3229 - They don't know what to do with their lives

I must admit I don't feel quite tip top
I should hopefully sleep quite well tonight
May have overdone it slightly, yep
Too much work and walking yesterday, quite
Knackered and slightly ill now. But despite
That, a drink or two, time to celebrate
Relaxing for a few hours now, a flight
Of fingers on my guitar, then acquaint
Myself with Big Brother, I was too late
Last night to see which housemate got the chop
Channel 5 doing its usual job to slight
The British working classes without jobs
Where are the jobs nowadays we create
For the less gifted, less rich? None in sight

3193 - The gallant South

I'm gonna make this quick, I'm a day late
With this sonnet, I forgot to do it
Yesterday, what with work and getting straight
After my travels. So, remember it
I was told at work once again I'm shit
But I have potential. Come on, are you
Any better than me, no, so please quit
Feeding me this bullshit. Realised my true
Home might be London, that's the place where you
Are seen and recognised, and that's where fate
May await me, plus I love that great zit
On the face of the British landscape, grew
To unimaginable proportions, great
Place of destiny, maybe there I'll flit...

Fri 15 May

3137 - Black hole moon

Oh hell, I forgot my exercises
And now I've eaten a big meal, so I
Don't think I can do press-ups and stretches
And stomach-straining stuff, or I might throw
This morning, nipped out of the office to
See the partial eclipse up on Bridge Street
And of course I took a picture or two
I saw a crescent sun briefly shine bright
My eyes felt dazzled for several minutes
Once I had sat back at my desk. It was
The first here since '99, after my
John o'Groats to Land's End bike ride, that feat
Remembered in a tattoo. My task is
Tonight to finish that huge book. I'll try!

2577 - Fed up of food fads?

It's been a hard day's night, but feel OK
If tired, and now just watching the TV
A programme about Britain's debt today
Not the nation's, individuals' money
Owed, in many cases, over twenty
Thousand, in some, over a hundred grand
Must admit that now I'm feeling hungry
Must cook soon, before bedtime, that's the plan
Can't go to bed while my belly expands
Digesting chicken, mash and veg, for they
Advise against that sort of thing, you see
Been reading and thinking of diet. Ban
The carbs? No spuds or bread? But to obey
That is hard. Should I start eating chick peas?

2419 - Print and be damned!

Morrissey's new autobiography
Is today's main event, I s'pose, and I
Will read it eventually, probably
But might wait til it's second-hand, can buy
It in Oxfam. I'm a poor northern boy
More so than him, anyway, in LA
And book-signing in Gothenburg, away
From the masses in Leeds, Hull, by the Tay
Wherever panic spread back in the day
Meanwhile, bringing this sonnet round to me
After work, went to Marc Printers to try
To print our flyers, less than Staples, they
Quoted thirty something quid, that's for three
Hundred, ready tomorrow. Not bad, eh?

2409 - The Irish, Welsh and American Rover

Today I had three new tattoos, yes, three!
The first one was the red dragon of Wales
The second was 'I love New York' with three
Letters and a red heart, bringing back tales
Of long ago in the eighties, our trails
Around the cheap shops of old Manhattan
Forget Fifth Avenue, though shopping malls
Out on Long Island I went to often
Sadly there was little more than nothing
To see there (apart from girls!). Tattoo three
Was a shamrock, a symbol green and small
Representing my Irish trips, driving
From Knock to Cork, stopping off at Bantry
Also Dublin and towns beyond the Pale!

2532 - Floatin' like a butterfly

Feels like it's been a long long day somehow
Though it's still only just about gone nine
Some chores, some pix on Facebook, a video
Of butterflies shot yesterday's online
Deciding about travelling by train
Down to see Pearl in London at month's end
I've got agreement to take Josephine
Not taken her away from home since when?
Think I took her to Wales with my children
(The older two), but her mum went also
When we stayed at Claire's near Swansea. This time
It's without mum. Mum trusts her now she's ten
But I must take good care of little Jo
Now to book train tickets without delayin'...

2341 - Come Whine With Me

Feeling a bit tired, woke up earlier
After a drink last night, which was naughty
Justified by payday, and staying in the
Black despite Christmas expense, January
Birthdays of everyone in my family
Then today, a hard morning, a deadline
That just had to be met, stress aplenty
And now, having done exercise, decline
In energy levels, watching Come Dine
With Me, from up in auld Edinburgh
Why some o' them are so snobbish beats me
It loses votes when people pose and whine
Fake smiles, competitiveness and hauteur
Doesn't go down well down in old GB

2338 - Misty grey

I always enjoy January's end
The light returns, though the cold wind persists
Light and temperature may be on the mend
But let's not expect a summer sun-kissed
Such things are long gone, and so sadly missed
All we have to look forward to is rain
Yes, the same thing we had as autumn mist
That soaked the land, killed crops and flooded drains
For the foreseeable, the rain remains
All we have as it warms over the pond
Produces cumulus to get us pissed
Off and pissed on. Don't wonder at our groans
Would going abroad be some kind of end?
Yet somehow, I think this place would be missed

2337 - Great British cuisine

What have they done to the rain? Didn't fall
Quite as forecast. Finished 'Great British Wit'
(Though I didn't get Great British wet...), all
Ready to read the even larger script
Of another comedic history hit
'1000 Years of Annoying the French'
Over seventy pages read - yes, it's
Nice, light reading, set to the mystic crunch
Of beans on toast, cheese and Marmite sandwich
Or some just as incomprehensible
(To foreigners) British snack they think shit
Most of my fridge contents they wouldn't pinch
And I'm glad about that, I can reveal
Listening to soul, then guitar practice treat

