Friday 1st March 2024
Up at half four to do my five o’clock stint on the exercise bike at Waddington Street Centre then back to sleep for a couple of hours. Some people stayed up all night. I did another little ride after breakfast along with Waddy members. The 24-hour sponsored bike ride was over at midday. A great achievement and a focal point for fitness promotion, raising quite a bit of money for the Centre to continue its great work supporting people who have long-term mental health issues… I did my final Bullion Hall writing session this afternoon then braved the rain to get to Jen’s place. We got a taxi to Live Theatre for Julie Hesondhalgh’s play about her dad. It was an hour-long one-woman show. Then she did a 30-min Q&A. Me and Jenni went to Tesco for bits and pieces on the way home. I had a Scotch egg and some cake. Soon be in bed. Had less than six hours sleep. 11.13pm.Saturday 2nd March 2024
Me and Jenni went to a craft fair at Bensham Grove. Then visited Kittiwake Multilingual Library run by the indefatigable Amina Evans. Brilliant venue in Gateshead. Then lots of laughs buying Mother's Day gifts, packaging, and dodging raindrops. Tonight was gameshows and the Brits, the latter doing little for me. Bit dehydrated. 11.07pm.
Sunday 3rd March 2024
Wrapped Mam’s presents, much to the amusement of Miss Pascoe who thinks I go over the top in my precision. Saw three episodes of House of Rock. Ate lots of cakes. Ready for bed already. 10.15pm.
Monday 4th March 2024
Today was shit. Really tired. I did some work online. Then the computer did the same thing as last week and logged me into a temporary profile that I can’t get out of, so Jenni is going to visit again this week. How the fuck can this tech hassle happen again? I have a cold coming on. I did copy-ups for work-log and gratitude journals, and got the prompts sorted for a writing half marathon. I’m sick of my fucking life at the moment. Feel like jacking all this poetry and facilitation shit in but I know I can’t do anything else, so I’ll be sticking with it. Hope Jenni can fix the computer again. I’m pig fucking sick. 10.28pm.
Tuesday 5th March 2024
Better day. The bus ride was a reading session. But I don’t remember much of it. Financial stuff mostly. Set up for the writing half marathon. Had a good lunchtime conversation about AI and digital finance. Then did eight rounds of writing with the Waddy writers. It went well. I used chocolate coins on prompts instead of Quality Street. I think we got some usable material. On the bus home, I talked to Pete White about music. Haven’t seen him for years. I reminded him that on this day thirty-two years ago we were in Liverpool. I didn’t remind him which band we saw. Tonight, I read a bit more and had a lie down. Shredded wheat. Bed soon. 9.49pm.
Wednesday 6th March 2024
This afternoon Jenni reinstalled Windows on my computer with saved files. She also fixed up two DVD players and a telly. She is ace with tech; I am useless (and just as bad with bike maintenance). The whole thing took from half-two till nine this evening. I hope she gets home alright. She even helped me install missed typewriter fonts to the office package via mobile after she left. I managed to get some anthology pieces printed out. Hope I don’t have any more computer hassles this year. 11.19pm.
Thursday 7th March 2024
Went over all the material and activities for tomorrow’s Washington session. Super chuffed to find the Steel Town Blues 2015 anthology from Consett Mind on an old USB stick. I thought I’d lost that collection with a previous computer years ago. Printed more from Washington anthology. Tried to edit some of my outpourings into coherence but no good, so I printed out some old NaPoWriMo poems for tonight and had a couple of others at the ready from FINAL. Poetry Jam was ace. The guests gave generous sets: Kathleen Caroll, reading from her Mudfog ‘strange things known’ pamphlet; Aaron Wright – including his hate sticks performance piece plus a poem by Erasmus Croc and a fantastic reworking of Albert Tatlock by the Skids; and Bridget Gallagher, whose selection – including poems about pilfering plums; candles in blackouts; pets; online dating; and instructions for stress-free World Book Day costume-sewing – was quieter and more literary, and a perfect way to close the night. 11.33pm.
