Sunday 24th March 2012
Great day. Stayed off the
bike videos. Got guests booked for upcoming Poetry Jams. Talked to Mam and
Ernie on the phone for a while. They said Pam Ayres did almost two and a half
hours – mostly from memory – last night and they thanked me for ‘a perfect
present’. I did some amendments to “…Sunshine”. This project is taking a hell
of a long time. Listened to The Mission
and The Cure. Shaved my head. Jenni couldn’t make it this weekend. Hope to see
her mid-week. 9.58pm.
Monday 25th March 2013
Long day. Out first thing for
a meeting in Peterlee about possible writing workshop/performance for a mental
health event. Took two and a half hours to get there. Went well. Set the ball
rolling and should hear back in due course with what’s possible. Back in Durham I met a trials rider from Romania outside
the Gala Theatre. His Onza 20inch was a little beat up but he says he doesn’t
care, just wants something to mess around on. I feel the same way. Wish I could
get hold of a street bike second hand. Checked out some stationary and boards
for the book. Went to a couple of bike shops in Newcastle,
Halfords on the Team
Valley. Got on the wrong
bus afterwards and ended up in Heworth. Didn’t get home till nine. Nice to chat
with Jenni on the phone. Still checking out bikes online. Tomorrow is the final
Waddy session for a few weeks. Hopefully I’ll be able to get my book finished
in April. Need to rehearse a whole load of material from it for the rest of the
year’s gigs. Still fucking cold out, sick of it. 10.15pm.
Tuesday 26th March 2013
Found myself bidding on ebay
for a Jeff Lenosky signature STP freeride/jump frame today. Starting bid was
twenty three quid. But soon up to fifty. It would really cost a lot to put this
rig together. Maybe I’ll be outbid. Maybe I’d be better off buying a complete
second hand bike. Left the computer on and dashed out the house for my workshop
at Waddy. Only two people in even though I said we had one week left coz it’s
easy to get confused when most of the others are finished for the Easter break.
We focussed mainly on NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month – 30 poems in 30
days challenge). Alex and Rachael are keen to give it a go this year. So it was
good to see them both turning out work by the end of the session. Great night
in Newcastle.
Me and Jenni had the big carvery at Goose then went for a silly browse at sweets
and toys in Fenwicks before settling in for blackcurrant-and-soda-fuelled
hilarity at the Centurion. Home at half eleven. Outbid on STP frame. Full bike
it is then. 11.46pm.
Wednesday 27th March 2013
Didn’t go to bed till four
o’clock this morning and the knock-on effect has been a day of net surfing:
bicycle research and some musical nostalgia. This evening I watched the Sex
Pistols 2008 Brixton gig on YouTube and have just seen The Knowledge – the
Pistols tour of London
documentary – which is brilliant. All four surviving members taking trips down Memory Lane revealing
the sights, delights and downsides of the capital. Always thought Lydon was a
smart bloke and he’s really funny doing his open top-deck bus rants about
commercialisation and awful modern architecture. The other members visit old
venues they played and the streets they lived in. Great to see that side of
them thirty years down the road. I’m not a big fan of London but thoroughly enjoyed watching them
take a look around. Me and Jenni got offered another gig tonight. I haven’t
done any work today. Morning pages and answered a few emails, that’s about it.
Out tomorrow, with Jenni and Jeff, as a guest judge at a school slam. Then
doing the door for JibbaJabba. 11.12pm.
Thursday 28th March 2013
Out most of the day. Met up
with Asa and Jenni then took the Metro over to Gosforth to hook up with Jeff
and Flick and onto Longbenton
School for the slam. Some
great little performances there. Really tight call for judges. Best line, best
performance and overall winner. The youngsters were really confident, more so
than some teens.
Debated buying bike mags
after another big feed at Goose. Double every veg on my turkey and beef. And
that was after all the cakes and muffins at school.
JibbaJabba was great tonight.
Really good mix of acts, open mic was fast and fun. Wanted to perform but
flatly refuse to do old stuff or read from the page on the Cumberland stage. Has to be memorized. Sheila
Wakefield gave me a lift to Consett, where it’s still ever so fucking cold.
Outbid on a Lenosky full bike
when I got back so I upped it a bit. Hope I get the street bike when auction
ends on Saturday. Hope I get a good night’s sleep tonight. 11.34pm.
Friday 29th March 2013
Two days till NaPoWriMo and I
feel about as capable of doing thirty new poems in thirty days as flying to the
moon on the back of a crisp packet. Fucking hammered. Every time I try to watch
a dvd or tv movie I fall asleep. Yet I can sit in front of YouTube for hours. Why
the fuck is that? Yawn.
Sad to hear of Richard
Griffiths’ death today. ‘Withnail and I’ is one of my favourite films; his role
as Monty is tremendous. Also good in ‘The History Boys’.
Have been unable to get my
head around any creative work for a few days now, but hopefully tomorrow no
going outside, no gawping at shit on the internet, just buckling down. Want to
start April as I mean to carry on. With a new routine and enthusiasm to match.
Sick of feeling tired, weak
and useless. And brimming with shitty excuses. I only went outside to buy food
supplies and it fucking derailed my entire day. How weak is that? Pathetic. 10.50pm.
Saturday 30th March 2013
Frustrating day of editing
and preliminary book production. Obtaining card in the colours I need for my
book is proving to be virtually impossible. Not much closer to the finish line.
People have been asking about my new book for a couple of weeks now. I hope “So
Much for the Sunshine” is worth the wait and all the song and dance I’ve been
making about it since the beginning of the year.
Jenni phoned at teatime
unsure of her plans, but was in touch again at five to nine this evening and as
there’s Zombie Jesus Sweets to be had she’ll definitely be over, even if it
means the last bus and a taxi from Tombstone to Moorside. I’ve been in a bit of
a grump the last couple of days. Just sick of the fucking prolonged winter and all
the obstacles of late.
But I’m really chuffed now.
Just won an ebay auction for a Giant
STP street-park-jump bike for just over two-thirds
of the original Buy Now price. Old-school stunts on the industrial estates and
wastelands of Consett for me when we finally get some sunny weather. Happy
holiday weekend, all. 9.44pm.
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