JULY 2022

 Friday 1st July 2022

Today’s session at Bullion Hall in Chester le Street went very well. A2Z of alliterative characters, consequences, group character sketch and speculation. I stayed back till about half three talking about next week’s Poetry Jam, then walked back into town for the bus which was only ten minutes late. I took things easy tonight. Chatted online with Jenni. Discovered that Creeper will play an indoor festival this September in Newcastle. Sixty quid is good value for a full line-up of over a dozen bands but not if you only want to see one of them. I aim to bike to Jen’s tomorrow. 11.20pm.

 

Saturday 2nd July 2022

Morning pages. Letters to Waddy, Richmond Book and Walking Festival, Bullion Hall. Keyed in notes, checked out poetry books and goth band The Way of All Flesh who are playing The Globe in Newcastle. I don’t usually break the weekend rule of no power tools but good to get the grass cut. Grateful for good weather to ride the Rockhopper bike to Bensham. 10.42pm.

 

Sunday 3rd July 2022

Me and Jenni went out for food supplies then had spicy bean burgers for tea and watched three episodes of PisToL. It’s pretty good. The guy who plays Malcolm McClaren is ace. I rode home on the Rockhopper. 10.58pm.

 

Monday 4th July 2022

Twitter is the go-to site for toxic posts about covid. So many desperate to see a return to mandatory mask-wearing. Got a lesson plan sorted and out to Consett for food supplies. Have downed three bars of Fry’s chocolate peppermint cream – sweet tooth, zero willpower. Listened to lots of Skunk Anansie songs today. 11.10pm. 

 

Tuesday 5th July 2022

Chuffed to find a new bit of trail with a pretty good obstacle on it. A little gully that requires a slow descent then letting off the brakes to gain momentum to roll part-way up the other bankside before putting the power down to get to the top and re-join the trail. Unfortunately, on the way home I banged my head on a tree branch. I don’t think it’s as bad as last time. Fingers crossed I’m okay tomorrow. 11.27pm.

 

Wednesday 6th July 2022

Tired after yesterday’s activity and a couple of hours work this morning at the desktop, Head started to pound just like it did when I had concussion last summer. I have eaten a lot of porridge and chocolate, copied up some notes and read lots of online current affairs. Basically, a day off. I will be full-on for Poetry Jam when I wake up tomorrow. OK. 11.38pm.

 

Thursday 7th July 2022

MASSIVE THANKS to everyone who made Poetry Jam a brilliant night. To Helen Marshall, Stephen McGowan and Elaine Cusack for generous, thought provoking, entertaining sets. To all the open floor readers and people who came to listen. Big thanks to Waddington Street Centre for the venue and staff member Fergus for setting the room and working the cafe. It's great to be back with a capacity crowd.

Friday 8th July 2022 

Bit tired. Got a good buzz last night. Today seemed long. Waited ninety minutes at a bus stop in Chester le Street. All sorts of people: kids wanting to explode half-full cola bottles under car tyres on the main road; boy racers on motocross bikes pulling wheelies in view of police cars. Every other person has a face tattoo, neck tattoo or full sleeve – slight exaggeration, but there’s a lot. Saw blokes waiting for an X21 that never came; saw a kid on a PK Ripper 26-inch cruiser bike; florists with boxes of coloured petals; kids talking about dying of blood clots; youngsters thinking they’ve got random girls pregnant. Tonight, I paid over the odds for copier paper. And cheese! Increase from £1.79 to £2.19 on a block of Red Leicester. 9.1% inflation, my arse! Fell asleep on the couch. Should be in bed now. 11.45pm.

Saturday 9th July 2022

Computer being a pain in the neck today. Wouldn’t save stills from pocket camcorder video to hard drive for Poetry Jam pix. Not happy. Eight hours work. Had to take photos of the video onscreen. Finally got a photo album up. Good response. Watched Question Time. All seemed a bit pointless. People will be crippled by energy bills – or tied to rules and regulations to be eligible for government financial assistance to heat their homes. Fucked. 10.24pm.

 

Sunday 10th July 2022

Awake at five. Up at eight. Out on the Sonder Frontier bike by half nine. Been visiting Shotley for over 45 years and only just became aware of the great rocks along the trail beyond the bridge wall. Didn’t ride much but enjoyed climbing about. Tried a few lines. Too warm for much this afternoon. Looked at my own writing. Ate sandwiches and biscuits. 9.53pm.

