Entries 27

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I could hear the voice. Whispering to me. ”Gaff… Gaff…” from just behind me. Or to one side, I couldn’t tell. The voices have started. I had a feeling the day would come. I set of welcomed it, a...

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The last job I worked on didn’t go well. The money was good, I’ll give it that. But the first 2 months were far too stressful and the hours were ludicrous. Then, once the show actually opened and...

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You only need about 10 minutes and you’re up into the hills. The weather is good, decent sunshine but not the exhausting kind. Things are very simple here, this winter. Back to England in a coup...

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I haven’t been writing much. I’ve been enjoying a simple life, here. Christmas has been quiet, the first we ever spent away from the kids. Refreshingly uncommercial. Sparing amounts of tinsel, ch...

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My daughter is here, for a week. Unfortunately, I won’t be here for all that time, I’ll be in Madrid for a few days, and then to Dubai at the weekend. I should be more excited I suppose. I’m not....

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It is stupid, but it makes me smile that the illegal exhaust on my motorbike, if I over-rev - it shoots flames…

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A disturbing clicky-clack on the bike as I wheeled it off the drive. Online research led me to suspect a worn steering head bearing. From the way I typed that, you’d think I know something about...

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I suspect they’re called something else in the United States - flashers, winkers? Turn signals, that would be it. Anyway, just after you buy a 2nd hand vehicle, there’s that period of time when y...

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And actually, for 3 euros, I can pick up a bottle of pretty smooth rioja. It’s just a 10 minute walk into the pueblo, the dogs bob along, amused by the barrio smells. The moon is half cut too. To...

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I do miss the fields though. Most days I used to walk up through the churchyard and a few miles across the fields to where the river forges, taking in clusters of oaks and elders. Here, I have a...

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They move on quickly now, the years. ”With lies you may go forward. But you can never go back”. I’m hard on myself, harder than I am on others. I don’t read the self-help volumes anymore, occasio...

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I’m not great at deferred gratification, but I’ll just have to deal with it. Yesterday I paid a deposit on the suzuki. I’ll pick it up next week. This is what’s known as a thumper. That’s becaus...

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It’s a full moon on Sunday. We should be half way down France by then. 25 years ago, we headed off to Spain, just her and me and a camper. It was the best decision, the best journey I’ve ever mad...

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I thanked her this morning. We finished 15 minutes ahead of schedule. Partly, we had said what needed to be said. I say ‘we’, actually she doesn’t say all that much. It’s usually me who does the...

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It’s not a mid-life crisis, by the way. For one thing, I’m at least 2/3s of the way through. Also, I’m pretty content. Frustrated by my mother’s narcissist tyranny, but at the same time I feel...

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I can’t afford to retire. Not really. Not unless I die about 10 years from now. But I just don’t give a shit about my work. I’m in the service industry, I put on a suit and make sure that PowerP...

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I wonder if it will get easier, typing on my phone. Easier than getting off the sofa and walking down the garden to my office and laptop. In some ways, the office in the garden reduced my writi...

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But it’s strange, this resurgence of negative feelings and memories of my parents from my childhood. Actually, not so much childhood. My teenage years, which were a disaster in many ways. I thoug...

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Am I getting too old for this? The truth is, I’ve been getting too old for this for some years now. Then again, I keep doing it and surviving it so perhaps not too old, perhaps just old enough. ...

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So, my career not so much at a crossroads as… in a car park. Unless perhaps I chase the permanent jobs in events management. But do I really want to move to London? Don’t even ask the question. 1...

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So, I’ve applied for a job as a postman. Not in a Bukowski way. I’m not writing or drinking myself to death. I’m not doing much of anything really. Reading a lot. At the moment, the idea of wand...

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A few weeks ago I was building some scenery for an events company. I also looked into some rope barriers (like you get in museums) and I downloaded a few photos to show to the client. Nothing es...

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It was generally damp in France. Moreso when the water pump packed in. Predictably, it did so on a Friday morning in rural France, and no part available until Monday. Fortuitously, the insurance ...

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The dogs are urging me to boot up and set out over the hills. When she is away they are more alert. Impatient at times. The sky looks solid grey and I’m pondering excuses not to venture out. It w...

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Spring flies in, but Englanders are not so easily convinced. We celebrate the days of bright sunshine in the certain knowledge that next week will bring cloud and heavy showers. But I did get out...

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