3230 - It'll be all-white on the night

I'm happy with my Father's Day alone
Been out plenty, Friday and Saturday
Had cards and prezzies, pictures on my phone
But felt a bit worn-out, late yesterday
So I decided I'd stay in today
Need to refresh, and also to rehearse
My comedy, which as usual, was way
Rushed, had a quick read of it while the noise
From the washing machine span round my ears
Yet more white paint on bedroom wall, it's done
Now more or less, the paint tin's near-empty
And at last the walls look white like they're s'posed
To, not so streaky and brownish. Backbone
Broken, poor Tania's in a ward today

3202 - Footy and tea

The daylight's dying, but there'll be no rage
I'm not Dylan Thomas, not meant to be
I'm glad about that, cos he was quite large
And also Welsh. Just joking, obviously
I like the Welsh accent, and musically
There's lots of stars from there who make good sound
Today I made notes to my holiday
Pix, now I won't forget where I was bound
Or what that statue was, or that high ground
That took about three hours, then ate, then watched
The last day of the Premier League, only
Me, no shared comments, Louis' not around
These days. Met Nance for an update engage-
ment over tea, Northern Quarter trendy

3196 - Seasons in the sun (and wind)

Soon after work, and eating of my tea
I quickly set to continuing to save
My many holiday pictures, finally
Downloading them all onto my hard drive
Now quickly writing this so I can have
A play on my guitar 'fore relaxing
It's nearly nine, and the sun's still above
The horizon, as we're in the late spring
Mid-May, when nature seems so welcoming
A nice time of year, though it's cold lately
To go out with no jacket would be brave
Although we're almost in June. I'm saving
Money for a while, think I'll boycott the
Concerts and days out I'd planned, but that's tough

3195 - That was the two weeks, that was

So many holiday pictures I took
Been posting them today, it took all day
First, posting them from phone onto Facebook
Replying to comments was fun, I'd say
But now I'm numbering them, not yet half-way
Through that process, and saving to hard drive
Good to relive it all, though, all that way
I travelled, walked like you wouldn't believe
It's reminded me all those things I strove
To pack into each day, people will look
At those pix and wonder, and some may say
'I want to go there,' and some may just grieve
That they can't, but despite their sad bad luck
I hope they liked seeing my holiday!

3174 - Phoney baloney

Phone trouble on the eve of holidays
This is bad timing, the camera is broke
Can't connect to Facebook or read emails
If I don't get this sorted, travel's fucked
And holiday snaps will go up in smoke
Not sure what to do, guess I'll have to talk
Tomorrow lunchtime to O2 shop guys
Or maybe the Samsung repair shop, walk
In there for the third time before goodbyes
To the UK? But time is short, it flies
Before I fly spray-on tan orangeways
That's EasyJet to you and me, a look
Out of the window at the clouds always
Cheers me on my way, this time it's to Prague!

3171 - Prague pilgrim's progress

Getting in the holiday zone of mind
Excitement builds. Today, getting my phone
Mended so I can charge it and still find
Power to post on Twitter. Having flown
To Prague, I'll want and need to have well shown
The sights I see, the folk I meet, also
In German places, beer and mountains grown
To gross proportions, only goats may go
To those high heights! My German learning's slow
I'm struggling to study the lingo, kind
Of lazy maybe, but distraction's blown
It away, along with 'Dragon Tattoo'
(The book), but I could catch up when flyin'
Or waitin' in stations for trains to come

3062 - Putting you in the picture

Pearl's birthday, her twenty-seventh. Early
On, at home, nearly lost all my photos
From 2014, I pressed the wrong key
And they vanished. Mentally I froze
Then found calm determination. Get those
Pictures back somehow, anyhow! I did
Eventually do it, thank God. Later, Jo's
Mum dropped her off at the station. Wanted
To get to Pearl's flat by four. Divided
The teams up different this time. Though closely
Fought, my team lost 'Articulate'... Voice rose
To a high pitch, not just mine! Then well-fed
At Evuna, Northern Quarter, eighty
Quid but good food (and wine!). Thanks, amigos!

2960 - First day back

(A day late, posting about yesterday)
A long and busy day, though spent at home
Only four hours sleep, cos of the delay
With the late plane home from Corfu, with some
Mistakes made by easyJet, the wrong plane
Being one of them. No more trains would run
At gone 2 a.m, but a bus then came
At 2:30 to take us home. Right on!
Sleep came at 4:45. Yes, it came
At last! Bliss! First chore though on the new day
Was unblocking the loo, rubber gloves donned
Then sorted my holiday photos, gained
Some likes. Typed up my Greek jokes and twenty
Fun travel limericks. How I like to roam!