Friday 8th March 2024
Brutally cold. I thought we’d turned a corner. Spring in sight. “It’s cold enough for snow!” said one of the blokes on the 764 bus. As well as Chester-le-Street and Washington, I’ve been to the Metro Centre. Alwyn, one of the writers, kindly gave me a lift there as it makes for a quicker single bus journey than two via Chester-le-Street. An hour later, I stood in Middle Street, Consett, not sure what to do. The workshop bag was already heavy, so I didn’t want to buy too much food. Judith in Boyes sold me a new gratitude journal. Tonight, I stayed on the settee wrapped in a blanket and three layers of clothing, reading bits of Writing Magazine. I’m here all weekend. 10.58pm.
Saturday 9th March 2024
Six hours to declutter the living room. Lots of old papers in the CD tower, including letters from poets sent over twenty years ago and invoices for Zoo Pitbull trials bike components… Still have hoovering to do. It’s good to have a bright space to relax in and read or watch DVDs. I’ll work room to room, over the month, I think. 11.07pm.
Sunday 10th March 2024
Good morning cleaning the living room carpet. Stressful evening trying to get the computer to do what it used to do automatically a few weeks ago. Sick of tech designers moving the goalposts every five minutes. Makes me pine for typewriters, envelopes and postage stamps. 10.35pm.
Monday 11th March 2024
Wrote an essay on facilitation and success in the poetry world – or something like it anyway. Jenni sent me an ace bit of kit for getting lint off the carpet. Reckon I could have the bedroom floor looking decent in about an hour. Tonight, I listened to a couple of albums by Annie Dressner, singer-songwriter from NYC, based in Cambridge, UK. She plays The White Room in Stanley next month. I put a workshop together, then watched a few comedy and bike reels on Facebook. I’m doing okay this week. Fingers crossed for the positive vibes. 11.42pm.
Tuesday 12th March 2024
Mainly did short exercises at Waddington Street Centre today. One-minute sentences. Similes and metaphors. Six-sentence paragraphs. Good fun. I slept on the bus home. Had a lush cheese and tomato pasta with spicy wedges for tea. Spent three hours on the layout of a client’s pamphlet. No more public engagements till next week. 11.42pm.
Wednesday 13th March 2024
I want to ride bikes in the woods, I want to skateboard down warm pavements, I want to eat chicken drumsticks and drink Ribena. I want to watch episodes of The Incredible Hulk starring Lou Ferrigno and Bill Bixby. It would be great to be seventeen again. Great to see The Mission with long hair in a dry-iced venue, great to buy all the music papers – Sounds, NME, Melody Maker – every Wednesday. Visit the Kard Bar and Pasha, check out posters in Athena, rifle the racks of Volume Records, pick up zines and discover new alternative/post-punk stuff. See Lydia Lunch and Sonic Youth at The Riverside. Meet Sinead O’Connor. Get rides on the backs of motorbikes. I don’t want to be slouching towards sixty with arthritic wrists and sparrow’s ankles, have crap eyesight, and talk endless misanthropic shite. I want to have a good time. I want to ride bikes. 11.30pm.
Thursday 14th March 2024
New Outlook went on the blink, so I’ve not had any emails coming directly to the desktop. The third bit of tech hassle in as many weeks. Made sample copies of a pamphlet. Scripted some mini vids for the Beamish Hall ‘Vibe into Wellness’ event taking place on Saturday 4th May. I’ve filmed one clip but have about another ten to do. Offers of printing work are coming in but tech is letting me down at present. Whinge, whinge, and more whinge! I’ve not ridden a bike for ages. Not properly anyway. Haven’t been on the Sonder Frontier since October. Fuck this shitty winter. 11.23pm.
