Still Scoffing Stollen

Monday 19th February 2018

Full day piecing together session plan for Waddington Street Writers and preliminaries for Wednesday’s workshop. Mam and Ernie dropped by with presents for me and Jenni from Diane and Kyle. Read some fine Billy Collins poems plus good stuff by Bill Herbert and Kathleen Jamie. Had a chicken and veg dinner. Put out feelers for April Poetry Jam guests, listened to Elvis Costello, looked at numerous poetry books and articles, drank hot chocolate. ‘Anomalies’ preliminary standard edition hardback looks pretty good after a week in the book press. Going to move some of the contents around though. Need to apply for more writing gigs. 11.09 pm.

Tuesday 20th February 2018

Ten hours on one lesson (six prep yesterday, two more today and two delivery) is way too much but hey, enough left over for next week – and possibly the one after. Northumberland College has invited me for an interview to deliver courses. Quite a distance, but it’s time I spread my wings a bit. Emailed my reply at Newcastle library this evening then walked round to the Boiler Shop to enquire about Michael Gira’s book ‘The Egg’ but no-one about. Hope copies are on sale tonight. Now in Dog and Parrot with a pint of blackcurrant and soda. Meeting Stephen Clark before the gig. Strange, I didn’t want to see Swans play last time, but a solo evening of narrative acoustic songs will be interesting...

Later: Superb show. Felt like I was listening to late 80s/early 90s Swans. Red lighting, with real industrial backdrop of the Boiler Shop made for a great atmosphere. Enjoyed ‘Oxygen’, ‘Jim’ and ‘The Hanging Man’ immensely. And ‘God Damn the Sun’ was such a wonderful finale. Bought a book and could have had it personally signed but opted for a photo instead. Got sausage, chips and gravy afterwards, then nice surprise to see Jenni and Marie at the bus stop. Last 45 to Consett. 11.55 pm.

Wednesday 21st February 2018

Okay, so last week I got nearly four-thousand fucking duplicate emails dumped in my inbox; today, my entire incoming mail from 13th July 2015 to 19th February 2018 has vanished. Just as well I’d replied to important ones – my ‘sent’ folder with original threads remains intact. And everything before 2015 is there, but still – two and half fucking years. Evening session only took ninety minutes to pull together. Journal stuff, poetry games and a narrative stepping stones exercise. Good group, enjoyable start. Got next week planned on the bus then off to Tesco for late night supplies. More admin back home then cheese on toast. 11.55 pm.

Thursday 22nd February 2018

Seems I’ve exceeded email inbox capacity and that’s why the server had all my recent stuff deleted. Fair fucking warning would have been nice. Will have to keep on top of traffic and dump as much junk as possible. Listened to some Michael Gira songs online but not up to reading his new book yet. Want to be able to focus and enjoy. Today has been a letdown. Headache kept me laid low for part of the evening. Not eaten properly – mainly toast and crisps washed down with hot chocolate. Was up late last night still buzzing after work but paying for it now. Job interview next week. Fingers crossed. OK. 10.10 pm.

Friday 23rd February 2018

Cold day made better by being in the big fleecy dressing gown that Jenni bought me for Christmas. More hassles with email retrieval. At least I got a lot of random stuff sorted into folders. Deleted lots of trash and learnt how to restore files to desktop from clickfree external hard drive. Big sausage and veg dinner. Listened to songs by Amanda Palmer. Slept a bit this evening. Read bits of of ‘The Egg: Stories by Michael Gira’ and listened to the companion cd of stories read by the man himself. Computer is really slow today. Switched it off and used the tablet instead. 11.28 pm.

Saturday 24th February 2018

Better day. Up and out to Consett for bank transactions then food supplies from Barry’s Bargain Superstore. Another sausage and veg dinner. Then out to Jen’s. Chatted for a while then ninety minutes in Newcastle to check out paper stock for Anomalies 1989-2014 and a little browse of the music biographies in HMV. Back by seven for an evening of light televisual entertainment and further music nostalgia from soul sisters and eighties synth pop. 11.10 pm.

Sunday 25th February 2018

Me and Jeni stayed up till the small hours watching the music shows. Didn’t get out of bed till almost dinner time but that didn’t stop me having stollen cake for breakfast as well as a veg and pie dinner prepared by Jenni. Watched a DVD film called ‘Once’ about two struggling musicians in Ireland. Ate more stollen, drank lots of Ribena and watched television. Read a writers life book on the bus back to Consett. Sorted some things for work and typed this. Don’t think the house is going to warm up enough to shave my head tonight. Oh well… 9.53 pm.