I will be glad to see the back of 2008 - it's been an unusually 'orrible year. Best bits would be a trip to Venice in March, seeing my daughter start to get well again, and David Tennant's Hamlet at Stratford was a bit of alright too.
Happy New Year!
Cx

Four days of culture and couscous - Paris - April
Radiohead - Old Trafford Cricket Ground - June
Rug purchase - Tangier - July
Mountain lido afternoons - Italy - August

Giving up stand up comedy (the sheer BLISS of that particular weight off my shoulders), starting performance poetry, and having a complete blast and many nice words said about it all.

Realising my poems are rubbish when read and better when shouted and drunk, outside pubs after gigs.

Seeing an impromtu acoustic set at a gig I co-run from The King Blues (finally, an angry political band that I love and my Mum might grow to think are alright). Great fun.

Travelling on my own for the first time when London was driving me fucking mental. If anyone feels that life is too much then just piss off round Europe for a month, cane your overdraft, get hammered and have lots of sex. Does you wonders.

Watching Flight of the Conchords. A lot.

Watching Peep Show. A lot.

The gig I did in Cambridge in November. Amazing fun. Much hollering, clambering over chairs, general chaos etc.

Been a fine year.

1) Trip to the Isle of Arran

2) Reading some really difficult poetry

3) Writing some difficult poetry

4) Giving up even pretending to like performance poetry delivered by drunk men who want to tell us all about how manly they are.

I don't hate performance poetry though. I just don't like poetry about how manly/drunk/interested in sex you are.

I love the Cooper Clarke/LKJ/Adrian Mitchell/Henry Normal school

'I don't wanna be nice'

met John Cooper Clarke in London through a friend - he was compere at Dingwalls for Chas and Dave

discussed the merits of open chord Blues guitar tunings with JCC - great guy proper evening

: )

Poetry Guerilla-style at Sale Waterside Arts Centre's open day. Admittedly it was a little haphazard, but the poetry/warrior spirit prevailed (after all the Quality Street was scoffed) ... And then Paul Blackburn and I had a bloody good chat afterwards.

Inn Verse - Shame when it clashed with FREED UP. Great night, great atmos and even greater poetry. You should go. It's almost exactly like being at the Ambassador's reception - only it's at a pub, the Ferrero Rocher are actually poems and the Ambassador is Simon Rennie.

The 'Rhyme is...' fight here at WOL. All of it. I especially enjoyed being in the same room when some of its more vocal participants met face-to-face.

Being offered some gigs was nice.

FREED UP - But then I would say that, wouldn't I?

I'd have to say that I've been most impressed with the amount of new talent coming through. It seems like you can't move for new poets and new poetry nights now. GREAT!!! More, more, more in 2009!!!

The birth of my grandson.

Walking down Mount Olympus with my mate, Jamie.

Two weeks in Southern Turkey.

Getting a good mark for the second year of my degree.

The increasing success of my little poetry baby, Inn Verse (by the way, thanks for the plug, Steve. The cheque's in the post. I'd plug Freed Up, it being the place I cut my poetry performance teeth, but it's already a great big bloody legend and one day you and Dom will be knighted for services to the spoken word....)

Getting engaged, then later in the year booking my wedding date.

Granduating from my PGDE (THE hardest thing I have EVER done!)

A gig I did where a Geordie lass came up to me at the end and told me I pissed all over John Cooper Clark.

Drunken chats at two in the morning with Steve Coogan et al at The Tony Wilson Experience.

Becoming the co-ordinator and compere of Middleton WOL.

My second WOL Bordeaux trip with the lovely Lauren.

finally remembering that there WAS a 2008.

well its 2013 now and I have been script writing which uses as few words as possible to create a visual image with cerebral inlay whilst poetry abounds with emotive description. For me its impossible to do both at the same time. Strange though that recently poetic lines have stretched the string of the script and like an astronaut I reach for the rhythm. Best moments: perusing WoL and knowing its there.

That's a lovely comment Jane. It also makes me appreciate the fact that very many more people read WOL, than we are ever really aware of.

I love your description of script writing and poetry - it's poetry in itself. I think once you become a poet, the way you write is changed forever - for me that flow has to be in everything I write. I've never tried script writing since my school days - you'll have to tell me when you're going to give yours an airing.

x