Friday 15th March 2024
Sent out pamphlet proofs this morning with minor editorial suggestions. Made up a new morning pages notebook. I keep screwing up my lines on the video clips so no further forward. I’ve never been good at adlibs to camera and the scripted stuff is difficult to remember. I was going to visit Jen but she’s coming here tomorrow to fix the stupid Outlook email account. Feeling burnt out. 9.24pm.
Saturday 16th March 2024
Big cleaning day. Got the kitchen tidied up and the staircase, using the new lint remover tool that Jenni bought me. Unfortunately, the Henry vacuum cleaner cut out, but I still got downstairs sorted. Me and Jenni had a big curry tea then bused back to her place. Shopping trip. Gameshows. Scotch eggs for me. 11.30pm.
Sunday 17th March 2024
Washed a load of crockery at Jen’s. We watched a great documentary about the Rainbow Bar and Grill where all the rock legends hang out in Hollywood. Also watched a documentary on cult movies and a couple of episodes of Father Ted. The bus was swift. Left Gateshead at five past ten. Including a walk from Consett, I was home by half eleven. 11.43pm.
Monday 18th March 2024
Keyed in two lesson plans and came up with activities for a third. Added promo material to the Beamish event pack and recorded ten short video clips. Responded to emails about events and workshops. Selected poems for my short set at The Globe taking place this Saturday. Timed the pieces, like the way they sound and have a running order, subject to change. Unless I’m doing over twenty minutes or a big Meet the Author gig, I’m sticking to the newer material. I’ve got a lot of stuff to try out this year. So it’s going to be Octopus, Final, and Tiny Tales. Listened to Nadine Shah. Got by on less food than usual. Off to bed soon. OK. 10.50pm.
Tuesday 19th March 2024
Final session of term at Waddy. Still lots of paperwork to complete. We read through some of the work produced and selected pieces from our anthologies for a wall display. I stayed back to run off copies and pinned them up outside the seminar room. I have a bespoke workshop to prepare. Hope the group is happy with it. Hope tomorrow is good. 11.17pm.
Wednesday 20th March 2024
Wrote essay notes for bespoke workshop. Then worked on preliminary layout for Washington Writers Anthology. I did some personal typing tonight and found poems I might like to include in the Globe set. I watched an in-depth Chris Akrigg (bike legend) interview. Also, Martyn Ashton on how he broke his back the first time. 11.13pm.
Thursday 21st March 2024
Pissed off with the bedroom/office being a pigsty so I started to declutter. I’m only halfway across the room. Need to remove all the notebooks and get rid of the knackered old printer. But at least the area around the new printer near the bed is clear and tidy. Pity the back room is atrocious. Basically, I’m kicking the can. Downstairs to upstairs, front room to back. When all the clutter is relegated to the back room, I’ll start seriously thinking about buying more bookcases. I got the promo blurb stuff sent off for next month’s Meet the Author at Belmont Library. And I have backup exercises in case we blitz the anthology edit session at Washington tomorrow. Somehow, I doubt it. 10.37pm.
Friday 22nd March 2024
All the buses turned up on time today. In Arts Centre Washington by 25 to eleven. Their office printer can run off the anthology, which is great! I sewed up half a dozen proof copies for the group, and we used the full two hours on readthroughs. Alwyn kindly gave me a lift to the Metro Centre and I bused to Consett from there again. This evening, I hacked a load of ice out of the freezer so the door would shut properly. Then did the Poetry Jam event page. Aiming for a good night’s sleep so I can be away early to Bensham tomorrow. 10.27pm.
Saturday 23rd March 2024
Up at half-five. Packed for a weekend at Jen’s. Too tired to stay long at the Multilingual library this afternoon. Needed more sleep. Tonight’s gig at The Globe went well. All the poets were ace: Ann Porro, Jenni Pascoe, Lewis Brown, Degna Stone, Jeff Price. And great to see singer Julie Grant and guitarist Peter Collard. Jen says Jeff loved my set of pamphlet extracts. Taxis there and back. OK. 11.00pm.
