MAY

Friday 1st May 2026

Good session at Washington Arts Centre this afternoon. We got through a lot of reading for the anthology. Forty pieces with a few more to go in. I was supposed to be going to Waddington Street Centre to pick up another test proof of my pamphlet Failed Rock Star but I got an email from staff saying they hadn't received the PDF. Tonight I listened to the new Venom album Into Oblivion. It's not as raw as the early stuff. I had a chicken dinner and lots of peanuts. I'm in a foul mood because I am tired and have to be up early again tomorrow because buses are unreliable these days. I need to be at Waddy by ten o'clock. I aim to leave home before eight. OK. 10.50pm.


Saturday 2nd May 2026

Up around six. Wheelie case packed for eight o'clock bus to Durham. Peter was at Waddy very early and kindly ran me off a proof copy of Failed Rock Star before going for a haircut. This gave me time to assemble and check some margins on the pamphlet. Two hours later, with a few minor adjustments, everything was printed. A run of Failed Rock Star will be assembled midweek for next Saturday's gigs. Chuffed. 11.44pm.


Sunday 3rd May 2026

Prepped a workshop for Waddy this morning. Out this afternoon to Consett, then on to Jen's place. Watched Britain's Got Talent, ate hot cross buns, watched House of Fools (Vic and Bob) and Still Game. Prepped poem sheets for tomorrow. 10.27pm.


Monday 4th May 2026

I rehearsed some poems this morning for The Cooking Pot open mic. Only used a couple of them. Very mild at the coast. Baba Yaga’s was packed. Lots of good readers. Aaron, Jen Wilson, Penny Blackburn, Martin Monasse, Christine Fowler, Peter Mortimer, Steve Lancaster… Lots of laughs and clever rhymes. A young child read a horror story. Jenni was on good form, enjoyed her set. The Metro back to Gateshead was good. We watched the snooker final on catch-up. Wu Yize beat Shaun Murphy. OK. 11.44pm.


Tuesday 5th May 2026

Final session for NaPoWriMo stuff at Waddy this afternoon. We are low on numbers. If I was still employed by the college there is no way I'd be able to justify the course. I'm pleased I got out. One of the tutors says I dodged a bullet. I wrote some one-minute sentences and some tiny prose pieces from topics on an A2Z list. Uploaded the Poetry Jam images tonight. Did a bit of physio and printed set lists for The Smoke Room. No work on the actual booklet assembly. I'll be doing that tomorrow. I don't need to be out again until Poetry Jam on Thursday. OK. 11.54pm.


Wednesday 6th May 2026

Up about eight for morning pages, which gave me some ideas for new projects, then a whole day at the drop-leaf table making up copies of Failed Rock Star whilst listening to audio recordings of my intros for the next gigs. Almost everything I used to say at my early gigs was scripted. I wondered if I'd be able to speed up memorisation of material by playing new recordings about sixty to one hundred times. My brain just doesn't let me retrieve info at will. Stuff goes in, and eventually will rise to the surface, but I never know when it will be retrievable. So I'll still need notes written on enlarged copies of my poems. Hope I do okay on Saturday. Hope people take my sets in the way they are intended. Hope I don't bore people. Failed Rock Star looks great. OK. 10.59pm.


Thursday 7th May 2026

Big rehearsals for The Smoke Room sets this morning. I had to cut some of the intros and links. I'm seeing more connections with each rehearsal. Chuffed. I didn't get to Waddy till quarter to four this afternoon. Massive headache. Felt sick. Luckily, it passed and I got set up for the Poetry Jam. It went well. All the guests did good. Pip MacDonald performed with a migraine. She was great. Renata Connors work is somewhat surreal and magical at the same time. David Farn was partly himself and partly Owen Brecon. It was a good night. Lots of heavy open floor poems and some humour. I waited till the end to mention seventeen years and Happy Birthday to us. Big tidy up. Big thanks to Mark Speeding for the lift home to Moorside. OK. 11.56pm.


Friday 8th May 2026

Keep waking up around five in the morning no matter how late I go to bed. I spent a lot of today sorting intros and links my Late Shows set. They need editing down a bit. I didn't get to Jen's place until after five. I went to three Greggs but none had spicy wedges. We went to see Captured Souls - the Graeme Humphreys documentary at the Tyneside Cinema with a Q&A but didn't check out the merch at the end. Went to Tesco for supplies. I feel a bit under the weather. Hope I get through the gigs okay tomorrow. I've rehearsed the evening set more today from the book. OK. 11.33pm.


