EIGHT YEARS

Monday 25th June 2018

Awoke around six, had a new poem prompted by GloPoWriMo 2017 written by nine o’clock, then chipped away at end of term stuff. Kept zoning out mid-afternoon so took a bit of a nap till four. Got the next round of paperwork completed then worked on new poster for Consett Tesco Community Space writing course. Chuffed with results, have sent it to the store’s community champion for approval. Good to get positive Facebook responses to the poem I did on the poetics of space. Enjoyed listening to Swans today. Love their ‘Various Failures’ compilation. Got the CD in 1998 when it came out, but playing today on Spotify. Hope I manage to get some sleep. 11.48 pm.

Tuesday 26th June 2018

Hot day. Final Waddy creative writing session of the current block this afternoon. Better turn out than last week but obligatory form filling took up too much of the first half. I road tested exercises for tomorrow’s Jarrow taster session. Chuffed to get the okay from Tesco for the writing course poster. Thanks to all the people on Facebook who shared it. Really good of them. Got a load of posters printed, dropped some off at Tesco. Will drop others across town. Need at least five people for the course to happen. Tonight I tried reading a book about the financial crash of 2008. Some of the technical terms for banking products alienated me, so I read FB articles instead, including ‘Live Below the Line’ about trying to exist on a pound a day for five days. I tried doing it in 2013. I’m used to being frugal, but that was brutal. Not nice at all. 10.56 pm.

Wednesday 27th June 2018

Wrote two pieces for National Writing Day. One probably too grim to publish. Enjoyed lunch on a bench in sunny Jarrow. Good workshop this afternoon. Eight people in. Two hours. Opened with a ten minute reading then four exercises: Absurd Words, Adjective/Noun/Verb triad sentence generators, NWD freedom freewrite, then a round of Exquisite Corpse. Met up with Jenni in Newcastle library. Had pasties and pop. Sat in Eldon Square bus station people watching and having a laugh. Literary Salon at Bar Loco was good. Enjoyed Peter and Daniel Adegbie’s poetry greatly. And Bob Beagrie’s set about the Battle of Guisborough with accompanying backing music was awesome. Great to see Pauline and Steve May on the open mic. I was very tired though and kept nodding off throughout the evening. Walked back into town with Jenni. On the bus to Consett now, munching Polos and scribbling with a red gel pen. Guys next to me are talking about motorcycles: coming off at high speed – padding and helmets. Really tired now. Bit dehydrated. Good to be on the penultimate bus instead of the last one. Been asked about Tesco writing workshops. Hope I get enough takers. 10.52 pm.

Thursday 28th June 2018

Body clock screwed up. Awake early again. Lethargic. Needing naps between tasks. Maybe it’s the heat. Paid the gas bill. British Gas said the reason metre reading is different each week – despite my not so much as grilling fucking cheese on toast – is because the pilot light is on. I thought that would be covered by the standing charge. It isn’t. So where it says on the bill: you have used ‘x’ amount of units, I say: ‘Fuck Off! You’ve used them!’ … Sent in nominations for Waddy Learner Awards Day. Then flyer drops this afternoon for Consett writing course. Bough some lush ‘nu – era’ notebooks in Boyes. Hottest day so far. Shorts and cap. Slept early evening. Read the intro to Nick Soulsby’s ‘Swans: Sacrifice and Transcendence: The Oral History’ on Amazon. Looking forward to a physical copy of the book. 11.38 pm.

Friday 29th June 2018

This morning I made and inked up a few more copies of my ‘Free to Be Me’ monograph. Did emails and read bits and pieces online. Made up another morning pages book. Wrote out Jen's anniversary card. Eight years since we became a couple. Today we went out to get food then watched TV. Bike ride over to Gateshead earlier was okay but bottom bracket is trashed. Will get Shaun at Bits for Bikes to replace it. Then that's it for me with spends this summer. Hope to get more work soon. Trying to push the pen but can hardly keep my eyes open. Need time to rejuvenate. Taggart is on TV. Don't think I'll see the end of it. Need to fix my sleep pattern. Jen's room is like a furnace. 10.47 pm.

Saturday 30th June 2018

Jenni went to Deranged Poetess event in Stockton this afternoon; I went to Newcastle. Checked out music magazines in Smith's; CDs and music biographies in HMV. Then an hour in Waterstones reading bits of Bukowski, Olivia Gatwood, and a few pages of How Britain Really Works. Got a steak pie and bottle of dandelion and burdock for the walk back to Bensham. Email checks, some biketrial vids, then an Eric Clapton documentary. Hot indoors. Sleep might be difficult. 11.00 pm.

Sunday 1st July 2018

Lazy day. Watched Diagnosis Murder and American Ninja Warrior. Went out to Tesco for supplies. Had lentil and bacon soup. Watched Twister after lunch but wasn’t impressed. Saw final two episodes of Cracker for the first time. Excellent. Had rhubarb pie with ice cream. Drank lots of blackcurrant juice. Did some online reading. Too hot for much. Kept falling asleep. 10.42 pm.