Sunday 24th March 2024
Me and Jenni went to The Stand for a community arts gathering. Lots of good people. Tahmina Ali, poet; James Harris, kids’ novelist; Arabella Arnott’s play Direct Action; and in conversation, Hamzeh Al Hussien whose play is called Penguin. Also, some great singalongs: Erasure, Journey, Gaga, etc. Sky Hawkins chatted afterward. Tonight was gameshows and Father Ted. Ace pizza and sweet potato chips. 10.08pm.
Monday 25th March 2024
Did some admin then washed up while Jenni was at work. This afternoon, after thirteen and a half years, she finally met my brother Mark. We chatted in Trillians rock bar then had a carvery at The Goose which Mark insisted on paying for. “I don’t eat much,” he said, but managed second helpings coz it was ‘quite moreish’. Jenni walked with us to Haymarket bus station, then me and Mark went to Gosforth. It was Mark who spotted the Civic Theatre, not me – and I was supposed to be leading the way! Hans Rey, world-class mountain biking legend, was chatting at a table in the foyer when we arrived. Mark got a signed photo book, and later got his trainers signed coz they were the same as Hans Rey’s. I got a free signed poster. It was good to see his talking show and look at his bikes. The bus back into Newcastle was swift. We dodged puddles down to the Quayside. Mark went for a final pint or two near his hotel. I walked over the bridge to Bensham. Jenni was still out. 11.12pm.
Tuesday 26th March 2024
Selected some poems and prose from my Redbeck Press and Red Squirrel Press books for future Meet the Author talks. Tonight, it took two hours to get home. I am back in the bedroom and will be knee-deep in work for the next month. Fluctuating income keeps me on my toes. Many thanks to Rob Walton who very kindly championed my work in his Urban Pigs Press interview online today. I must check out more presses. Joshua got back to me from ‘Antiquated Future’ zine distro. He says he’ll try to get a better airmail postage deal on the proposed order. Brother Mark says Hans Rey posted a short biking clip from Chopwell Woods this morning. But it had been removed by the time I got round to looking for it. 10.59pm.
Wednesday 27th March 2024
All day at home doing deskwork. Ordered six perzines from Antiquated Future zine distro in Portland, Oregon. Joshua reduced the postage. I selected a bunch of poems for Meet the Author in Gateshead. Mostly pieces from the pamphlets but no work from Laughter to Split Glass coz I drew heavily on that collection twice before at Gateshead. There’ll be stuff from Tightrope Walker, Hypomaniac, Shades of Grey and So Much for the Sunshine. 10.11pm.
Thursday 28th March 2024
Long day working but don’t seem to have done much. Made a new poster for an upcoming workshop. Tried to book Poetry Jam guests for May. Got January blog done but hardly seems worth posting on social media coz it’s so out of date. Jenni had an ace time in Edinburgh seeing Hamilton today. I haven’t been outside since Tuesday. 10.00pm.
Friday 29th March 2024
Third day in a row without so much as unlocking the front door. I considered grocery shopping but thought it best to crack on with the desktop work. Chuffed to have a few readers for last night’s blog post from January. And I got the bespoke Wallsend Writers workshop pretty much in shape. All I need now is to gather up the handouts and other materials. And I have over a week to do that. I threw my tuppence ha'penny of comment into a Facebook discussion about Imogen Wade’s ‘National Poetry Competition’ winning poem. Some people like it, some don’t. Some are fearful for the future of poetry. I took the liberty of playing with line breaks and got mixed responses for my efforts. I’m taking things easy over the weekend. I’m a bit worn out. 11.41pm.
Saturday 30th March 2024
In Consett this afternoon buying supplies for a weekend at Jen’s. Very sleepy on my feet. Ordered toner cartridges and submitted my pay log to the college. Jen got home from Edinburgh quicker than I got to hers from Consett. 10.25pm.
