Hey! It's been a while, how ya doin'?

With the endow my studies now fading into the depths of my amnesia it's time to get cracking once again on the blog. One tricky thing about writing a blog is the constant worry about who might be reading it. You know, anyone at all is the immediate concern. And then you move on to those who provide you with an income, how much do you want your life expounded to them? I think the latter has impacted more than anything else on what I write about. Oh well!

So, where the hell am I at the moment then? Been spending time in psychiatric hospital again, visiting a good friend from the Isleworth Boardgamers, Philip. Poor chap is bi-polar and the election toppled him over. More on this in the next few days. Then I've managed to get invited at a poetry event. That some people really consider I have something to say through poetry amazes me, honestly. It's something I enjoy writing but to be thought of as a poet is like telling me I'm an Olympic swimmer just because I used to swim a mile before breakfast three times a week.

I've been concentrating on my novel writing though. And something may just about be coming of that. 'A Good & Useful Life' needs a final rewrite and then I have begun researching literary agents with a view to approaching them with it. The next one, 'Knowing Everyone's Okay' has also been receiving some overdue care and attention although my head's not quite as focused as it needs to be just yet. Soon my dear, soon. Finally, I've been taken on by Surrey County Council's Adult Learning team to teach creative writing twice a week from September. It obviously means I get to use my teaching qualification but much more importantly I can still be immersed in writing. I love that. Have taken a couple more courses at Richmond to help in that respect and it's been a real treat. Lovely to work with Tamsin and have contact with Sue again from our Horse Drawn Mail Coaches Writing Group days as well as being taught by the hugely impressive Susie Lynes - yes that was an adverb used with due consideration and care.

Boardgames have taken a slight back seat due to the writing but at least that's quelled my collection expansion. And on the back of that I have been starting to make inroads into actually playing some of the games piled everywhere around me. 

Music continues to dominate and there'll be more on this in the next few days too. Mew, I'm listening to you. The Unthanks and Annie Eve too. Oh yes indeedy!

Elsewhere the family are still wonderful. Basti is growing up fast now. Is still hooked into his xbox and digital entertainment although dos humour me with the odd foray into gaming. Josie is fighting hard with the world of becoming a teenager and the constant battle with 'friends'. Thankfully she is proud of her school work and no-one could ask for more. She's also a good calming influence on me and I love that. And Mrs Hora packs 48 hours into every day, causing herself so much stress that given a day off she tends to be most unwell. But that's how she lives and I can't see that changing anytime soon. She delivers the most incredible level of personal tutoring you could wish for. The amount of preparation is twice the length of the lesson and she still undersells herself constantly. Confidence woman!!

The Murky World of Barry Adamson

Next stop on the musical roundabout is Manchester. Away from London this place is magical for music, I adore the passage beyond words, although I will try expressing something about them in due course. Then I fell for the Buzzcocks and Magazine too, Joy Division, New Order and The Smiths. I cannot imagine what life would have been without these bands. 

Amongst the wonderful artists the most intriguing over the whole of my life has been Barry Adamson. Superb bassist with Magazine initially, his career has twisted through The Gun Club, Iggy Pop, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and film scores and the Magazine re-union and his jazz influenced albums. I’ve been lucky enough to see him live several times now and the whole family witnessed a superb gig at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in February snow, 2012. 

Presence the man has in abundance, and more than his fair share of rhythm naturally, and a wonderful sense of humour - introducing his shakers as his bald friends Dave and Howard! Mrs Hora and I went to see him at the Pigalle Club, Piccadilly and decided to eat first. As we were being shown to our table Barry had clearly just finished his soundcheck and we said hello. He said something along the lines of ‘good timing, wouldn’t want my voice spoiling your meal’, as if!

I’ve only recently noticed that he’s currently touring with Nick Cave again. Should have tried to get a ticket for the Albert Hall next year, mmm, might try, will be impressive I’m sure.