Saturday 9th May 2026

Lazy morning then a big day at Station East in Gateshead. Great to do sets alongside Nev Clay, JonJo and Ade, Phil Tyler and Your Casket Or Mine. And there was some great stuff at The Late Shows open mic in the same venue tonight. Jenni is finishing her pint, then we're off. I'm taking things easy next week. OK. 10.50pm.


Sunday 10th May 2026

A bit deflated. Come down after the adrenaline of yesterday. But okay. I did a bit of admin while Jenni slept. This afternoon we watched The Day The World Stood Still, and a bit of snooker. Ate ham and pease pudding sandwiches. Was chuffed to get ace pics and feedback for yesterday. Columbo in London on TV then bus back to Consett. OK. 11.52pm.


Monday 11th May 2026

Pulled a workshop together for the Waddy writers. I read a bit of STAY FANATIC!!! Vol.3 by Henry Rollins. I can only manage short burts because it gets a bit much after a while. I checked out a couple of the bands raved about and wasn't impressed. I left my new Wilkinson razors at Jen's, so had to shave very carefully with an inferior brand. This evening I wanted to hear the new Darkthrone album Prehistoric Metal. I fell asleep after about five minutes. I have lots of plans for the next six months. But today I'm struggling to stay focused or motivated. Reading seems like being lazy. I have lots to edit and format. OK. 10.35pm.


Tuesday 12th May 2026

Morning pages. Then sewed buttons back onto my coat. Caught a bus to Durham. Printed some flyers for my nephew's men's health group. I hope they are okay. I think the text is too small on the A5 version. Writing session went well. A lot more discussion than usual. Two pro creatives with differing views on practice (novelist Paul Auster and record producer Rick Rubin). Some flash fiction prompts. And some character sketches. I went to Jen's place for a while afterwards, then out to Tyneside Cinema to see Hokum. Only about seven people in. The film is a folk horror set in Ireland. A hotel witch story. A bit like The Shining meets escape rooms. A bit long-winded in the middle, think I fell asleep a little. I'm on the X45 bus to Consett, hoping to catch the last to Moorside. OK. 10.58pm.


Wednesday 13th May 2026

Late rise after getting home from Newcastle at midnight. I trimmed Kyle's men's group leaflets, then went into town for a work meeting. This afternoon I got my supplies, then made a chicken dinner – first proper meal for a couple of days. Tonight I read two essays by Paul Auster: Pages for Kafka and The Art of Hunger from his Groundwork book. Then I listened to all the tracks that Jarboe will be playing on her UK dates next week. Nine songs. Only recognised one. I ate a chicken and cheese sandwich, then peshwari naan with banana. Read some political stuff on Facebook. If Farage gets in at the next general election, we are fucked, and over half of his voters will sob with regret within six months. 11.25pm.


Thursday 14th May 2026

Didn't get grass cut. Haven’t been on a bike for a month. The torrential downpours of late will probably have made the riverside trails all muddy. I've prepared a Washington workshop for tomorrow. Listened to quite a bit of Jarboe online. Her 2008 album Mahakali is magnificent. I spotted a digipak copy in near fine condition on Discogs for six quid including postage and ordered it. Still haven't got a Lydia Lunch ticket. I haven't had the big computer on recently. This evening I looked through my January notebooks. I'd like to publish a new volume of essays and journal entries later in the year. Nicky Hall was in touch this evening, referring to an ex-Waddy poet. I need to work on the next anthology. OK. 10.21pm.


Friday 15th May 2026

Long bus ride to Washington this morning. A quick setup for the workshop. It went okay. We did some finish-the-sentence warm-ups., used A2Z word banks to generate prose pieces, tried a few NaPoWriMo prompts, including Villanelle. Big thanks to Nicola Spain for lift to Chester-le-Street. I fell asleep on the 78 bus to Consett. All the chocolate moons have gone from Barry's Bargain Superstore. I got home and had a reduced-price chicken tikka and rice at half four. Then returned to Consett to buy a new kettle. My only source of hot water besides the microwave oven. I secured all the loose buttons on my black coat, then watched When Nirvana Came to Britain documentary, but fell asleep at the end. I'm tired and way behind on my editing. No bike rides yet. OK. 10.37pm.