About Tue 23 Sep

2431 - Comedy northern suburb

Today, similar to yesterday, rain
Work, and guitar. And now have to practise
Elements of the show, do what I can
On my own. Rehearsal tomorrow is
Planned with Derm, and confirmed Sian will shoot pix
At the gig, while Dave will film from the back
Of the room. Now time to look at my jokes
Decide again if they're good or to sack
Any of 'em. A weak point - TWO Dalek-
Related jokes in one show ain't such fun
Might take one out, think it might be the Scouse
Dalek, although that's sad, but what the heck
Gotta be ruthless in this silly game
You can take some piss, but not too much piss

2428 - I believe I can flyer

Last night got some drinks in and watched 'Tommy'
Up at 9 this morning, soon working hard
On our comedy show next Saturday
Reworked some of my jokes, read and re-read
The scripts, tried out the guitar bits, and thought
Of all we need to do between now and
Then, and all we need to take on the night
Forgetting your wig's disaster, my friend
Emailed Sian the snapper, and Karl, who'll lend
His techie skills to the show. Today, we
Are leafletting later in Market Street
Handing out flyers, trying to make ears bend
And hopefully, rehearsing, but for me
At least, I've done more than my share today

2426 - Poster haste

Last night met up at the Deli Lama
To look at pictures of us there with Sian
Taken by her last Saturday. They are
All good, and funny, and we've chosen one
To be a gig poster. Don't know yet when
The doors open, so I emailed King's Arms
Need to get poster sorted by weekend
After the DL, Sian then headed home
And we both spent hours in the Salford Arms
For the second night running, sat near a
Group of striped-shirted Spanish soccer fans
Of Real Sociedad. Their team had come
To play, sadly to lose, to Manchester
United. Late hot curry, home past one

2421 - Shot of love

A fun day from start to finish, first off
I wrote my routine for Sunday / Tuesday
Went shopping with Louis, ate lunch, then off
To Salford Chapel Street, to the cafe
By the name of Deli Lama, and they
Were all there, Sian the photographer and
Claire, and Dermot, so we drank a coffee
Then took some funny shots along, around
The Salford main drag, Sian's one of the gang
The sun went in, the rain fell, dropped in droves
Thunder, lightning, rainbows, all lit the way
Watched City / West Ham, then walked into town
With Louis to Vee's fiftieth do, then off
Home just in time to watch Match of the Day

2420 - Hot stuff

I'm back safely, having walked through the rain
After work, a few of us headed out
For a few drinks and a meal once again
This time Ange's birthday was what we sought
To celebrate, and decided to start
At Dutton's, Albert Square, once Brassiere
Something or other, then to Swadesh, ought
To be remembered as I-Kan, a Thai
Place I took Janet Dawson back in the
Day, well, 2009, in a vain
Attempt to impress. My meal was quite hot
A lamb dish - I'm quite into lamb, tender
Is the word. Now a lie-in, I'll attain
Some shut-eye, then tomorrow, photo shoot!

2418 - Work experience provider

Went down the Deli Lama in Salford
Ordered a coffee, sat at the table
With Claire, David and Sian, and there we talked
For two hours, and in that time, was able
To recruit Sian to take pics, Dave to tell
Me of a cheap printer in Manchester
For artwork and publicity to sell
Our show on the second of November
I did this by myself - Derm wasn't there
It's easy, when you have work, to network
You're offering work to artists and can call
On lots of talented people who care
About the chance to practice what they're good
At. Hope there'll be more jobs for these people

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'...

2432 - Rose and crown

Another late night, but now a long week-
end to come, hurray! Friday night sketching
At Dr Sketchy, and I won a sleek
Pair of child's ear-muffs and a decaying
Rose - pix on Facebook - thanks Nance for taking
Them. I took some funny pix afterwards
Of us on the street generally clowning
My sketch was OK but it was the words
I added that did it. To win awards
Is a rare but delightful thing. To seek
Approbation, an all-too-human thing
Expensive meal in Thomas' Restaurant
But a good time was had. Now time to sneak
To bed with a book, read til I'm sleeping...

Fri 3 May

2427 - Family album

A rainy day in Marple, not the place
To go on a wet Sunday, shops are few
We sat in Costa Coffee - Jo's first taste
Of proper coffee (iced) - I had one too
I brought some old photos for her to view
You know, actual photos in an album
The kind they used to print in Boots when you
Had to wait two days til collecting them
The early noughties, Tania's pregnant tum
Young Josie in nappies, ten years of space
Between me and those skies seemingly blue
In these happy pix, cleared of the humdrum
There were good times, but smiling camera face
Is a small picture that should be seen through

2290 - You've got to pick a picture or two

Got next year's wall calendar already
And a copy for Josie. It looks good
But the paper's a bit thin. It was free
So what d'you expect? Also, a t-shirt
Is on its way with my name on it, would
You believe? That was free too. Next I must
Order a photo album, pick a load
Of pictorial highlights of the year past
(50% off)... December, almost
Obligatory to look back quite fondly
And to create an album where you could
In future quickly skim through, see the most
Memorable moments, pix that are funny
And to have fun wondering what to include

2148 - Some summer

The summer has arrived, the sunny spell
That we think of as summer, just days long
The kitchen's too hot, and it's hard to chill
In the living room - yes, the heat is on
Done some washing, and car bookings are done
Collected Tom's pictures from yesterday
Of my Mum's do, they're in their own album
Listening to The Old Grey Whistle Test, grey
Are its fans now, I guess. Sun, go away
You're shining in my face, dazzling me. Hell
Don't complain, winter will soon creep along
And freeze us in its glacier grip. So hey
Shine on you crazy crazy orange ball
Stick around for the Games down in London