Fourteen Days

Monday 24th April 2017

Relaxed Monday. Coz I got a lot done over the weekend. Good to get out on the bike this morning, albeit briefly just to the Post Office. Legs aching from last night and I know to leave it a day before hitting the trail again. Been trying to eat a bit healthier. Tuna salad for lunch – mixed peppers, tomato and scrambled egg. Drinking water infused with real fruit chunks to takes the nasty out-of-the kitchen-tap edge off it. Chicken rendang and rice for tea then workshop prep. Listened to Corbyn’s brother on the Richie Allen show basically saying that Jeremy knows the banks are all fraudsters, that foreign policy is for land grab and depopulation and the west is corrupt as fuck, but can’t say so publicly. Time will tell. 10.30 pm.

Tuesday 25th April 2017

Session at Waddy was mainly admin and assessment exercise. On the bus home I checked out poems by Ruby Robinson, one of the Read Regional authors. Hoping to see her read in Newcastle next month. This evening, due to inclement weather I didn’t bike. Just as well coz the work prep for tomorrow took three hours. Listened to Henry Rollins and Ian MacKaye radio show online whist typing up student pieces. Then listened to the Family Man album, side one spoken word – salt on a slug, no deposit: no return, etc. Great stuff. Early start tomorrow. 10.45 pm.

Wednesday 26th April 2017

Another couple of good sessions. Writing from pictures and word prompts. Generated quite a bit of prose. Wrote a short story but not sure I’ll ever use it. Went to Newcastle Library to renew a book I couldn’t do online. Had an eat4less then back to base. Got a lot of healthy stuff in my grocery basket this evening but still ate cake at home. Avoided the big computer. Hoping to stay off it tomorrow as well. One more workshop to go. New course at Whitton Gilbert. 10.12 pm.

Thursday 27th April 2017

Was good to get the first session of Breathing Space Colour your Life done at Whitton Gilbert. A little nervous at first doing a workshop in a church but it went well and good to meet new people. Had a couple of hours in town before the gig. Went to library and copied up some of my stuff from March. The volume of ‘zine’ material is growing. Mint Great Northern Slam tonight. Some top poets on. Some of the head to heads a bit close to call. Chuffed to see a set from Rose Condo again. And to see Mike Edwards onstage after a lengthy absence. He made the final, but Rose’s other half, Kieran King, took the title. Jenni is writing an article about it for NARC magazine. I'll see her again on Saturday… Yay! The last bus finally turned up. Just when it looked as though the ‘intu’ guys were going to lock up Eldon concourse. 11.39 pm.

Friday 28th April 2017

Never set foot over the doorstep. Didn’t plan to. Intended to work on Anomalies 1989-2014. After a false start but more paid work coming my way, I got down to checking out the 366 pages of previously uncollected material for the big hardback. I’m still not happy with page margins or typeface on the non-repro sections. The first hundred pages are pretty much all scans from magazines so not much to do there. The bits that were typeset on computer are easy enough to move about. Listened to TV Smith then Lords of the New Church. Been making some sort of homemade lemon concoction and added lime and orange to take some of the bitterness off the water. I’ve always hated tap water but want to avoid aspartame in bottled liquids. Out quite a bit tomorrow. Bank, Post Office, Jen’s place. Then I’ll be back on the workshop stuff. 11.22 pm.

Saturday 29th April 2017

Up early and bus over to the Post Office depot to pick up a special delivery letter requiring a signature. The office is on the same industrial estate as the warehouse where I worked for over a decade. The warehouse is now occupied by a company called Romag. All covered in solar panels. Went back to Consett for bits and bobs at Barry's Bargain Store. Read a load of general election pieces on the net then had a pork steak dinner with steamed veg. Made a new morning pages book for May. Over to Jen's early. Watched Lewis, some snooker then Britain’s Got Talent and now Devils Advocate. Good day. Soup, crisps, cake, peanuts. Ok. 10.54 pm.

Sunday 30th April 2017

Good to have the lazy Sunday. Me and Jenni watched a lot of the World Snooker Championship this afternoon and evening. Got some good sandwiches from Peggy and Janet downstairs and I bought a trifle. Engrossed by the Selby/Higgins match but left at nine fifteen for the bus back. Read a Julia Eff zine on the way. Watched repeat of Peston on TV. Cut toenails. Bed. 11.26 pm.