Saturday 16th May 2026

Big lie-in then up to open a letter from NHS. I have a preliminary appointment on Monday for a hernia operation. I took advantage of the fine weather and got the grass cut. Took about three hours because it's so long since last time. Tonight I'm at Jen's place. I have eaten some reheated chips and survived the Eurovision song contest entries. OK. 10.31pm.


Sunday 17th May 2026

Big lie in. Left arm aching badly. Read some reviews of the essay anthology Bread Alone edited by Prudhoe-born writer Kate Pasola. It’s all about working-class struggles and the glass ceiling of careers in literature. Tesco this afternoon for supplies. Some TV game shows – The Chase and Tipping Point - then the horror film Possum starring Alun Armstrong. Enjoyed it. Chicken sandwiches, chocolate. OK. 11.03pm.


Monday 18th May 2026

I went to Durham from Jen's, had soup at Waddy and printed more flyers for Kyle's men's health group, then went to the hospital for hernia medical. They didn't tell me anything new about it – so I've waited nine months to be told my operation will be a further three months. I missed two buses. Didn't get home until six this evening. I've worked on the new Waddy anthology. Thirty-six pages formatted, and only a few bits to move around. OK. 11.36pm.


Tuesday 19th May 2026

Tired all day. Think yesterday took a lot out of me. But we had a good edit session on the Waddy booklet this afternoon. It's always a long process getting pieces polished for publication. With my own stuff, I usually select material from folders and notebooks from a few years back. I rarely use things just recently created. Tonight I tried to read but fell asleep. I listened to a bit more of a recent Jarboe interview relating to her new Sightings album. She also talked about touring with Swans back in the day. She is in Newcastle on Friday. Her 2023 show was disappointing. But I really enjoyed seeing her in Leicester back in 2017. And before that, 2005, with her full band at Scala Cinema in London. OK. 10.37pm.


Wednesday 20th May 2026

Sluggish. Dull. Unmotivated. Hard to concentrate. Took most of the day just to catch up with stray notebook entries. I'm struggling to read for more than about 10 minutes at a time. A little bit of STAY FANATIC!!! Vol.3 by Henry Rollins. A bit of the big Behemoth biography. I watched most of the long Jarboe interview. Lots of info on living conditions with the band Swans and tech issues playing gigs with dodgy equipment. I listened to a few Swans and solo Jarboe tracks, also watched a bit of Mantas and Abbadon (Venom) footage from Keep it True festival. I stained my brain with more shit about the state of the world. I try to keep my opinions to myself. I'm currently watching Jarboe onstage with Italian duo Father Murphy. I saw this show in Leicester. It was brilliant. OK. 10.52pm.


Thursday 21st May 2026

First time out on a bike for about six weeks. I used the old Specialized Rockhopper, with only a couple of short stretches of tarmac between home and Chopwell Woods. I discovered some amazing trails but didn't have time to ride any of them. I was merely checking the place out. You could spend a week there and wouldn't get through it all. I tried to ride one route before I left but missed a turning from the main path. A lot of the stuff isn't signposted. I will give myself a couple of months to get fit and maybe go back with my Sonder Frontier adventure bike to ride on some technical downhill stuff. But four hours was a bit long to be out on my first proper ride in months. Tonight was a total head-mash: stupidly slow desktop computer, but I got the Poetry Jam publicity sorted. I bought a Lydia Lunch ticket. OK. 11.38pm.


Friday 22nd May 2026

Chicken jalfrezi and rice for dinner. Bus to Gateshead. Gave Jenni some chocolate. Had a 10p tin of Heinz butternut squash soup with bread rolls. Then off to Heaton to meet Stephen Clark. We saw Jarboe and Joy Von Spain play at The Star and Shadow. They were ace. I moved to a better vantage point halfway through the show for a clear view of Jarboe's facial expressions. After the gig, I walked back to Jen's place. OK. 11.37pm.


Saturday 23rd May 2026

About six hours sleep. I've read some interesting pieces about an actress with bipolar disorder, some stuff about bogus well-being cults, and a bunch of Meg Pokrass flash fiction pieces. I've eaten too many pork pies. OK. 9.46pm.


