End In Sight

Monday 19th October 2015

Monday isn’t my favourite day. You’d think after a decade of admin I’d be used to it but each week I dread the formal paperwork. I can pull a workshop together ok but as soon as it has to be on official forms with ticky-box requirements I start to get agitated. But hey ho, it’s all done again. Heard from Griffin Print. Booklets should be ready by tomorrow lunchtime. Good to be clean shaven again. Bed soon. 11.22 pm.

Tuesday 20th October 2015

Got a message from the builder yesterday. Brickwork will be six hundred quid not four hundred. Plus a door. And carpet. Easily over a grand. Nearly a sixth of my annual income. Never mind, so long as the boiler doesn’t go on the blink this winter, I should be okay. Good couple of workshops. Mid-term recaps, freewrites and an evening session on conflict. ‘I am’ poems and ‘Things People Carry’. Home by ten. 10.59 pm.

Wednesday 21st October 2015

Went out on the 27-speed mountain bike this afternoon but didn’t go off-road much. Wasn’t in the mood to get up to the eyes in mud. Went up A68 and across to Snods Edge and into Shotley Bridge. Not fit. Trouble breathing on hill climbs. Home by half four. Tweaked some stuff for Consett Writers. Rehearsal tomorrow for anthology launch. Watched BBC4 performance poetry programme again. Prefer the earlier stuff – Beats, Mersey Poets. I like Attila and a bit of John Cooper Clarke but some of the contemporary figures just aggravate me. JibbaJabba tomorrow. Going to read Piece of String. 10.53 pm.

Thursday 22nd October 2015

Good to get over to see Jenni this afternoon. Although the conversation was a bit grim. Didn’t intend to burden her with work hassles but sometimes it’s hard to keep it to yourself. Went over to eat4less for a chicken and bacon baguette then bus to the Cumberland Arms. Chairs already set up when I arrived. Just needed the banner up. Introduced to Jemima Foxtrot, who has just sound checked. Sky Hawkins is standing in for Jenni. Kirsten has just nipped out to Morrisons. Seven minutes till doors open. 

7.24 pm.

Later: Thomas Evans the guitar man at Jibba was outstanding – especially his cover of Waiting for My Man. Some good turns on the open mic. Particularly Emma Whitehall and David O’Hanlon. Was a bit distracted during storytelling from Mica Hind. Casey Railton was funny and headliner Jemima Foxtrot was outstanding. Chuffed to be on the bus now. 11.30 pm.

Friday 23rd October 2015

Only got about three-and-a-half hours sleep last night, so a little frazzled for the Consett Writers Steel Town Blues Anthology launch this morning. Well done to all at Derwentside Mind AGM today. Well attended and well received. Two cracking sets of light and shade from a very talented bunch of writers. I fluffed a couple of times but managed to get a few laughs in second set. Went back to bed for a couple of hours afterwards. Did Poetry Jam flyer this evening. Caught up on a bit of admin. Looking forward to a couple of days off. 11.02 am.

Saturday 24th October 2015

Morning pages then stayed in bed quite a while. Went into town to get cash for builder who’s coming on Monday. Got a copy of Joshua James Amberson’s Basic Paper Aeroplane zine #10 about writing jobs. Read some of Alison Gangel’s memoir The Sun Hasn’t Fallen From the Sky. Watched tv with Jenni. 10.20 pm.

Sunday 25th October 2015

Lazy day at Jen’s. Watched the Politics Show, had a laugh at Corrie, then three episodes of Breaking Bad. Stayed a bit later than usual to watch a serial killer documentary, then home to a message from Jen with footage of Ira Lightman performing at JibbaJabba featured in his Channel Four News piece on plagiarism. 11.27 pm.

Monday 26th October 2015

Good to have this week at home. Pleased I can take it easy. RSI in right hand preventing me from typing much; holding a pen is quite difficult. Builder Jeff and cousin Gordon here, replacing lintel and repairing brickwork around back door. I am supposed to be doing catch-up on lesson plans but fuck it. I do enough… Toothache! Watched a great John Lydon interview – surprised Piers Morgan didn’t annoy the shit out of him. Heating on quite a bit today. Really tired. Should read more poems than political articles. Don’t want to go anywhere this week. 10.25 pm.