All Fun and Games Until Someone Loses an Eye

Monday 20th June 2016

Breakfast at Jen’s then biked back to Consett by road till Leadgate then cycle path. Took a while to get going work wise. Finding it hard to stay focused. Getting annoyed by the referendum. Watched a piece on how trade deals will collapse and how the UK will be fucked. Checked out some journaling stuff online and listened to The Mission. Had a great pork steak and salad meal. Lesson plans up to date but really exhausted and ready for summer break. Must keep plugging away. 11.09 pm.

Tuesday 21st June 2016

Some guy came out from a fence company to give me an estimate for one side of the back garden. £378. Err, no fucking way can I afford that. Looks like the place will remain a shit heap. Workshop at Waddy was good. Low numbers but a decent way to end the term. Recaps and finishing off some group pieces. Bus home was busy and hot. Evening meal was fried eggs and cheese bread. Got the Poetry Jam event page up online. Blogpost then Wembley EU debate. Got a headache. House is hot and I’m tired. Still have a workshop to plan tomorrow. Leaving all the college loose ends till next week. 10.57 pm.

Wednesday 22nd June 2016

Mixed results today at work. Up at six and prepping till eleven. Cambian Appletree had a good session on figurative language – furniture game, definitions, similes. Evening was a bit sketchy – trying out new stuff and the timings need tweaking. Some stuff to ditch, lots to develop. Toothache is back. Computer is whirring like fuck and I hope it doesn’t go kaput. I'm not feeling brilliant, just tired and stinking but one more day and I’m done. Did another run through of my Alphabetti Soup set this evening. Comes in at under 35 minutes, so that’s good. I’ll be mainly reading though. Memory isn’t good enough to go without notes. Bed soon. 10.58pm.

Thursday 23rd June 2016

Awake at five. Damn these insomnia days. Sorted papers for workshop, had a bath, washed some clothes in the sink, then voted Remain. Along the wall near the polling station a row of Leave posters. Session at Mind started ok. The group produced great pieces from the furniture game but mine was rather dull. Unfortunately session had to be abandoned just before eleven due to tensions in the room. Discussion about future sessions took up second hour. Home to a furnace and feeling dog-tired but got my bags packed for a few much needed days away at Jen’s place. Tonight there’s a new monthly event starting called MOSTLY SPOKEN hosted by Simma at the Cumberland Arms. It takes the slot that Jibba used to have. Me and Jenni are going along. Then tomorrow I’ll have to do some more rehearsals for Saturday’s gig. Bus to Newcastle is an oven. Headache coming on. The writing group were very supportive this morning. We’re not sure yet if the sessions can carry on after the summer break. Hope I enjoy myself tonight. 5.21 pm.

Friday 24th June 2016

So here we are in a country of uncertainty. The politicians pushing for independence haven’t got a fucking clue what they are going to do. I had a feeling they’d win. But by the looks on the faces of Gove and Johnson it appears something of a pyrrhic victory. By lunchtime Farage was already backpedalling on the £350 million a week for the NHS. People swallowed the bait. BBC TV is all exit strategy vacuity. Not much on immigration. People made a protest vote coz they feel they aren’t listened to, sick of government and politics in general. Pity the poor bastards who think they’ve got their country back. United Kingdom? Without Ireland and Scotland? I think not. The lovely Bank of England have promised to tap in some numbers to shore up the flagging pound. And we’ll all just have to pull together, apparently. I don’t hate the leavers. I blame the bastard Tories who pushed Cameron for a referendum in the first place. Jenni is gutted. She didn’t get much sleep coz she lost her key and didn’t get back in the house till I heard her knocking at six this morning. She’s been asleep much of the day. I had three hours sleep and saw the result go out live. Watched much of the daytime coverage and nipped out to Tesco for supplies then rehearsed my Alphabetti Soup set. 9.26pm.

Saturday 25th June 2016

Much of the day spent reading a newspaper. Mainly what I already knew from tv yesterday. Rehearsed my set again. Show tonight was great. Comedy from Fernando who was totally off the wall, music from Ren, Haythem and Craig Clark; Mr Man play by Grace Curtis performed by Matt Miller and Sarah Boulter, plus a couple of songs by Wilf Stone. Enjoyed my bit and felt the audience were with me. Walked back with Jenni via Tesco. 

Got a trifle for supper. 11.25pm.

Sunday 26th June 2016

Can’t remember much of ‘moaning’ pages, but enjoyed having a dip into ‘52 Ways of Reading a Poem’ by Ruth Padel. Watch a bit of post referendum Sunday politics, Columbo then ELO at Glastonbury with Jenni. Bus home was okay, bit of Facebook activity. Pleased the house is intact, just the usual overnight slug trails on the kitchen carpet. 11.38 pm.