Sunday 31st March 2024
Jenni gave me a big Reese’s peanut butter chocolate egg and I gave her chocolate, a carrot cake, Reese’s peanut butter cups, and Jelly Babies. We watched Jesus Christ Superstar, a load of ‘Goodnight Sweetheart’ episodes, a documentary about The Krays and one about Stonehenge. We ate chilli and rice. It’s been good to do very little today. Nice. 10.28pm.
Me and Jenni went to a craft fair at Bensham Grove. Then visited Kittiwake Multilingual Library run by the indefatigable Amina Evans. Brilliant venue in Gateshead. Then lots of laughs buying Mother's Day gifts, packaging, and dodging raindrops. Tonight was gameshows and the Brits, the latter doing little for me. Bit dehydrated. 11.07pm.
Sunday 3rd March 2024
Wrapped Mam’s presents, much to the amusement of Miss Pascoe who thinks I go over the top in my precision. Saw three episodes of House of Rock. Ate lots of cakes. Ready for bed already. 10.15pm.
Monday 4th March 2024
Today was shit. Really tired. I did some work online. Then the computer did the same thing as last week and logged me into a temporary profile that I can’t get out of, so Jenni is going to visit again this week. How the fuck can this tech hassle happen again? I have a cold coming on. I did copy-ups for work-log and gratitude journals, and got the prompts sorted for a writing half marathon. I’m sick of my fucking life at the moment. Feel like jacking all this poetry and facilitation shit in but I know I can’t do anything else, so I’ll be sticking with it. Hope Jenni can fix the computer again. I’m pig fucking sick. 10.28pm.
Tuesday 5th March 2024
Better day. The bus ride was a reading session. But I don’t remember much of it. Financial stuff mostly. Set up for the writing half marathon. Had a good lunchtime conversation about AI and digital finance. Then did eight rounds of writing with the Waddy writers. It went well. I used chocolate coins on prompts instead of Quality Street. I think we got some usable material. On the bus home, I talked to Pete White about music. Haven’t seen him for years. I reminded him that on this day thirty-two years ago we were in Liverpool. I didn’t remind him which band we saw. Tonight, I read a bit more and had a lie down. Shredded wheat. Bed soon. 9.49pm.
Wednesday 6th March 2024
This afternoon Jenni reinstalled Windows on my computer with saved files. She also fixed up two DVD players and a telly. She is ace with tech; I am useless (and just as bad with bike maintenance). The whole thing took from half-two till nine this evening. I hope she gets home alright. She even helped me install missed typewriter fonts to the office package via mobile after she left. I managed to get some anthology pieces printed out. Hope I don’t have any more computer hassles this year. 11.19pm.
Thursday 7th March 2024
Went over all the material and activities for tomorrow’s Washington session. Super chuffed to find the Steel Town Blues 2015 anthology from Consett Mind on an old USB stick. I thought I’d lost that collection with a previous computer years ago. Printed more from Washington anthology. Tried to edit some of my outpourings into coherence but no good, so I printed out some old NaPoWriMo poems for tonight and had a couple of others at the ready from FINAL. Poetry Jam was ace. The guests gave generous sets: Kathleen Caroll, reading from her Mudfog ‘strange things known’ pamphlet; Aaron Wright – including his hate sticks performance piece plus a poem by Erasmus Croc and a fantastic reworking of Albert Tatlock by the Skids; and Bridget Gallagher, whose selection – including poems about pilfering plums; candles in blackouts; pets; online dating; and instructions for stress-free World Book Day costume-sewing – was quieter and more literary, and a perfect way to close the night. 11.33pm.
