Midweek Tea Time Tantalising Treats

I thought rather than just fill in what I’ve done in the day I’d try & give some sort of insight as to why I’m writing this blog & what I’m actually getting out of it. Like a lot of people I think that somewhere deep inside there is a book waiting to be written, in fact the bones of a book have been sitting on my hard drive now for 18 months or so, perhaps when all this crap is done & dusted I’ll get round to finishing it. I read an awful lot & having discovered self publishing via Amazon I’m an avid reader of books by slightly left of centre writers. Tony Slater is a case in point. I highly recommend his first book “That Bear Ate My Pants” http://www.amazon.co.uk/That-Pants-Adventures-Idiot-Abroad-ebook/dp/B0057P6FNO/ref=sr_1_4?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1455101604&sr=1-4&keywords=tony+slater have a read of it & try & work out how the heck he stayed alive long enough to write a further 3 books. The fifth is promised, but I’m not sure it’ll arrive before he gets bitten by something large enough to take his head off. Other authors in the same ilk for me are Joe Cawley, George Mahood & not forgetting the loon to match Slater, Tom Cox! If anyone has any recommendations as to who else I should read then I’m open to suggestions.

Anyway, back to the reason for this blog. I find it very easy to write stuff down about how I’m feeling, & what’s going on in my head. I don’t find it easy to talk out loud about the subject. So banging away on the keyboard in the evening is a cathartic exercise for me. It allows me to just let everything out, the good the bad & the downright ugly. Over the last couple of weeks I’ve learnt that just hitting “Publish” after writing isn’t a good idea. So I now review, edit, delete & add before I hit the button. There’s a bit of advice about never sending an email when you’re angry or pissed, the same stands for when you’re feeling a tad raw. I’m not very good at showing emotions, unless there’s something that really gets to me – those of you who have seen me fail every time I try & do the “Playing for Jack” award over the last few years will know I can blub like the best of them if the cause is right. I’ve never found it as easy when it’s about me & my immediate family, until now that is. The last week has probably seen me cry more tears than since I fell on the crossbar of my bike aged 11 ¾ . But, these aren’t tears of shame, despair or even pain. They’re more the type that happen when I realise how lucky I am to have the love & support of the family & the utterly brilliant help at the RBH. The friends who call just to have a chat, the friends who are happy to continue to take the piss out of me, the folk who can see the long game here. Tears of relief I think is probably a good name. What was that song that had Carol & I holding hands at Reading Festival in 1983? Ah yes, Marillion, Script for a Jesters Tear “Can you still say you love me?” (7.33 in on the linked Youtube film - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaBjdLQ0LJ0

Back in December I thought this would be a bit of a stroll in the park, a couple of weeks off work then back to normal, didn’t realise it would be up a 1 in 4 slope in the park, but that’s good exercise for the body & the mind.