He had Billy MacKenzie sing on a song too. It’s a brilliant piece, ‘Achieved in the Valley of the Dolls’ on the ‘Oedipus Schmoedipus’ album which also featured Nick Cave on the lushous ‘Sweetest Embrace’ and Jarvis Cocker in a rare moment of his that I like, ‘Set the Controls for the Heart of the Pelvis’, great title.

My favourite albums (in order): Stranger on the Sofa; Oedipus Schmoedipus; The Murky World of;

Favourite songs (not in order!): Every single song on the ‘Stranger’ album, some amazing weirdness, it’s a belter!!; Still I Rise; Straight ’til Sunrise; Deja Voodoo; The Snowball Effect; 007 A Fantasy Bond Theme; What It Means; The Big Bamboozle; The Trigger City Blues; The Man With The Golden Arm; The Vibes Ain’t Nothin’ But The Vibes; Walk The Last Mile

Best lines: ‘and so they will find me, and in the middle of a cold afternoon, they will ask, ‘what is it exactly that you know?’ and then, they will take me outside, and they will kill me, that much I do know.’

‘It’s the music that I love’ [Spearmint - ‘Julie Christie’]

Bloggers love a series of articles don’t they? Well I’ve decided it’s time to go through my music collection. It is the one constant amongst the myriad of obsessions I have had running throughout my life. There’s a song for every moment of the day, every emotion, every thought. But where to begin? A, obviously. And by artist. Good. Plan made.

And Also The Trees would be a sensible band to begin with however I think they might deserve a series of their own so we’re off up to Dundee for The Associates. Billy MacKenzie’s suicide came into my life via BBC teletext. I was struck with sadness that this incredible voice was one I would never get to hear live. I loved the strength of his voice, the unexpected patterns, the Scottishness of it. It was only in the aftermath of his death that I learned about his life, his perfectionist nature, his early marriage in America, and his ongoing battles with depression.

Strangely, I do struggle with some of the albums, some of the songs. They can be a little difficult in that I find I need to be in a certain state of receptiveness for them. That there are countless others I adore and can listen to at any given moment is a rare treat. There was a huge amount of material released following his death showing how much that perfectionism had prevented so many songs becoming public. I weighed up whether he’d want it all out in the public but was grateful that it was. Some artists ‘worst’ songs are far superior in my eyes than the majority of mainstream releases. Commercialism is music is horrendous, possibly the heaviest for any art form. Don’t get me started!

Final thoughts on Billy. I have a beautiful full page black and white photo of him, his whippets and Alan Rankine from the 24 April 1984 edition of NME. It is framed and hangs proudly in my world. I have missed him growing older, performing live, working with other interesting artists. His voice is unique, beautiful, obstreperous and hugely alluring to me. He is one of my all time heroes.

My favourite albums (in order): The Radio 1 Sessions; Outernational (Billy MacKenzie); Fourth Drawer Down

Favourite songs (not in order!): Breakfast; It’s Better This Way; A Severe Bout of Career Insecurity; Kitchen Person; Q Quarters; Tell Me Easter’s on a Friday; Outernational; What Made Me Turn On The Lights; Love Hangover; The Girl That Took Me; Perhaps

Best line: ‘I cook offal for two, it lies there getting cold, then I cook your shoes, then I cook your shoes, you have so many shoes.’

Obsession, Hobby or Collection?

Male. Hunter / Gatherer. In the Twentieth Century the role evolved more than a little and now, who knows? Collector is what I like to think. Some call me a hobbyist - terrible word - and others, ‘obsessive’, as if it’s the worst thing a person could be.

As you may have guessed I’m a board gamer. I like playing board games. I love the mental challenges, I love the little gaming components, and I love the social side of it too, it’s about having some fun with like-minded people. It seems it’s the latest in a long list of hobbies I have had although some people have called them my obsessions.

Perhaps it’s because I become completely engrossed in the topic, trying to find out as much as I can about anything to do with it. Maybe it’s because it takes over my allocated space within the Hora home. Or could it just be that I have a passionate nature which is lurching towards the psychological unbalance that has become my life?