Friday 8th March 2024
Brutally cold. I thought we’d turned a corner. Spring in sight. “It’s cold enough for snow!” said one of the blokes on the 764 bus. As well as Chester-le-Street and Washington, I’ve been to the Metro Centre. Alwyn, one of the writers, kindly gave me a lift there as it makes for a quicker single bus journey than two via Chester-le-Street. An hour later, I stood in Middle Street, Consett, not sure what to do. The workshop bag was already heavy, so I didn’t want to buy too much food. Judith in Boyes sold me a new gratitude journal. Tonight, I stayed on the settee wrapped in a blanket and three layers of clothing, reading bits of Writing Magazine. I’m here all weekend. 10.58pm.
Saturday 9th March 2024
Six hours to declutter the living room. Lots of old papers in the CD tower, including letters from poets sent over twenty years ago and invoices for Zoo Pitbull trials bike components… Still have hoovering to do. It’s good to have a bright space to relax in and read or watch DVDs. I’ll work room to room, over the month, I think. 11.07pm.
Sunday 10th March 2024
Good morning cleaning the living room carpet. Stressful evening trying to get the computer to do what it used to do automatically a few weeks ago. Sick of tech designers moving the goalposts every five minutes. Makes me pine for typewriters, envelopes and postage stamps. 10.35pm.
Monday 11th March 2024
Wrote an essay on facilitation and success in the poetry world – or something like it anyway. Jenni sent me an ace bit of kit for getting lint off the carpet. Reckon I could have the bedroom floor looking decent in about an hour. Tonight, I listened to a couple of albums by Annie Dressner, singer-songwriter from NYC, based in Cambridge, UK. She plays The White Room in Stanley next month. I put a workshop together, then watched a few comedy and bike reels on Facebook. I’m doing okay this week. Fingers crossed for the positive vibes. 11.42pm.
Tuesday 12th March 2024
Mainly did short exercises at Waddington Street Centre today. One-minute sentences. Similes and metaphors. Six-sentence paragraphs. Good fun. I slept on the bus home. Had a lush cheese and tomato pasta with spicy wedges for tea. Spent three hours on the layout of a client’s pamphlet. No more public engagements till next week. 11.42pm.
Wednesday 13th March 2024
I want to ride bikes in the woods, I want to skateboard down warm pavements, I want to eat chicken drumsticks and drink Ribena. I want to watch episodes of The Incredible Hulk starring Lou Ferrigno and Bill Bixby. It would be great to be seventeen again. Great to see The Mission with long hair in a dry-iced venue, great to buy all the music papers – Sounds, NME, Melody Maker – every Wednesday. Visit the Kard Bar and Pasha, check out posters in Athena, rifle the racks of Volume Records, pick up zines and discover new alternative/post-punk stuff. See Lydia Lunch and Sonic Youth at The Riverside. Meet Sinead O’Connor. Get rides on the backs of motorbikes. I don’t want to be slouching towards sixty with arthritic wrists and sparrow’s ankles, have crap eyesight, and talk endless misanthropic shite. I want to have a good time. I want to ride bikes. 11.30pm.
Thursday 14th March 2024
New Outlook went on the blink, so I’ve not had any emails coming directly to the desktop. The third bit of tech hassle in as many weeks. Made sample copies of a pamphlet. Scripted some mini vids for the Beamish Hall ‘Vibe into Wellness’ event taking place on Saturday 4th May. I’ve filmed one clip but have about another ten to do. Offers of printing work are coming in but tech is letting me down at present. Whinge, whinge, and more whinge! I’ve not ridden a bike for ages. Not properly anyway. Haven’t been on the Sonder Frontier since October. Fuck this shitty winter. 11.23pm.
Friday 15th March 2024
Sent out pamphlet proofs this morning with minor editorial suggestions. Made up a new morning pages notebook. I keep screwing up my lines on the video clips so no further forward. I’ve never been good at adlibs to camera and the scripted stuff is difficult to remember. I was going to visit Jen but she’s coming here tomorrow to fix the stupid Outlook email account. Feeling burnt out. 9.24pm.