Sunday 24th May 2026

Morning pages gave me three workshop plans, then Jenni screened a load of Tiny Desk concerts, including Robert Plant, Clipping, Kronos Quartet and Foo Fighters. Had a nice chicken dinner with veg and some lush Ben and Jerry's chocolate ice cream. Tonight we saw the three-part Kylie documentary and a few episodes of crime series Slow Horses. OK. 11.38pm.


Monday 25th May 2026

A warm morning and a scorching hot afternoon this Spring Bank Holiday Monday. Jenni didn't want to stay in because her room would be too hot by evening, so she went out to the pub, and I got a bus back to Consett. Doomscrolling punishment: loads of Israel/Gaza stuff that infuriated me. Read a few chapters of Antony Bray's VENOM book. OK. 11.00pm.


Tuesday 26th May 2026

Better sleep than expected. I got to Waddy about twenty to twelve. The session didn’t require paper handouts. Enough fiction exercises to last two hours. Afterwards, I read a couple of Meg Pokrass interviews and some of her flash fiction. I stayed at Waddy until twenty past five. Then checked four of my pieces selected for open mic. I went to the library because the pub was awful. I borrowed a copy of Slough House by Mick Herron, off the back of seeing a few episodes of Slow Horses at the weekend. Colpitts Poetry event was great. Jenni did a mint feature set. The Darlington takeover group were engaging. And some class Durham turns too. Poem of the night had to be Pink Slice by Tony Gadd. Thanks to Andy Willoughby for organising and hosting. I felt chilly in Durham but really warm now at home. OK. 11.45pm.


Wednesday 27th May 2026

Today was a wasted day. Besides a few copy-ups I've achieved little. I wanted to ride a bike this afternoon but fell asleep. When I woke up, my stomach was totally bloated; looked like I'd put on two stone in about an hour. No way would I have been able to ride the bike tonight. I watched an interesting interview in which Glen Matlock of Sex Pistols talked about being in the band in the mid-seventies. I also saw a short film about psychobilly band The Cramps. I’ve only heard one best-of compilation but used to see their logo on shirts and jackets all over the place in my teens. Hope I have a productive day tomorrow. And a bike ride. Fingers crossed. OK. 10.40pm.


Thursday 28th May 2026

Good little ride on my Sonder Frontier bike after breakfast. Did some standing hill-climbs and rode my favourite trail from Shotley Bridge to Allensford. This afternoon, at long last, I finished reading STAY FANATIC Vol.3 by Henry Rollins. Vol.4 is close to hand but will probably take till about October to get through all 334 A4 pages. Had a steak and veg dinner. Cut my scalp whilst shaving and had to use a piece of folded toilet roll secured with black electrical tape to stem the blood. I watched some live footage of The Cramps from The Tube in 1986. I'd like to check out more of their music. OK. 10.27pm.


Friday 29th May 2026

I read about twenty pages of Slough House on the bus to Chester-le-Street today. The fiction workshop went well at Arts Centre Washington with six participants. Big thanks to Alwyn Bathan for a lift to Gateshead. I tried to read again on the bus to Consett but fell asleep. I bought loads of naan and cheese crackers from Barry's Bargain Superstore then went to get fresh meat and veg at Lidl. Tonight's For Better or Verse at Blackhill Club was superb: Caitlin Kendall, John Swinton and James Thoroughgood. Loads of great open floor readers. Over forty people in the room. Afterwards, I went to Tesco for a ream of copier paper then walked home. OK. 11.47pm.


Saturday 30th May 2026

Productive day. An hour cutting grass and thirty minutes tidying edges. Poetry Jam pictures uploaded. But the computer is being super slow. I fear I need a new one before the year is through. I listened to Toyah Willcox’s album Prostitute this evening and a young artist called Mimi Barks. Tuesday’s Waddy session ideas are listed. It’s a freebie, so I don’t need a load of printed exercises. I might read for a while. 10.13pm.


Sunday 31st May 2026

I thought I wasn’t going to be able to complete the blog today. Computer took an hour from original boot up to restart for updates before finally allowing me onto my home screen. I know someone who is very good with computers who, if I ask nicely, might pay me a visit to give it an annual check-up. I had a good little ride down by the River Derwent on the Sonder Frontier adventure bike first thing. Did a few decent hill climbs and some technical trails, but some major fails as well. Feet down more than usual on trails I’ve cleaned easily in the past. I’ve put on nearly a stone in weight since last autumn. Need to hit the tuna and chicken salads again. Hope next month is a good one. Thanks for reading. 12.20pm.