 

Monday 11th July 2022

Close to ten at night and still 20C. I was out this morning on the Rockhopper for a little ride over to Rookhope. I lost the connection to the trail on the return journey and had to ask a farmer for directions. The C2C sign at the side of the gravel path is about the size of my palm. The trail in places is a six-inch deep rut not wide enough to turn the cranks without pedals banging off the sides. Quite tricky but I made it. Plenty sleep since I got back. Looked at stuff online. I don’t want to see any more covid restrictions. Twelve years of austerity. Fix the NHS. A bit of cloth over your mush will do bugger all. Still really hot. But peeps are more concerned about crippling winter energy bills. 9.53pm.

 

Tuesday 12th July 2022

Jenni came to my place this morning to fix the video package on my desktop computer then we went to Consett and plundered the charity shops. Got a copy of Howl on DVD for 29p. The Matrix for 20p. A 3-disc box set of Stella for 60p and a film called Grimsby for 50p. Jenni got a very vivid Spiderman tie for about fifty pence. We checked out lush guitars in Steel Town Music. I tried on a superb mint condition SuperDry ‘Nosferatu’ jacket in the Willow Burn Hospice shop but unfortunately couldn’t bend to blue melton fabric. Black or nothing. But for someone else at £12.50 it’s a bargain. Tonight, we went to the Red Squirrel Press 4-poet book launch at Newcastle Lit and Phil. Brilliant night featuring Ric Hool, Jack Little, Josephine Scott and Alistair Robinson. Thanks to Sheila Wakefield for such lush books. Great for Jen’s mam to see the poets. Nice to see a cracking turnout. Had a quick drink in the Bridge Hotel afterwards then caught the 47-bus at 10.10pm. Probably not get home till midnight. 10.23pm.

 

Wednesday 13th July 2022

I don’t read enough poetry. I don’t edit enough poetry. Or submit to magazines. Everything seems totally different now compared to the way things were when I was trying to get my first efforts published in my twenties and early thirties. I still don’t see many mags my writing is likely to appear in. The instant response of social media and open mic nights have made the months-long submission and response process for print mag publication too much to deal with. As I get older, I find myself becoming more impatient. 9.10am.

 

Thursday 14th July 2022

Riding uphill out of Allenheads, I felt my l left knee give way slightly. Fuck, I thought, I’m still nine miles from my outward destination, and I don’t know what the terrain will be like. Maybe this was a bad idea. I’d already had a nail in my front tyre and had to replace the inner tube on a blustery moor. And a short while after getting the fear with further shooting pains down my leg, I was pedalling pathetically on the granny ring past Killhope Mining Museum into a headwind. A sign at the top of a hill said Welcome to Cumbria. I looked to my left and saw the darkened sky in the distance. Shit, maybe this was a bad idea. The first hill climb out of Nenthead towards Garrigill was a bastard and I thought, I can’t do this. But I hung in there and the gradient eased a bit then a big descent into the neighbouring village. After five hours of uncertainty, I was ready to start this section of the C2C route in the other direction. It was much easier than the outward journey and I made it home in a respectable time, knackered. 10.20pm.

 

Friday 15th July 2022

Bus to Chester le Street had the heating on full-blast this morning. Felt sick. Then outside was chilly. But not as chilly as Tesco meat aisle. Got a steak pie and a banana. Walked to Bullion Hall, logged onto the wifi, sorted my workshop papers, and had my dinner. The writing session was good. We did some old NaPoWriMo exercises. Then I got a bus to Durham. Checked out new books in Waterstones but a lot of the sections were in disarray due to ongoing refurbishments. I got chips then went to The Water House to meet Jenni. We went to see FIRM AS A ROCK WE STAND featuring Simon Armitage and LYR with the Easington Colliery Band at the Cathedral. Totally amazing performances and powerful documentary about demise of mining villages in County Durham. Was great to see Simon and the musicians transform into something close to classic SWANS during the track Category D. Big Thanks to Jaene Fitzgerald for giving Jenni the tickets. Afterwards we got a bus to Chester le Street, listened to nearby karaoke, then hopped on another bus to Gateshead. 11.58pm.

 

Saturday 16th July 2022

Woke early in the attic to the sound of power tools on Bensham Road. Did morning pages. Watched TV. The film ‘Vivarium’ had a dystopian Beckett feel to it. We ate pie and veg for tea and watched the three remaining episodes of PisToL. Was a good portrayal of the band. Really enjoyed it. 10.50pm.

 

Sunday 17th July 2022

Bit of a lie in. Scrolled Facebook for a while. Then out to Gateshead for food and onto the metro to South Shields with Jenni. We saw The South play an hour-long set to a packed park for free. Alison Wheeler and several original members of The Beautiful South. Lots of hits. Enjoyed singing along. Then back to the attic for tea and a few episodes of Pie in the Sky and Still Game. 47-bus back to Consett. Should be home by midnight. 10.28pm.