Saturday 16th March 2024
Big cleaning day. Got the kitchen tidied up and the staircase, using the new lint remover tool that Jenni bought me. Unfortunately, the Henry vacuum cleaner cut out, but I still got downstairs sorted. Me and Jenni had a big curry tea then bused back to her place. Shopping trip. Gameshows. Scotch eggs for me. 11.30pm.
Sunday 17th March 2024
Washed a load of crockery at Jen’s. We watched a great documentary about the Rainbow Bar and Grill where all the rock legends hang out in Hollywood. Also watched a documentary on cult movies and a couple of episodes of Father Ted. The bus was swift. Left Gateshead at five past ten. Including a walk from Consett, I was home by half eleven. 11.43pm.
Monday 18th March 2024
Keyed in two lesson plans and came up with activities for a third. Added promo material to the Beamish event pack and recorded ten short video clips. Responded to emails about events and workshops. Selected poems for my short set at The Globe taking place this Saturday. Timed the pieces, like the way they sound and have a running order, subject to change. Unless I’m doing over twenty minutes or a big Meet the Author gig, I’m sticking to the newer material. I’ve got a lot of stuff to try out this year. So it’s going to be Octopus, Final, and Tiny Tales. Listened to Nadine Shah. Got by on less food than usual. Off to bed soon. OK. 10.50pm.
Tuesday 19th March 2024
Final session of term at Waddy. Still lots of paperwork to complete. We read through some of the work produced and selected pieces from our anthologies for a wall display. I stayed back to run off copies and pinned them up outside the seminar room. I have a bespoke workshop to prepare. Hope the group is happy with it. Hope tomorrow is good. 11.17pm.
Wednesday 20th March 2024
Wrote essay notes for bespoke workshop. Then worked on preliminary layout for Washington Writers Anthology. I did some personal typing tonight and found poems I might like to include in the Globe set. I watched an in-depth Chris Akrigg (bike legend) interview. Also, Martyn Ashton on how he broke his back the first time. 11.13pm.
Thursday 21st March 2024
Pissed off with the bedroom/office being a pigsty so I started to declutter. I’m only halfway across the room. Need to remove all the notebooks and get rid of the knackered old printer. But at least the area around the new printer near the bed is clear and tidy. Pity the back room is atrocious. Basically, I’m kicking the can. Downstairs to upstairs, front room to back. When all the clutter is relegated to the back room, I’ll start seriously thinking about buying more bookcases. I got the promo blurb stuff sent off for next month’s Meet the Author at Belmont Library. And I have backup exercises in case we blitz the anthology edit session at Washington tomorrow. Somehow, I doubt it. 10.37pm.
Friday 22nd March 2024
All the buses turned up on time today. In Arts Centre Washington by 25 to eleven. Their office printer can run off the anthology, which is great! I sewed up half a dozen proof copies for the group, and we used the full two hours on readthroughs. Alwyn kindly gave me a lift to the Metro Centre and I bused to Consett from there again. This evening, I hacked a load of ice out of the freezer so the door would shut properly. Then did the Poetry Jam event page. Aiming for a good night’s sleep so I can be away early to Bensham tomorrow. 10.27pm.
Saturday 23rd March 2024
Up at half-five. Packed for a weekend at Jen’s. Too tired to stay long at the Multilingual library this afternoon. Needed more sleep. Tonight’s gig at The Globe went well. All the poets were ace: Ann Porro, Jenni Pascoe, Lewis Brown, Degna Stone, Jeff Price. And great to see singer Julie Grant and guitarist Peter Collard. Jen says Jeff loved my set of pamphlet extracts. Taxis there and back. OK. 11.00pm.
Sunday 24th March 2024
Me and Jenni went to The Stand for a community arts gathering. Lots of good people. Tahmina Ali, poet; James Harris, kids’ novelist; Arabella Arnott’s play Direct Action; and in conversation, Hamzeh Al Hussien whose play is called Penguin. Also, some great singalongs: Erasure, Journey, Gaga, etc. Sky Hawkins chatted afterward. Tonight was gameshows and Father Ted. Ace pizza and sweet potato chips. 10.08pm.
