Summertime Physiologic Respiration Blues

Friday 1st August 2014

Rain stopped play. Would like to have been longboarding today but from the forecast looks like the weather is going to be a bit grim for a while. Pleased to get a blog post up. Still sitting in front of You Tube watching more stuff about the decline of western civilisation. Should read a horror novel instead. Jenni has been in touch a few times. She’s in Edinburgh now and starts a run of shows tomorrow. Won’t see her for another ten days. Although not working, I’m thinking about books. Got a bit of a migraine this evening but killed it with ibuprofen and a lie down. Great to listen to ‘Feast of Consequences’ by Fish again today. Looking forward to his Durham Gala Theatre gig next month. Where has the year gone to? 11.22 pm.

Saturday 2nd August 2014

Didn’t put the computer on today. So I don’t know what’s going on outside of the immediate vicinity. Went out for food supplies. One of the bags split and everything fell on the ground. A kind woman gave me a sturdy carrier. Took most of the day to read conspiracy and travel prose. Weather has kept me off bike and board. Been wheezing really bad again. Hope tomorrow is better. 11.03 pm.

Sunday 3rd August 2014

Pleased I made the effort to go out tonight. Wheezing like hell soon as I left the house but antihistamine tablet kicked in by the time I reached the park. If riding a longboard in your forties is questionable, what about the two guys playing with the remote controlled car? Got back home at ten, great walk through dusk. Think I might have an early night. Work tomorrow. 10.29 pm.

Monday 4th August 2014

Really hard to breathe last night. Wheezing in bed for a couple of hours. In order to get enough sleep I had to force myself to stay in bed this morning. Felt pretty weak much of the day. I sorted through some work papers this afternoon and started typing up poems for a new MIND booklet. Have two days to get more done and prep for a Thursday workshop. From the tweets Jen has linked to Facebook it seems that JibbaJabba is doing well. I’m not there till next week. Hope I’m feeling more healthy by then. Think I’m experiencing a return of asthma. I’ve not even been across the doorstep today. Facebook keeps me updated on the Middle East – all very depressing. Think I need some really positive input. Starting to wheeze a bit more as the night comes on. Was expecting a decent summer. Fuck it! 9.45 pm.

Tuesday 5th August 2014

Tonight the third in a row that I’ll go to bed wheezing. Been fighting for breath all day. I’ve never had asthma since I was a kid but I think the bastard is back with a vengeance. Hard to believe I was riding my mountain bike to Gateshead and back last week. This evening I took a short walk round the block in hopes of some fresh air making a difference. Ten minutes nearly killed me.  My shoulders ache with wheezing hard all day. I have four gigs starting Thursday and no idea if I’ll be able to pull them off. I looked on line and found that an allergy could trigger asthma. Dust the most likely. I have been neglectful on the domestic front. Tried to hoover two rooms, my chest in a knot after ten minutes. Took two hours to regain anything near normal breathing. It’s not looking good at all. Hope I get sleep and wake up okay tomorrow. 10.15 pm.

Wednesday 6th August 2014

Wheezing like hell this morning. Rang doctor. Moorside couldn’t fit me in so I went to Queen’s Road, Blackhill. They used a defibrillator on me. Cleaned out my lungs, Felt much better. I now have a Ventolin inhaler for the first time in over thirty years. And they gave me a course of steroids. It’s been one hell of a week. Thought I was going to have to cancel gigs and workshops. By this evening I felt fine again. And the weather being great, rightly or wrongly I took the board up to the park for an hour. No breathing problems. Had some cool runs. Pleased to be okay. Coming back through town, board all bagged up, I passed a club called Steph’s. First proper rock club with live acts in Consett. A band called Sister Sin were playing. They have a cover version of Motorhead’s ‘Rock and Roll’ out with with Doro Pesch on guest vocals. Might check Steph’s out some time. 10.38 pm.

Thursday 7th August 2014

Workshop at Mind this morning was good. Great piece from Lorraine and powerful essay from Simon who has completed his 398 page memoir. We did some days of the week stuff, emotional resonance of specific days, a little look at the difference punctuation makes. Had a look at the poems for our next open day launch and got more photocopied. Spoke to Mam and Ernie on the phone this afternoon about recent health setbacks and then went for another check up. Steroids are working. But my cough is much worse. More annoying and inconvenient than actually feeling unwell. Thanks to Tracy the nurse at Queen’s Road surgery for asthma advice.

Great night at Poetry Jam. Bit more intimate than usual but still an excellent turn out. Plenty of variety from the open floor jammers and generous extended sets from our three guests Jamie Jackson, Annie Moir and Rowan McCabe. I struggled with some of my poems coz the urge to cough was huge, but I pulled it off okay. Lovely to so previous guests doing solo poem appearances as well. Poetry with props from newcomers. Thanks to Fergus for setting up the room, thanks to Joan for doing the café, thanks to the audience. Brilliant!

Now on the 43 to Stanley. First time I’ve got the bus back in while. Feeling okay. Not tired. 10.34 pm

Friday 8th August 2014

Got the Poetry Jam pix uploaded this morning. Lots of positive feedback. Spoke to Mam and Ernie on the phone again. Been tidying my bedroom, which doubles as the main home workstation and has been shamefully neglected as far as domesticity goes. Chest a bit wheezy when the hoover came out. Still sporadically coughing my lungs up, but no phlegm. Anyway, pleased to have the room tidy again. Been watching Blood Brothers (aka The Mission) live at Stockton from last December. A great night, one of the best times I’ve seen them. 200 capacity secret warm-up gig – so chuffed I managed to get a ticket. Lots of stuff still to prepare for my little trip to Edinburgh on Monday – clothes, gig set. Will wash shirts in the sink tomorrow morning. Might have porridge and strawberries now then an early night. 10.30 pm.

Saturday 9th August 2014

Stayed in bed till half ten this morning going over my set for JibbaJabba. Read through ‘So Much for the Sunshine’ and will be using a lot of it in the autumn – but for the Fringe I’m just doing older stuff. All memorized. Bought food and nick nacks for next week after lunch. Went out on the longboard again tonight. Watched a few carving vids when I got back. Clothes washed earlier pretty much dry. 11.10 pm.

Sunday 10th August 2014

Bit of a lazy start to the day surfing the net. Hoovered the rest of the house this afternoon, tried to read but nodded off coz I only slept for five hours overnight. Checked out books by Robert Fisk and Ryszhard Kapuscinski on Amazon, delighted to find many of them available for loan at forty pence a time from Durham Library Online. Been listening to Motorhead then The Cure whilst typing. Jenni rang a little while ago –made plans for tomorrow – says this evening’s JibbaJabba was her favourite so far. Looking forward to seeing her and doing the gigs this coming week. Okay, done.

10.07 pm.