3272 - In cold flat

Woke up real late, about ten, but since then
I've done quite a lot, and brain's sleepy now
Finished 'In Cold Blood' started end of June
My progress through it has been rather slow
But it was a good read. Long tome ago
Before I was born, a terrible crime
Was done in Kansas, people said, 'Oh no!
The poor Clutters!' They met their hanging time
After 5 years on Death Row, pantomime
Of appeals exhausted, as despised men
But Capote had interviewed them so
Extensively, this book really does chime
With crime fans and more serious readers when
He probes and seems to take us there somehow

3003 - Statistical fireworks

Republicans make big gains in the States
They're all saying Obama is washed up
Even the Democratic candidates
In their campaigns just didn't want his help
Meanwhile, in the UK, there is a blip
In the anti-immigrant argument
Statistics in a new report a ripe
Riposte, showing the gains from immigrants
However, other factors also count
The main one being opening the gates
To too many. They may be good, but stop
A second, look at the fat lazy cunts
Already here, the stupid, obese NEETS
Hope that was politically correct - oops...

2937 - London Day Three

A pleasant day, warm but not too sunny
Breakfast at our favourite cafe, New Cross
Then bus to Camberwell, then to Brixton
The place for fashion, reggae and all sorts
Electric Avenue, with market stalls
Bought a hat, wore it the rest of the day
Posed in Brixton, then Horniman House, all
The way to Forest Hill, then on our way
Again by bus to Lewisham, great way
To finish, lovely grub, and beer, hee hee
Beer cheese with croutons; then some crayfish balls
New Orleans-style. Good chat with Jo and P
Walked home from there to New Cross, chattily
Writing this, 'bout to watch 'Pushing Daisies'

About Sat 30 August

2455 - Brain Dallas Surgery

It's 50 years since JFK was shot
A programme's on at 9 with George Clooney
(No doubt, a fan who liked old Jack a lot)
Lee Harvey Oswald was a red loony
So they say, with a Russian wife in the
Old Cold War, for God's sake, with a good aim
Hit JFK once, but not lethally
But who was it that shot him in the brain?
One theory is a Secret Service man
In the car behind ballsed-up big time, popped
A dum-dum bullet accidentally
Into the president's head. In no time
The Secret Service covered up the lot
Beginning with the vital autopsy

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!

2387 - Love and Haiti

Wet Sunday, raining all over this land
Finished 'The Comedians' by Graham Greene
(Nothing to do with comedy, my man)
It was quite like 'The Quiet American'
But whereas that was set in Vietnam
In this later novel, Haiti's the scene
The tension of the Papa Doc regime
Staying alive, post-Castro Caribbean
Always the fear of armed revolution
Lyndon Johnson supporting any scheme
That wasn't Communistically planned
The good old bad old days, Soviet regime
Post-Stalinist shadows in East Berlin
How strange it all ended under Reagan!

Papa Doc

2471 - The good father

Some rubbish TV drama is on now
The acting and script stink to high heaven
Just been out with Louis, nothing highbrow
At the cinema, just voucher-spending
Was only three quid to see 'The Iceman'
Engaging enough, set in '70s
New Jersey, The Godfather-style gangland
The twin towers over the water, still seems
Incredible they fell, still have memories
Of seeing them in person long ago
They were the best, Empire State poor second
Tiredness contributes to rapid brain freeze
An early night beckons, for tomorrow
It's back to The Castle pub once again

2438 - Ohio sicko

Another case of women held hostage
This time over in Cleveland, Ohio
Enchained in the basement ten years, an age
Their young lives captive, blighted, stifled growth
Assaulted, raped, miscarriages, and two
Or more children, imprisoned by a guy
Who's now ashamed because he's caught, the glow
Of scrutiny unbearable, but why
Didn't he feel more empathy? So shy
Now, so dominant then, so full of rage
Taken out on those helpless girls we knew
Only from ten-year-old pictures they fly-
Posted on lamp-posts as the search engaged
Fruitlessly. But they're alive and free now

2299 - Happiness is a warm pool of blood on the classroom floor

The world's still here, sorry, silly losers
The Mayan calendar's end's not the world's
And never was. Funny how there's always
Mad egotists who want all of life spoiled
Maybe next time, losers! Sorry! Meanwhile
In the United States of Armaments
After the latest shooting at high school
This time in Connecticut, more offence
And ridicule will follow the statement
Of the NRA - more guns, not less, yes
That's the answer. Doh! Think I'm going to hurl
A rifle up their fat asses. Judgement
Of the world - they're crazy motherfuckers
May their happy warm guns grow sad and cold

2227 - On the road, on the track, on the runway

These are the countries I've been to so far -
All parts of the UK, also Ireland
France (mainly north, but also Basque area)
Austria briefly, twice to Switzerland
Liechtenstein, Belgium, Germany, Holland
Friendly northern Portugal, much of Spain
Some Italian cities, Slovenia, and
Eastern Greece, western Turkey by both train
And bus, the USA, but tried in vain
To see the Falls over in Canada
Next month I'll add both Denmark and Sweden
Maybe Hungary next year. Hop on a plane
Enjoy the view from way up in the air
Drive through strange towns, from trains observe the land

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

2008 - Financial and other black holes

Petroleum hundred dollars per barrel
Stock market falls after US subprime
Crisis. Aussie PM Kevin Rudd tells
Them sorry for child-stealing. Bank crash time
Northern Rock and Lehman Brothers. Debt climbs
In Greece and Ireland. Fidel resigns, Raul
Takes over the family firm. They decline
The Lisbon Treaty in Ireland - they will
Get it right the second time. Meanwhile, Bill
Gates steps down. The Beijing Games go so well
CERN in Geneva, concerns of malign
After-effects, could create a black hole
Out with young Vicky from Oldham, oh well
Split, saw P in Paris, Barack did fine