From childhood I remember being completely infatuated by Subbuteo, those little plastic men. I had a reasonable collection, much larger than my friends come to think of it. And I had the football, rugby, cricket and 5 a-side versions. I’d play for hours on my own, creating leagues, cup completions, test matches. Solitary it was. There was a little bit of other gaming then too although, with no-one else interested unless it involved a standard pack of cards, it was more something for me to get out and look at in those days. Some things haven’t changed there much.

I was very keen on sport as a youngster too. Hard to believe looking at my stature now but I’d spend hours down the playing field chasing a football around. Loved it. Hence the Subbuteo I guess, and the devotion to Ipswich Town. My first live game was in the 1971/2 season, Ipswich v Derby and we won 3-1. After that I was smitten and hardly missed a home game until Sebastian was born in 2000. I still have a good lump of programmes from those heady days and will try and sell them on if we ever get promoted again..

During the summer my time was split between golf, dad had made me and sis’ learn very young, and cricket. For the amount of golf I have played I should be so much better than I am. However, it’s been one of those off and on relationships and more off since we moved to London all those years ago. Cricket began with test matches on the telly and then learning to score for the game ’Owzat! A dice variation which worked pretty well. I’d buy a nice score book, usually from the sports shop in Southwold I seem to remember, and fill it with match after match, all neatly filled in.

Around the age of 13/14 I discovered music in a huge way. All through a friend, David Hogg, who introduced me to the Incredible Shrinking Dickies and my interpretation from there of punk/alternative music. It was soon off to taping everything on Peel and spending any money I could get on 7”s. A new hobby was begun and this one’s managed to remain constant throughout. I used to dream about going to gigs and now I get to go to them. I used to dream about travelling to exotic European cities to see bands play, and now I get to do that too.  

Another constant has been reading. I love books and have always read. I wish I’d kept a record of all the books I’ve read, it would fascinating to me now. Ah well. There was something very special when I was allowed to raid next doors boxes of books collected for a fete to see if I wanted any of them. Bizarrely, I picked out Susan Hill’s ‘In The Springtime of the Year’ and Jean Genet’s ‘Miracle of the Rose’. Hill is by far my favourite author and I have two new books by her on order at present, can’t wait! Genet’s work was such a beautiful piece, so glad I got to read it. Other authors have come into my life and once enchanted by one I will read their entire output if at all possible. 

When I moved to London my love for film really took off. Cinema City in Norwich still shows the art films and foreign works I adore but to have to pass by the BFI every evening on my commute home was blissful. Cheryl and I were soon watching two or three films a week, and at home I was recording everything possible accumulating a hideous fire hazard of a collection of VHS cassettes. Again the passion for this knew no bounds and I was soon taking holiday to coincide with the London Film Festival and attending as many lectures as possible with film makers. 

For some reason around this time I also began collecting Swatch watches. They were so different in design, and affordable too. I joined the Swatch club and have several rarish versions. There’s a great second hand shop in Zurich we found for older models too. Getting them from the airport was also a good way to buy them cheaper back in the days when the tax made a difference.

When the children were born these forays into collecting turned to Playmobil and Scalextric. Not quite to the extent of previous hobbies I’ll admit but still overwhelming for the children! I was working from home when they were first born and with no travel time I rekindled first the Subbuteo collection and then the board gaming hobby too. Gradually I have sold the Subbuteo as needs must but am sticking it out with the board games. There’s a truly incredible number of games released every year and among them some brilliant designs. I hope this hobby/obsession remains with me now. It’s looking good so far with Wednesday evening sacrosanct and a little family gaming and an odd evening elsewhere too.

Oi hed a Suffolk Blonde oi ded!

With dissertation deadline zooming towards me it was emergency measures time as my continuing inability to concentrate locked tight. The slightest noise, the tiniest interruption and my mind immediately goes into earnest irritation mode, not the best framework in which to attempt to write about your creative influences in an academic essay.

