Don't You Just Love January?

Monday 26th January 2015

Lie in this morning. Kitchen was a bit of a bombsite after yesterday’s megameal so I didn’t get started on work till lunchtime. Jenni went out for meetings and a workshop in Newcastle. All my time seemed eaten up with admin. At least I got lesson plans typed up and a couple more pages added to the 25-year compendium. Jenni brought steak bake and chips for supper. And the Joke Lanz book that I spotted in Beatdown Records on Saturday. It’s a hardback, limited edition of 300 copies from three years ago. RRP 30 euros. It cost a fiver. I reckon it’s a collector’s item. Waterloo Road is on. Used to watch this about four years ago. Now I rarely watch television at all. Tomorrow I start an evening class for new writers. So I’ll be out quite a long time. Okay, enough here. 

10.59 pm.

Tuesday 27th January 2015

Two sessions, bag feels heavy enough for six. I get the later bus and make it to Waddy by 12.20 pm. A parcel from the college waiting for me – more admin; ha, ha! Craig and co are impressed by the weight of stollen cake. I’m impressed by spicy tomato soup. I drink my apple Tango then do a senses/written on the body workshop from one till three. Photocopying and prepping till five. Thoughts turn to filling my stomach so it’s chicken jalfrezi and rice then a bit of stollen. People arrive way early for the evening session. The running up and down stairs to let them in will burn off the cake. The course has fourteen participants. We do the ice-breaker intros, an acrostic, some taxing little exercises. My chair goes flying when I jump up to perform ‘Take a Risk’ at the end of the autobiography section. It’s a good session. Bus is swift. I’m home by five to ten. Me and Jenni chat about poetry and mental health. I down cheese on toast. It’s nearly bedtime. 11.05 pm.

Wednesday 28th January 2015

If I wrote here about all the things and people who have pissed me off today I wouldn’t be able to use this entry in a blog post. The workshops were good again. Had to change direction a couple of times to keep people onboard, but that’s fine. Buses were late. Seems as soon as a centimetre of snow falls the services suffer. Never mind; home by five and a lovely tea – bangers and mash, parsnips, roasties, carrots, peas, gravy, followed by summer fruits cheesecake and ice cream – then a lazy couple of hours on the couch. Too exhausted to do more work besides urgent college admin. Wrote a couple of new things in the sessions. Bit behind on my typesetting. Looking forward to a day at home. Jenni has gone to bed early as she needs to be up at seven to get ready for a return to Gateshead. One more workshop then I’m home till Friday evening. Two flash fiction books arrived today. Looking forward to reading them. 10.36 pm.

Thursday 29th January 2015

Brilliant time at Mind this morning doing bio poems, hero snapshots and the spaces they inhabit. Only a few in - due to illness and poor weather conditions, I think - but we made the most of it. Got home after food shopping and things started to unravel a bit. Inkjet printer stopped working when I changed the cartridge to print out a coach ticket from email - nothing on the paper. Hooked up an ancient mono laser printer but couldn’t get it to work, the wireless mouse going on the blink in the process. Spent hours checking out new scanner, copier, laser printer all-in-ones. I’m loath to get another inkjet. Need pro-print quality non-smudge for booklet reprints. Need a new set-up fast or I’m stuck for workshop prep next week. Annoyed and exhausted. So much to do and not making a dent in any of it. Heating on full blast, day almost gone. 11.12 pm.

Friday 30th January 2015

Back of the black-paned bus speeding through the winter evening. Off to the Literary Salon. It starts at eight. I did a pretty good day of edits, lots of SLOG typed in. Easily get a whole volume done in a day. Hands ache a bit. Good to have the internet switched off most of the time, feel better for it. Still not got the printer to work so I’m going to buy a laser printer. Had enough of inkjet nonsense. 

7.17 pm.

Great gig at the Scrumpy Willow and Singing Kettle. Crammed with people to see Frederick Lewis, Catherine Ayres and Valerie Laws. Thanks to Benjamin Aaron MacLeod  and Juli Watson for organising. Thanks to Chris and Jenni for drinks in Rafferty’s Bar. Bigly Queen, Sabbath and other rock noise. 11.28 pm.

Saturday 31st January 2015

Freezing cold in Jen’s place this morning. She wasn’t feeling too good so touch and go if she’d be able to come go into today. Bigly thanks to her helping me with the laser printer. We had a chicken dinner at the Goose then came home to watch Big Bang Theory and the film Ted, which was pretty funny. Freezing cold tonight. I have a snotty nose again. Tired and ready for bed. 11.04 pm.