Monday 25th March 2024
Did some admin then washed up while Jenni was at work. This afternoon, after thirteen and a half years, she finally met my brother Mark. We chatted in Trillians rock bar then had a carvery at The Goose which Mark insisted on paying for. “I don’t eat much,” he said, but managed second helpings coz it was ‘quite moreish’. Jenni walked with us to Haymarket bus station, then me and Mark went to Gosforth. It was Mark who spotted the Civic Theatre, not me – and I was supposed to be leading the way! Hans Rey, world-class mountain biking legend, was chatting at a table in the foyer when we arrived. Mark got a signed photo book, and later got his trainers signed coz they were the same as Hans Rey’s. I got a free signed poster. It was good to see his talking show and look at his bikes. The bus back into Newcastle was swift. We dodged puddles down to the Quayside. Mark went for a final pint or two near his hotel. I walked over the bridge to Bensham. Jenni was still out. 11.12pm.
Tuesday 26th March 2024
Selected some poems and prose from my Redbeck Press and Red Squirrel Press books for future Meet the Author talks. Tonight, it took two hours to get home. I am back in the bedroom and will be knee-deep in work for the next month. Fluctuating income keeps me on my toes. Many thanks to Rob Walton who very kindly championed my work in his Urban Pigs Press interview online today. I must check out more presses. Joshua got back to me from ‘Antiquated Future’ zine distro. He says he’ll try to get a better airmail postage deal on the proposed order. Brother Mark says Hans Rey posted a short biking clip from Chopwell Woods this morning. But it had been removed by the time I got round to looking for it. 10.59pm.
Wednesday 27th March 2024
All day at home doing deskwork. Ordered six perzines from Antiquated Future zine distro in Portland, Oregon. Joshua reduced the postage. I selected a bunch of poems for Meet the Author in Gateshead. Mostly pieces from the pamphlets but no work from Laughter to Split Glass coz I drew heavily on that collection twice before at Gateshead. There’ll be stuff from Tightrope Walker, Hypomaniac, Shades of Grey and So Much for the Sunshine. 10.11pm.
Thursday 28th March 2024
Long day working but don’t seem to have done much. Made a new poster for an upcoming workshop. Tried to book Poetry Jam guests for May. Got January blog done but hardly seems worth posting on social media coz it’s so out of date. Jenni had an ace time in Edinburgh seeing Hamilton today. I haven’t been outside since Tuesday. 10.00pm.
Friday 29th March 2024
Third day in a row without so much as unlocking the front door. I considered grocery shopping but thought it best to crack on with the desktop work. Chuffed to have a few readers for last night’s blog post from January. And I got the bespoke Wallsend Writers workshop pretty much in shape. All I need now is to gather up the handouts and other materials. And I have over a week to do that. I threw my tuppence ha'penny of comment into a Facebook discussion about Imogen Wade’s ‘National Poetry Competition’ winning poem. Some people like it, some don’t. Some are fearful for the future of poetry. I took the liberty of playing with line breaks and got mixed responses for my efforts. I’m taking things easy over the weekend. I’m a bit worn out. 11.41pm.
Saturday 30th March 2024
In Consett this afternoon buying supplies for a weekend at Jen’s. Very sleepy on my feet. Ordered toner cartridges and submitted my pay log to the college. Jen got home from Edinburgh quicker than I got to hers from Consett. 10.25pm.
Sunday 31st March 2024
Jenni gave me a big Reese’s peanut butter chocolate egg and I gave her chocolate, a carrot cake, Reese’s peanut butter cups, and Jelly Babies. We watched Jesus Christ Superstar, a load of ‘Goodnight Sweetheart’ episodes, a documentary about The Krays and one about Stonehenge. We ate chilli and rice. It’s been good to do very little today. Nice. 10.28pm.
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