One of the continuing factors I love about Suffolk is its capacity to remain sleepy. Having mum taking care of my food requirements was a boon too. That she let me try and get my head in some sort of working order on the dining room table was blissful. It took some time I have to say. Despite having a first draft the discussions with my supervisor were around decreasing my self deprecation and getting rid of the ‘interesting’ digressions for more comment on what was going on in my brain as I put the poetry together.

An intensive 48 hours saw me with a considerably improved version and off it flew to Siobhan for her thoughts with my insecurities attached naturally. Whilst waiting for her comments I delved into the Humanities Style Guide, what an officious little beast that is. Footnotes and bibliography, grammar and styling, took another 48 hours just about, but once done it does add authority to an essay that was crying out for some.

And just as I thought about an early night Siobhan’s reply hit the emails. I almost daren’t look at it, save it for the morning was my initial reaction. Not possible to have a quick glance though was it? So I did. And she liked it. Several grammar and footnote comments but they’d mostly been addressed in the meantime. And her three main points weren’t massive either, indeed one I had worded poorly but had found improving my comment difficult so her solution was appreciated. 

The following 24 hours saw the final revision. It’s reading fluently, makes some positive observations and demonstrates what an irresistible poet I have become, huzzah!

During that time mum dragged me out of the house and into the quaint town of Eye for a pub lunch.  The response to my request for pint of lager was the usual abomination of the species or a Suffolk Blonde. It’s full of flavour, local, and the prefect accompaniment for fish, chips and mushy peas.

Geek Outing This Saturday, Huzzah!

Come along, learn what there is to learn about board games, buy a new one, treat yourself, we'll teach you the game, sell it to you and let you buy us a beer too, chance of a lifetime!

The One Plus One

It's been fun and tough, the MFA in Creative Writing. Studying again after all the years in-between took some getting back into, but at least the topic held a fascination for me, and the challenge of writing a novel was enough in itself.

 It's quite a world the creative writing world. Fitting together poetry and poets, novelists and life writers, bloggers and twitterers, never mind the strains of scriptwriting for theatre, radio, tv or film, or travel writing, children's writing, other genres, writing for work; what a mess and what an industry with the usual politics, the enviable enthusiasms and the unnecessary protectors of the art.

Strangely, one thing I've missed most is reading. Specifically, reading novels that I've been wanting to read, for a couple of years now. I thought I might 'discover' some new authors during the course and although I have really enjoyed a few - Jonathan Barnes, Kevin McNeil, Karen Perry, James Miller - there haven't been as many as I'd hoped to find. On the poetry front I've fared much better, quite a plethora in fact; Wendy Cope, Matthew Welton, Michael Surnowski, John Clare, John Redmond, Geoff Peterson, Lucy Furlong, Dave Russomano, Christina Stylianou amongst several more.

In the last week I've taken time to start reading again. I kicked off with the excellent thriller 'The Boy That Never Was' by Karen Perry - great title by the way - followed by 'The One Plus One' by Jojo Moyes. I first delved in to her output with 'The Last Letter of Your Lover', a gorgeous romance / lost love story. Following that I zoomed through the brilliant 'Silver Bay', 'The Peacock Emporium', 'Foreign Fruit' and picked up her last three releases as they became available.

'The One Plus One' is a story about two families of disconnected people with lives falling apart. It's fascinating how they reconcile some of their problems and attempt to make things work and how their relationships intertwine and will it all work out in the end? I love the characters, they are brilliantly constructed and believable. The differing points of view are written wonderfully, I went through each one with empathy, sympathy and hopes and frustrations.

At about 400 pages in I thought the book was reaching a natural conclusion and I wondered what could take me through 115 pages I had left. So often I finish a novel and wish I could have been immersed further inside the futures of the characters I'd lived with. This novel took me there. I'm so pleased that Jojo Moyes's deserved recent success hasn't affected her writing. Can't wait for her next one...