd February 2015

Loaded with cold. Stupid fucking admin hassles and not enough energy to get through all my work. Just too worn down to do any more prep. Slept in clothes again last night – t-shirt, hoodie, polo top, woolly hat, joggers tucked into socks. Currently sitting with my back against the radiator. Need to be in bed early in order to get a Writing for All lesson planned in the morning. The rest are pretty much in place. Haven’t been able to relax enough to read. Don’t want to let people down. Don’t want to spread germs either. Could do with a week off. But I’ll just end up finding other work to beat myself up with. 9.45 pm.

Tuesday 3rd February 2015

Managed to pull off day one. Only two sessions. Felt a bit bad being in Waddy all full of germs and fatigue. Group were very gracious. I did some rewinds to old stuff – alliterative character sketches, some template poems. Took a man-flu bottle shot and felt a bit better for evening class. Bus ride home okay. 10.21 pm.

Wednesday 4th February 2015

Three workshops today. Half marathon at Waddy was fun. Triolets were the main exercise at Cambian Appletree. This evening was the opener for a new private ten week block, bringing together participants from two previous evening courses. Home by ten after 12 flash fictions on the bus. Six of them I quite liked. I read nine this morning and they all went by me, to be honest. Maybe I wasn’t concentrating hard enough. Ate an angus burger and a fruit scone. Five sessions down. One more half-marathon to go then the first Poetry Jam of the year. 11.30 pm.

Thursday 5th February 2015

Long day.

Mini marathon was laid back.

I relaxed the no comment rule and probably shouldn’t.

Drained by lunchtime.

Poetry Jam was good.

Great turnout despite grotty weather.

Mouth sore again.

Extremely tired.

11.33 pm.

Friday 6th February 2015

“MANY THANKS to everyone who came down to Poetry Jam last night. Some new faces among the regulars. Our fabulous three feature guests Leila Hussein, Harry Gallagher and Valerie Laws treated us to cracking sets. Such a variety of voices. Lots of ace open-floor readings / performances. Thanks as ever to Fergus of Waddington Street Centre for setting up the space and working the café. And of course for the ride home afterwards. Lots of great guests coming this year. Keep it going!”

Pleased to be home most of the day. Enjoyed the Colin Will / Double Bill launch at Lit and Phil but getting there was a pain. I’m staying at home this weekend. Think I need a real big sleep at some point. Will try to stay in bed a good nine or ten hours, then get some typing done; wash clothes then read some new stuff.

Bought some food at Tesco on the way home. Cutting back on everything over the next couple of months. Fuck it. Again. 11.09 pm.

Saturday 7th February 2015

Warmer day so I didn’t have to burn money to feel alive. Been at the computer keying in marathon stuff and reading winter notes, watching writing videos. Checked out Nadine Shah’s ‘Love You Dum and Mad’ album, read some Valerie Laws and Geoff Hattersley. Was in town a while, still feeling a bit shitty now and again. 10.55 pm.

Sunday 8th February 2015

Performing two poems in my living room whilst wearing a cardboard rabbit mask isn’t the usual Sunday afternoon activity. But good to do the photo shoot for Tracy Speeding. Chatted with her and hubby Mark about music afterwards. Good to be in touch with Pat and Richard via Facebook after many years. Good to hear from Jenni. This evening's work prep has mostly been fuelled by Ribena and the totally excellent "USELESS - The Very Best of TV Smith". Tomorrow will be an easier day in light of this. 9.07 pm.