Old Age, Crap Buses, Great Gigs and Good Reads

Monday 25th April 2016

Knees are hurting, left one in particular. Made appointment to see doctor. Hopefully home physio and glucosamine for the duration will improve things. Got a ticket ordered last night for The Mission at Whitby Goth Weekend on Saturday 5th November. Thirty years exactly since the first time at Tiffany’s in Newcastle. Amazingly, this morning I got a room booked six minutes from the venue. The Goth Fest attracts thousands each season and most accommodation is booked up nearly a year in advance, so well chuffed my little shout out on the Facebook page did the trick. Fucking cold today. Electricity is off tomorrow so had to cram in everything for the week today as I won’t be able to print or key anything in till Wednesday. Chuffed to get up to date on the college stuff. Pity same can’t be said for personal notebooks. But that’s the way it is in this game. 10.18 pm.

Tuesday 26th April 2016

Awake around five-thirty this morning. Did morning pages swiftly and tried to remember everything online required for work before the electricity goes off in Moorside at nine for maintenance work. Visit to the doc was reassuring. Reckons I’m overdoing it on the bike at the start of the season. Okay, maybe 17 miles four days in a row from scratch in April is a bit much. Doc rides bike as well, so I trust him when he says I’ll be okay if I take it easy. Left knee fairly creaking during examination though… Mint session with Waddington Street Writers this afternoon – killer flies and tomatoes in anarchic pantoum. We exceeded minimum enrolment so it’s all looking pretty good. Evening session was canny but a few disruptions threw me for a while. How can I possibly fuck up the line order of an ‘I am’ poem, for fuck’s sake? I’ve been running that exercise for twelve years! Got lots of exercises done in a pretty packed session. Prepped for tomorrow afternoon’s workshop on the bus home. Jen had lots of good feedback from her friends about my handmade stuff this evening. 10.42 pm.

Wednesday 27th April 2016

Snow, for fuck’s sake! I wake at quarter to six and see the white blanket on my back garden. Jesus, it’s May in four days! Two hours more in bed isn’t enough. I have coldsores, red eyes and feel like shit. Two hours of prep for a one hour workshop. I read Linda Tirado’s HAND TO MOUTH book on my journeys. The truth about being poor in the wealthy world. It was on Julia Eff’s Amazon wish list and in Durham Library stock. Appletree session was a little challenging but it keeps me on my toes. Objects and lies, Fave clothes, characters from photographs. More reading on the bus and more fucking snow. Ventured out this evening to stock up on supplies then prepped for tomorrow’s Mind session. A cheese and tomato sandwich for bed but I’m craving an apple doughnut. No biking for a couple of days. 11.02 pm.

Thursday 28th April 2016

Two hours! Two fucking hours to get from Moorside to Eldon Square in Newcastle. As the 16 bus went up the hill I saw a driverless 16 parked facing downwards. When I got to Consett I saw the X71 bus, driverless. Snow and sleet pelting down. The automatic station doors opening every two seconds, the icy draft cutting through my triple layers. No sign of the driver after five minutes. Fuck this! I went to the library and stood in front of the heater whilst scrolling Facebook for ten minutes. Next bus was due at 3.55pm. I went out to get it but the X71 was still there, now accepting passengers, so I got onboard. I should’ve known an old bus would be fucking freezing. We got to Leadgate and it stalled for a couple of minutes. After much cursing and some inspections of the engine the driver got us going again. The same driver who broke down in Moorside. Then he stalled in Medomsley when stopping to let passengers off. I tucked into HAND TO MOUTH and read further misfortunes of the struggling American working class. Born poor, always poor – seems to be the cry. We’re totally fucked if the bigwigs get here with TTIP, that’s for sure. Pay for the air you breathe, tax the fucking sunshine… Eventually I reach Gateshead and was asked to get on another bus. One with heat. Luxury! But as it pulled into Eldon Square the weather was getting worse. Fuck it. When you’re cold; when all you’ve eaten is three crispbread and cucumber with Dairylea and an orange; when it’s a choice between eat4less baguette OR going all out for a carvery at The Goose, a roast with all the vegetables wins out every time. It cost a fiver. I had two platefuls. You have to get your money’s worth. LOVE poem from 2014 tells the tale of a previous episode with the free refill. I ate and ate. And will wait until half six before I step out into the wet and cold. Three days away from May, for fuck’s sake. 6.10 pm.

All the JibbaJabba guests were great tonight. Mint songs and guitar playing from Tom Hollingworth. Exquisite set of poems from Alix Alixandra – boys in pink, love in Paris, parents’ guide to raising a child… Some cool stuff on the open mic including a Jenni tribute from Aaron Wright, Rowan McCabe on gastroenteritis, Chris Stewart with his memoir viewfinder sketch, Olya Bowers on how to scare little boys with stories. Catherine Scott’s stand-up set about house sharing was brilliantly funny. Definitely want to see her show The Littlest Home Owner in June. Great six-piece story about parties from headliner Ross Sutherland. Then I set off to walk back into town. Bus stopped to pick me up half way there. Tried Wi-Fi in Eldon Square but nothing happening. Maybe on the 45. Must pop into Tesco at Consett for porridge oats. Looking forward to a full day at home tomorrow. Ok. 11.16 pm.

Friday 29th April 2016

Lots of gaps in the handwritten journal. The words are online but need copying back into the big black book. Coming to the end of the 30-day writing challenge. Pleased I went for journal prose instead of NaPoWriMo. Freezing cold at home. Three degrees this evening feels like fucking zero. Made a big pan of sweet and sour chicken this afternoon. First time in ages. Tasted well good. Having some at Jen’s on lazy Sunday. Got Martin Appleby’s Worse Things Happen at Sea pamphlet. Finished Linda Tirado’s book Hand to Mouth. Really engaging. A glimpse of what to expect wide scale when dismantling of public resources reaches ultimate conclusion. Was good to stay in today; to read essays, cook and listen to music. Won’t be riding the bike tomorrow. More bus fare. Expensive when it’s cold. Heating on for about six hours today. Bastard. Good to hear Motorhead tonight and read extracts from Mick Wall’s Lemmy biography. 11.25 pm.

Saturday 30th April 2016

Pleased to complete the 30-day writing challenge and get stuff keyed in. Read ‘WORSE THINGS HAPPEN AT SEA’ poems by Martin Appleby. Some succinct little relationship vignettes in a 24 page A6 pamphlet set on a manual typewriter. Read some more stuff on Israel and Palestine. Keyed in morning pages. Bus over to Jenni’s and then off to Alphabetti Soup. Great music from Alex Saxon and Jack Foster, comedy from Eddie Rivers, an engaging short play about cancer called Somebody’s Bairn by Keith Henderson, music from Wilf Stone accompanied by his brother before a superb poetry set from Asa J Maddison then back to Jen’s for a chicken and tomato sandwich and off to bed. 11.30 pm.

Sunday 1st May 2016

Another fucking wet and freezing day. Jenni was up very early. I stayed in bed and struggled to do morning pages. We went out for a wander in search of decent jacket potato four-packs but none available. Sweet and sour chicken with rice for lunch. Watched four episodes of Breaking Bad season four then after tea Pen and Teller: Fool Us. Talked to an elderly guy on the bus back to Consett then walked to Moorside. Facebook checks then melted cheese crusty for supper. Bigly work day tomorrow. 11.42 pm.