TOO MUCH BACON, TOO MUCH CHOCOLATE

Monday 20th November 2018

Got confirmation this morning that all my online course requirements for the college have been met. That’s a weight off.  Got some lesson ideas sorted, handouts printed… Re-read most of an issue of The Echo Room’ poetry magazine bought from Tyneside Cinema in 1991. Poems from Geoff Hattersley, Linda France, Tim Cumming, Kathleen Kenny, Paul Donnelly, Sylvia Dann and others. A lot of the poets I don’t see online anywhere. I know Geoff avoids the internet and rarely submits poems these days. I looked at a 1992 issue of Scratch – fold and staple, set on a typewriter – which contained Kid, the title poem from Simon Armitage’s first Faber collection. I made it into Scratch five years later. I miss a lot of the nineties mags… I selected 20 pieces for the revised Anomalies deluxe hardback tonight from my earliest surviving work, taken from an unpublished double-header collection I made with Stephen J. Clark from 1989-1991. I’m aiming to complete Anomalies before the year’s out. 11.26 pm.

Tuesday 20th November 2018

Midst of a non-stop flight. Or just a dash to catch the next No 16 into town. A queue at the bank and ATMs now teach patience. Alas, it is a virtue I do not possess. And a wheel arch seat on the next bus ensures I feel every fucking speed bump from Medomsley Road to County Hall. Lunch is quiet-time with lentil soup and the Waddy staff conversation then a two-hour session on Building Narrative Structure. We have a good one. Then it’s forty minutes of trawling more Brexit nonsense. The bus to Newcastle is swift. I eat my cheese and tomato sandwich then two hours browsing shops for gift ideas. A growing list to consult later. A lucky bus to The Cumberland. Thank you, Richard Atkinson for the Toyah DVDs. Then a brilliant Babble Gum. Alix Alixandra shines with three great songs, including one about modern man Henry and another about various other relationships. Sophie Sparham brings her own social realism, then I kick off the open mic with Convalescence is a Cruelty Best Served Cold which is hard to read in the dark. Steve May gives us a Corbyn poem plus one I can’t recall. Then Pauline tells us about Sunderland takeaways, followed by a young man who reads us a road trip to a Libertines reunion gig. Nathan Tommis, the after break stand-up guy, is great and has us fully engaged with his autism-related tales. Ciaran Hodgers gives us slices of Dublin and his book sounds great but tonight my cash flow is low. Julie Watson gives me a lift back to Central Station but a drowned rat informs me the 45 left a few minutes earlier. So I spend two quid I can ill afford on chips and gravy to keep me warm for an hour long wait but I end up walking slowly over to Eldon Square where the time table informs me the next bus home will be fifteen minutes late. So that’s an 11.34 departure. Fucking great! Then a thirty-minute walk through a Consett downpour. Fuck it, I eat chocolate, pace the concourse, gawp at Christmas sandwich deals in Greggs window and write this. Mercifully the timetable changes. Only eleven minutes to go. 11.06 pm.

Wednesday 21st November 2018

Bit of a lie in this morning coz I didn’t get to bed till half-one. Awkward day. Not enough time to settle down to work on my book edits. But I got a little Anomalies looked at and two workshop plans revised. Still sucked in by the Brexit nonsense. Will be interesting to see how it all pans out. Still don’t think the deal will make it in a Parliament vote. Read most of Lunch Hour, a book of connected flash fictions by Callum Kerr, on the buses to and from Durham. Had a lush chicken Jalfrezi and rice tea then a low-key workshop for three at Waddy. Journal trinkets, compound word creations, How I Got Here into hero poems. Not the Furniture Game to prompt character pieces. Pleased to get the week’s food bought after checking out new books at Tesco. Then a bacon sandwich for supper. 11.56 pm.

Thursday 22nd November 2018

Good not to have to go anywhere. Temperature according to the net was two degrees at breakfast. Double trousers time. By this afternoon, triple socks warmed with a hairdryer. Spent a couple of hours getting Poetry Jam poster done. Hopefully a good turnout for the final one of the year a fortnight today. Spent a bit of time on Brexit articles. Looks like ‘the deal’ will still be voted down. Maybe it’s been engineered that way. Maybe they didn’t intend it to work at all, but don’t want to bail on ‘the will of the people’ until the time is right. I got a fair bit of stuff transferred and tweaked for Anomalies Deluxe. Reckon it’s going to be really good. Lots of 2006 stuff. Haven’t scanned the older material yet. Need more memorabilia and photographs. Good to see original Queen at Live Aid with simultaneous Bo-Rap film footage tonight. 10.39 pm.

Friday 23rd November 2018

Lazing into middle age. Just one workshop to finish the week but I’ve since been asleep much of the evening. Listened to poetry recordings of the late great Adrian Mitchell. I met him once in Durham, must have been around 2006… Also watched a bit of Brian May in conversation with Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols. Then a few live tracks from Generation Sex (Billy Idol, Steve Jones, Paul Cook and Tony James) recorded at The Roxy a few weeks ago. I wanted to work but just felt a bit done in today. I wanted to go to bed early but here I am still up after eleven. I will retire soon with Adrian Mitchell’s Greatest Hits book. I’ve had too much bacon, too much chocolate. Too many cheese sandwiches. All the comfort food. I want to write poems. Next year I want to hit the road. 11.10 pm.

Saturday 24th November 2018

Up a bit earlier than recent mornings. Chuffed to get the word that Hank Rollins ‘Before the Chop Vol IV’ has been reprinted and is available from the 2-13-61 website, so naturally I had to order it. Spent a couple of hours working on Anomalies and have added some strong stuff from 2007. Only another 150 pages to do. Had a slow bike ride to Jen’s via the Derwent Walk. Think it will be my last that way this year. Watched Pointless, Michael McIntyre show, Evita documentary and QI. Warm in Jen’s room. 10.18 pm.

Sunday 25th November 2018

Lazy day at Jen’s. Watching Columbo and game shows. Brexit is beyond a joke. Sick of all the bullshit. Gonna have a week away from it, I think. Had a good ride home in the dark. Easy gears. Won’t be using the big chainring again till winter’s over. Won’t be using the Derwent Walk cycle path as it’s pretty muddy now. Facebook sucked me in again. Bookwork to do. 11.15 pm.