 

Monday 18th July 2022

The house hasn’t really been too hot. I had the computer on to check emails and print out some old gig set-lists to aid the sequencing of my Meet the Author sets for Chester le Street Library. Spent most of the day shuffling poems from ten titles. I have two 30-min sets that I’m happy with. Had a vindaloo with rice for tea then a warm bath. Checked out gig travel and ate chocolate, tried to stay hydrated. Listened to Skunk Anansie and played with a Rubik Cube. I will try to get a decent night’s sleep. Hope to get more work done tomorrow. 9.40pm.

 

Tuesday 19th July 2022

FUCKING HOT! But before the relentless full-on swelter of 36C I got down to woods on the Sonder Frontier trail bike. The tree cover kept me quite cool. I found some new little singletracks and messed about on the rocks. By the time I re-emerged from the trees at the edge of Moorside it was pretty blazing. I had a warm bath, the water tank heated purely by attic air temperature. Had a bit of a lazy day. Chester le Street library okayed my two 30-min sets format for Saturday. I watched four episodes of the Ruth Jones series Stella this afternoon. Then tonight I watched the Allen Ginsberg biopic HOWL. Think it got quite a bit of criticism upon release. Unless you are into the poetry you might not think it’s much of a movie. I thought it was okay. 10.10pm.

 

Wednesday 20th July 2022

I’ve never really liked hot weather. 20 degrees is more than enough. I don’t understand the need to go on holiday to fry in the sunshine. I’ve never been on a so-called ‘package’ holiday since I was six years old. Never had a passport and, unless someone offers me a great incentive to visit foreign shores, doubt I ever will. Until the first lockdown there were streets on the housing estate where I live that I’d never even ventured down. I could bike till I’m ninety and only cover a tiny fraction of England. There’s enough locally to keep me occupied. Add to that, the internet, and visits from touring artists, and I think I’ve got a pretty good deal. I still use a bike bought over sixteen years ago. The new trail bike isn’t top of the range and doesn’t need to be. And there’s plenty of local terrain to suit my limited ability. I get some workshops and gigs, get stuff printed. I am pretty lucky. 11.32pm.

 

Thursday 21st July 2022

Cut the grass, uploaded the Poetry Jam info and prepped a workshop for tomorrow. Sustained myself with stuff from the convenience store on Derby Drive. I didn’t really want to go out on the bike. I merely trundled for the first forty-five minutes then found a canny climb over rocks and rubble that was pretty hard going but satisfying. Some of the other local technical routes cleaned in the past were beyond me tonight. I hope to ride Beamish Woods and Watergate Forest Park at some point. Biking is mint. 9.45pm.

 

Friday 22nd July 2022

Today has been quite a long one. Seems no matter when I go to bed, I’m still waking up about half five in the morning. I was up and pottering on with the book stock by eight and getting ready for the workshop by half nine then out to Durham to get a few documents printed at Waddy before the bus to Chester le Street. Session was for short poems – mainly syllabics. The buses back home were good. I got food supplies then home for a chicken korma. Knocked up a couple of copies of Milking a Joe Brainard Riff, sorted more stock and did a full rehearsal of my two thirty-minute sets for tomorrow. There’ll be a bit of time for Q&A as well. All packed now. Just need a sleep. 10.55pm.

 

Saturday 23rd July 2022

Got to the library by ten and set up by half past. Was a bit alarmed by the reading group’s brutal analysis of a Jonathan Harvey novel but I did my Meet the Author session okay. And sold a few books. When a 91-year-old in a Shakespeare t-shirt asks you to sign a copy of your latest official poetry collection you’re doing okay. It was nice to meet the group and chat afterwards. Enjoyed spending the rest of the day with Jenni. 9.45pm.

 

Sunday 24th July 2022

Jenni went to a women-only event this afternoon, so I walked up to Watergate Forest Park and checked out some trails without the bike. Got soaked walking back to Bensham. Sat in the attic and had my tea then Jenni appeared. We went to Sky’s flat for a while then watched music mash-up videos. Megadeth and the Jackson Five is a good one. 45-bus from Central Station. 11.31pm.

 

Monday 25th July 2022

Didn’t get out of bed till after ten. Sorted exercises for the first Waddy summer session using bits and pieces pulled from old notebooks. I found a zine master copy made in 2015 containing poems I’d forgotten about, so I added them to the list of possibilities for my next collection. I keyed in notes this afternoon. I read a good Michael Monroe interview and had baked potato with beans and tuna for tea. Listened to the new Michael Monroe album, some bits of AC/DC, and watched some biketrial how-to videos. I don’t think I have much upper body strength these days. My Waddy stuff is sorted for tomorrow. 10.15pm.

