20 March 2007 - Posts

Monday in the North - 19th March

¦ dialling in from Jesus Mound ¦

9.54 am, Monday...apparently, not that the days of the week mean anything to me up here in this bubble world. There is a narcotic effect being here and I'm actually grateful I'm only here for another couple days, for the only reason there's things I need to get on with in "Reality".

I've been making good progress with YD2nd Edition, but no more DaVinci method and busting a gut at the expense of everything else. The signature theme of this visit to Jesmond is the revamp of my old bedroom (and Annelise's)...the God-awful Ghostbusters wallpaper is gone. I say God-awful not because it was Ghostbusters (a film I adore) but because it was such shiiiiiit Ghostbusters wallpaper...the characters didn't even look like the ones in the film. The dark carpet is now a summery beige / oatmeal. The walls are a calm magnolia... and suddenly the place is reminding me of the room as I left it in 1989 (white walls, Gary Numan Warriors, Philipps videowriter on a desk, No place like Attica.... cans of Coke, walking round to Nial P's to discuss ideas for Dark Coyote....that was a great year).

My childhood friend Ciaran came over yesterday afternoon. Had a long luxurious chillout here with him. Very enjoyable. He's confirmed that Starship Sofa have done a review of my books on their podcast. Eeek! I'm interested in my own reaction to this news: happy there's been a review but unhurried to go and listen to it. Fear? Moi? Well-well-well.

Ahhh sunshine streaming through all these windows. Temperature outside hovering around 1c, after weeks of a balmy warm winter, parts of fencing hanging from torn anchors and a wooden bench lying flipped over onto its back from the strength of the recent winds. Global Warming is knocking on our doors...

Over & Out
Djr

North - Thurs 15th March

¦ dialling in from Jesus Mound ¦

Ahhhhhh *contended smile* Here I am again. Jesmond. My bubble world and sanctuary. Felt a bit uneasy about coming up because now the need to find work is becoming a desperate issue, but I can at least keep the ball rolling via the Internet and hope I can line up interviews for when I get back.

Mum's getting a lodger in, which is nothing new, except this guy is 7ft tall and won't fit in the room she normally rents out. So my old bedroom (and my sister's) has been emptied of furniture, wallpaper stripped, redecorated and will soon be occupied. I'm quite happy about it. Gives mum an income stream, plus, I was able to spend a lot of time there during my visit last month (a marathon Yellow Dawn 2nd Edition writing session).

I played an evil practicle joke on Les, mum's next door neighbour. Walking back from a morning coffee in Kitschen, I saw Les getting into his car. As he reversed (at speed) from his drive, I stepped forward and banged the back of his car as hard as I could then threw myself down on the ground. He braked sharply, jumped out the car and came running round with the most distraught look on his face... actually that bit wasn't funny... but then he saw me smiling and he took the joke on the chin. I think he was just over-joyed this wasn't reality. He helped me up and slapped my shoulder with a buddy-buddy "you bugger" commment.

Anyways, that's me.

Dialling out.

Djr