2314 - Great Toilet Bowl

Been reading a lot while home with this cold
Pearl's Christmas present was a book about
100 objects, some new, but most old
In the British Museum, and I browsed
Through it in a few days. Now got my snout
In a recent Frankie Boyle book, easy
To devour on the sofa. Not going out
Is OK, walking in the rain maybe
Got me in this state anyway. We'll be
Wet a lot more from now on, so we're told
By climate change prophets. Heat brings about
More clouds and thus more rain, reliably
Dumping on the UK, a toilet bowl
Of the gods is where we Brits are now housed

2179 - Spider's website

No luck yet on the dating front. I have
Ignored one message from America
What the fuck is the point of being in love
With someone that far away, I ask you?
It's wasted time - maybe they don't have a
Good grasp of geography? I'm English
And live in the north west, in Manchester
If you've got your rod out and want to fish
Please remember I'm in the Isles British
Stick to your own continent, big enough
And populous enough for you, I'm sure
Right now, singing about love, it's Otis
He'd have gone on dating websites full of
Women of all kinds, some less prettier

2160 - There's gold in them thar Welsh hills

A lovely day trip in the car to Wales
To be precise, Llangollen, via Wrexham
A sunny start, later on some rainfall
But not enough to spoil things - brollies came
Out as needed, Pearl and Josie found some
Cute knick-knack shops in this touristy place
This misty place, with wooded hills, the sun
In hiding, but still a warm Welsh embrace
Meanwhile at the Games, things went on apace
Rowing, cycling produced three gold medals
I got home, however, at the right time
To see Jessica Ennis's last race
She won heptathlon gold, long jump guy falls
Furthest, and then 10k gold too- well done!

2151 - Fireball XL5 Plus

About to watch the Olympic football
Kick off, Team GB versus Senegal
The torch is being carried, and it's all
Getting exciting now, a fireball
Meanwhile the list of things to do was tall
But I've done many, now I can relax
In preparation for their arrival
I've made the bed, and I've cleared out some books
Tomorrow, I drive a van with boxes
At the ready, down to my old Lichfield
When I'll collect two young girls and my girl
Friend, and we'll start new lives, we'll take the knocks
I'm excited beyond recent recall
Life starts anew, and it will be so full!

2142 - Endless summer

It's a really grey day I have to say

The Jet Stream, high up in the atmosphere

Over the Atlantic, this year has strayed

Further south than normal. The result? We're

Deluged with rain, permanent low pressure

I read in today's paper that this Stream

Is going to move back north. The forecasters

Are predicting an improvement. A dream?

Perhaps just propaganda, so things seem

Not so bad, maybe worth a holiday

In Britain in August? Don't disappear

Abroad, there's no need! You can let off steam

On the Yorkshire coast, Cornwall, Anglesey

Slap on the sun cream, don't get burned, d'you hear?

2134 - Whether the weather be shit or shit

As usual, the weather has made the news

Always a topic of conversation

It's worse than normal, true, but people's views

Seem unrealistic to me, quite often

They think that summer sunshine always comes

In Britain, like in California

When will they admit, cloud covers our land

More often than blue skies every summer

This year summer has been a real bummer

And spring was a wet thing despite the hose

Pipe ban after dry winter and March sun

Flash floods have flushed the high streets of Yorkshire

And festivals have crashed, kids got da blues

Poor Katy, cycling to work, soaked again

2133 - Tonsil tennis

A mainly sunny day, but with a shower
In Derby, where I met Katy again
No matter where we go there is a power
We are so close in thought and deed, we're one
While we were there we missed wet Wimbledon
Where Andy Murray slipped on the green grass
Struggling against Federer, dreams undone
Miracles so rarely do come to pass
Except for yesterday when two men classed
As hopeless outsiders won doubles, how
No-one's quite sure, but one was from Britain
I'm getting hungry, bedtime's looming fast
So when this is written, I'll eat, then lower
Myself into bed, read, and tire my brain!

2131 - A sporting chance?

Why do we bother to cheer Brit sportsmen?
Andy Murray - Scottish, of course, to Scots -
Is currently struggling at Wimbledon
To get to the final. We're seeing lots
Of valiant effort, many superb shots
But even if he wins this match, the prize
Is a final with Federer... he's got
To raise his game almost up to the skies
To have a hope there. We should be more wise
And, as with football, low expectation
Of actually winning the major pots
Is rational. In golf, though our men rise
Through world rankings, how often do they win
A major? The answer's that they do not...

1966 - Bomb on bomb

Changes in Nigeria, Indonesia
Indira Gandhi, Pope meets Kosygin
France leaves NATO, and Mao's anti-bourgeois
Cultural Revolution has begun
Quarter-million soldiers in Vietnam
Bombs on Hanoi and Haiphong, massacres
In the South, but relations have fallen
Between Brezhnev and Mao. Serial killers
In the USA, worldwide plane crashes
The Krays and Harold Wilson are stars here
Syria and Israel clash round the Jordan
England win the World Cup, SA offers
Help to racist Rhodesia. Revolver
Pet Sounds, Blonde On Blonde, Yoko meets Lennon

1957 - Looking at the stars

Elvis gets bigger, Macmillan's PM
That tedious Bergman film, The Seventh Seal
American Bandstand, a new program
The Cavern Club opens in Liverpool
And Egypt opens the Suez Canal
The Cat In The Hat, Euro Song Contest
Sukarno wants no Dutch left on his isles
Howl and On The Road heading way out west
While West Side Story's on stage in the East
A supersonic jet's flown by John Glenn
But Sputniks 1 and 2 are the real deal
In Little Rock the schools are still racist
GB's gay rights helped by Lord Wolfenden's
Report, though it takes ten years to be real