 

Tuesday 26th July 2022

Good day at Waddy. First session of the summer block. Mainly just taster stuff and one-to-one advice on gigs and putting together a collection of poems. I went to see Jenni afterwards. Had steak pie and apple pie. Listened to a lot of light rock music. Zeppelin, Aerosmith, U2, Scorpions, Bon Jovi, etc. then some old metal from Korn, Papa Roach and others. Slipknot are a cheery bunch. Helped Jenni get her food delivery up into the attic. We checked out a few horror film titles for future viewing. Bus from School Street didn’t turn up. Luckily, I caught another from Askew Road to Metro Centre. Waited for the X45 which passes by Jen’s place but won’t stop there. Got to Consett at half ten. Checked ATM finances, walked down to college and caught X15 to Moorside from there. Cheese toastie then vented spleen at fascists. 11.39pm.

 

Wednesday 27th July 2022

Ordered tickets for two events as part of Jen’s forthcoming birthday. Thomas Truax at the Cumberland and ‘Withnail and I’ screening at Newcastle castle banquet hall. Then I fixed an error on the August Poetry Jam poster and booked final September guest. Had dinner and fell asleep. The first hour biking on the trails this afternoon was a bit of a chore. Too tired and couldn’t get warmed up. Eventually I hit a few good spots and did some clean runs at a gully section in the woods. Making ascents from both directions. I finished off a few hours later in Castleside Quarry. Most of the stuff I used to ride there is now overgrown. Trees surround a number of my favourite rock sections. I managed a few feeble moves and got home by seven o’clock. Looked at gear ratio charts and rear hub engagement points till bedtime. 10.36pm.

 

Thursday 28th July 2022

Today I prepped another workshop, read some big essays including one about public acquiescence during times of repression and mass upheaval, previous century present. Took a couple of hours out this evening coz I started getting a stabbing pain in my head. Dehydration, I think. Took some ibuprofen, had a drink and a lie down. Woke up at quarter past ten. I am concerned about the so-called energy crisis. Companies making record profits while the poor choose between heating and eating. This winter will be a killer. I am lucky in that I am used to going without heat for months on end. Have done each winter since 2018. I want to ride my bike this weekend but still have college paperwork to do. 11.05pm.

 

Friday 29th July 2022

Had a feeling session at Chester le Street might not go ahead. It was good to talk things over with staff. We have decided to take a break and reconvene in September. I went to The Works in hopes of picking up a copy of ‘It Takes Blood and Guts’ by Skin (of Skunk Anansie) but none left. Went to the bank to get weekly allowance and to point out that earlier a cashier entered the wrong amount into my account. The bus to Gateshead was hot and overcrowded. Felt a bit sick by the time I reached Gateshead. Sat in Jen’s room chatting about stuff. Checked out Hope Pro 4 Boost rear hub online and B&Bs in Penrith for C2C bike ride. I’d still like to do it. Later we watched Corrie. And it was great to see Jenni’s response to the final episode of Neighbours: “Dear God, it’s shite!” Got the 49/A bus to Metro Centre. Going to hop on the X45 to Consett. Hope to be home by midnight. 10.45pm.

 

Saturday 30th July 2022

The bus was choked last night. I was the last person the driver let on. People were standing right to the back and sitting on the stairs. I was leaning with my back against the windscreen for a few miles, conscious that I was blocking the driver’s left mirror. At every stop I moved towards the person leaning on the cab door to avoid being snagged by the automatic doors. And a kid with a haversack had to step off each time to let passengers out. A woman who got on at Blackhill was surprised to see it so full. “This is half empty,” I said, “compared to twenty minutes ago.” I thought maybe there had been a big gig in Newcastle or something. The driver said his bus had been very busy for most of the day and some services had been cut.

Watched a documentary called HyperNormalisation about world events and the way governments deliberately create chaos through misinformation so the public can’t decide what is true. Or perhaps people know they are being bullshitted but go along with the game to avoid trouble. Went out for more food supplies then read stuff about quantum physics which I found a bit difficult, to be honest. 11.06pm.

 

Sunday 31st July 2022

Pleased to get residual college paperwork done and emails off to the office. I spent a good while listening to heavy metal – Priest, Fury, Maiden. Watched some amazing biketrial footage. I would have liked to be out on the bike but tomorrow will be better. I need to do more exercises and have a workshop to plan. 11.12pm.