Written Sun 4 March

2005 - Boyne Baby Boyne

Dubya Bush's back (why?), Iraq at polls
Kyrgyz trouble, China says Taiwan's ours
Pope JP2 dies, Benedict enrols
I'm in my new flat in Salford some days
Then back to Wilmslow, domestic affrays
Blair wins third election, bombs in London
Hurricane Katrina, south USA's
Day of dread. Baghdad bridge is falling down
Muhammad cartoons, Kashmir earthquake, and
Saddam on trial. French face transplant unfolds
My job is excise policy, the laws
That govern aggregates levy. We've gone
To Dublin and the Boyne Valley, car rolls
Along Irish roads with Pearl and Louis

2004 - Fiesta siesta

Shipman hangs himself, Hutton says OK
Madrid bombs, Spain's PM exits Iraq
Putin wins again, Blair in Libya, J
Mourinho wins with Porto, lots of flak
For US in Abu Ghraib prison. Back
In Athens, the Olympics. Lance Armstrong
Wins Tour de France again. Beslan school. Fox
Hunting protests. Schumacher drives along
Van Gogh film-maker killed, Ukrainians long
For fair election. Massive earthquake, they
Drown all around the Indian Ocean. Black
Fiesta engine's knackered, I'm buying
A red Fiesta after holiday
In Newquay, marriage problems once I'm back

2003 - Now we are 03

Space shuttle breaks apart on re-entry
Darfur War begins, then war in Iraq
(Despite mass protests), and it seems to be
Over in less than a month. Statues crack
And TV journalists seem to ejac-
ulate, but prematurely. The laughing
Genome greets us. In Chechnya the sky's black
Saudi, Morocco, Turkey exploding
Indonesians Aceh-pacifying
David Kelly death, Hutton Inquiry
Arnie's the Governor. England's team brings back
Rugby's World Cup from Oz. Saddam's hiding
In a rat hole. Iran earthquake. Josie
Born, I'm wed, then to Naples we make tracks

2002 - Blonde bombshells

The euro's in use. No Child Left Behind
Says Bush, but Daniel Pearl, he truly is
Princess Margaret and the Queen Mum are found
Dead in their beds. The Afghan war raises
More dust. Bombs in Israel, which then enters
The West Bank once again. It's Jacques Chirac
Better than Le Pen, perhaps. The Far East
Hosts the World Cup. Golden Jubilee - Buck
House echoes to live rock. The Germans tick
A Schroder-Greens coalition. The sound
Of bombs in Bali. A Moscow theatre's
Held by Chechens. Brazil's Lula's in luck
Will Saddam heed UN, or is he blind?
Me and my blonde lady - she enlarges

2001 - Towering infernoes

Wikipedia and foot and mouth are here
Ariel Sharon comes, Milosevic goes
Nepalese prince shoots king and family there
Koizumi, strange-haired chief of Japanese
Israel wedding disaster, and Hamas
Bomb a Tel Aviv disco. Musharraf
Pres of Pakistan, riots on Genoese
Streets at G8, and Peruvians get tough
With Fujimori. New York's smoking cough
As twin towers topple. Patriot Act calms fear
And Afghans invaded - the West soon throws
The Taliban out of Kabul, will have
To battle on and on. Taxi driver
At weekends, my number of girlfriends grows

2000 - Keep on moving

The dot-com bubble is about to burst
Lethal injector Doctor Shipman's shopped
Playstation 2 is launched, let's all be first
Putin's president, meanwhile Microsoft
Guilty of unfair practice. Senor Fox
Mexican Pres, and Bashar al-Assad
Takes over from his dad. A fire stops
Concorde's flight in Paris. News of the World
Campaigns against paedos. Russian sub drowned
Sydney Olympics, UK fuel protests
Al Qaeda blows up US ship. Bush propped
Up by Supreme Court, Gore gored. The Dome's had
It. Poor Kirsty MacColl, that was the worst
Thing. Me, I rent my house out and change jobs

1997 - You can run, but...

Divorce finds Ireland, Tamil Tigers fight
Algerian war and Tupac in Peru
Hale-Bopp Comet, suicide at Heaven's Gate
Versace shot and Blair PM, woo-hoo
Bertie Ahearn hello, bye Mobutu
Hong Kong goes back to China, and Di dies
Louise shakes baby, Teresa dies too
Scots and Welsh parliaments soon, French truck strikes
Block ports, hello to Mary McAleese
Luxor shootings, Kyoto saves climate
JK Rowling and Philip Pullman do
Kids sci-fi, Titanic and Girls of Spice
Mike Tyson bites an ear, I run up quite
Tall hills, drive my green Ford, and move anew

1996 - More than thirty years of hurt

IRA Canary Wharf explosion
Garry Kasparov beaten by Deep Blue
Hamas bombs Israel, Arafat condemns
Them. Aznar wins in Spain. Dunblane school, who
Can forget the sadness? Mad cows, Cairo
Tourists shot, Turkey counters Kurds, Yasser
Accepts Israel exists, and Romano
Prodi replaces Silvio. Chechnya war -
Yeltsin calls a ceasefire. Cloned sheep are here
Euro 96, Atlanta games on
Manchester bomb - soon the old town looks new
De Klerk says sorry for apartheid. The
Taliban take Kabul, Clinton's next win
I leave home, but family, I still love you