Monday 1st May 2017

I tend not to like Bank Holiday Mondays. Usually too loud – lawnmowers, kids in the street, boy racers and barbecues. But today being rather grey it was pretty quiet. Pleased to get five lesson plans/workshops sorted this afternoon which freed up my evening to watch the last session of the World Snooker Championship. I wasn’t bothered who won, so long as it was a good match. Thought when Higgins was down after such a strong lead it would be finished before the interval, but good to see him claw a couple back and get a century break. Selby was just too good on the day. Well done. Great to watch. Been into it since I was eight or nine years old. Can hardly pot a ball, but love watching it. Big week coming up. Chuffed to get another great guest booked for next month’s Poetry Jam. 11.41 pm.

Tuesday 2nd May 2017

New course at New College Durham this evening. Five people turned up. College told me ten. How can five people enrol then decide not to come? Maybe they got the wrong date. I’m used to doing these preliminary sessions with around a dozen people, not five. Had to wing it a bit to pad the session out. Never mind, we’ll see who comes next week. I keep picking up perzines rather than officially published literature. I’m not producing much new stuff at present. Tonight I was home by five to ten. Aim to be in bed by half past. Wonder what tomorrow brings. 10.12 pm.

Wednesday 3rd May 2017

Session at St Cuthbert’s Hospice was good this morning. Trinkets as warm-ups, new compound word definitions, My Box poem. Afternoon at Cambian was Absurd Words, six sentence paragraph and a roll the dice fiction generator. Some disruptions in session knocked me off course a bit and I felt things could have gone better, but that’s working in mental health settings. Went to Newcastle. The bass man busker at monument kept me entertained till Jenni arrived. Eat4less then dark chocolate at Tesco. Then on to the Lit and Phil for Red Squirrel Press launch of Kevin Cadwallender’s Polishing Demons full length poetry collection and ‘Home is Where’ pamphlet by Cynthia Fuller. Good poems, good conversations. Home by ten. 10.30 pm.

Thursday 4th May 2017

Thursdays are becoming my favourite days. Not because they’re the last of the week for public work, but because the writing workshops are relaxed, enjoyable without the uncertainty of possible sabotage or poor attendance. And there is often a mint gig on as well. Poetry Jam this evening was pretty fucking epic. All the guests were great. Tom Conway, Elaine Cusack and Paul Summers. Some strong open floor readings from Keith Parker, Aaron Wright, Tony Gadd, Barrie West, Mariia Barros, amongst others. I did three poems: The Regulators, Frightful Things and A Brief Interlude of Enchantment. Must update my gig list. Thanks to all involved, especially Fergus for helping with the night and the lift home. 11.31 pm.

Friday 5th May 2017

Slow day. Computer took ages to upload Poetry Jam pix. Got some invoices in and read stuff online about the upcoming General Election. Looked at some Alison Moyet stuff. Made an extremely large tuna salad with mixed peppers and scrambled egg. Einsturzende Neubauten gig was magnificent. Lots of texture, variation in pace. Plenty English vocals alongside German and a great clear sound. Good to chat to Stephen Ward, Lee Browell and Stephen Clark as well as Juli Watson and some of spoken word crowd. Good to have laughs with Jenni afterwards. 11.58 pm.

Saturday 6th May 2017

Big lie in at Jen’s place this morning. Scrolled Facebook, read bad shit politics and how divided people appear these days. Went to Gateshead this afternoon for food supplies. Checked out ‘1001 Albums to Hear before You Die’ book when we got back. Not heard as many as Jenni thought I might. Ate rogan josh, pizza and chocolate. Watched Pointless and a good film about cancer. 

10.55 pm.

Sunday 7th May 2017

Didn’t get up till half ten. Morning pages. TV. Jenni made dinner. Mash, broccoli, carrots peas. I had steak pie, she had veggie sausages. Watched Columbo and Diagnosis Murder. Then a great film called The Terminal starring Tom Hanks. Footie fans quite rowdy on the bus home. Cheese on toast. Checked out Neubauten gig archive. 11.50 pm.