127/2023

He keeps himself self-contained,
Even with that wide smile when
He’s working the bar or the tables,
And stays inscrutable to anyone
Watching the flash of his fast hands,
His teeth, his gliding across the
Floor as if he were floating, allows
Himself just brief rests when it
Becomes too much to be constantly
In motion. But talk of family – his
Blood, his people in this space –
And the smile becomes a sparkle,
His words that of the loving mystic.

R 07/05/2023 20:13

There were many things I forgot to write about yesterday when I was obsessing about the web site changes. They are done, now, by the way, and you’ll notice them if you click on Signed Books in the tab above this post. I had toyed with the idea of making that page the front page of this whole site, but I remain recalcitrant about selling stuff here (well, a bit), and I think a decent web site needs to have content that regularly changes (and I can’t write a new book every day, disappointing as that may be to me, you, and the world at large).

Yesterday was the second anniversary of us moving to Norwich (Wahnsinn! as they say in Germany, or used to when I was much young). And it is a craziness that time passes so rapidly. It doesn’t feel like yesterday since I first started working in this corner of the marital bedroom, and one of the things I did today was to tidy it up a little more so that I can be more organised and maybe move some more of my books and journals from what was my office onto the shelves in here. One big advantage is that I reckon my daily walks have expanded by 33% on average compared to the ones I used to do in the old village (although I feel unfitter than ever). On that front, I did do 10 press-ups this morning for the first time since mid-March – maybe moderation of press-ups and regular shoulder stretches in the garden (when I remember) will finally get rid of that pesky and persistent injury.

And for my walk today, I donned my shorts and wore only one shirt and only one jumper, so maybe spring is finally starting in some guise.

I didn’t get very far with my to-do list for this bank holiday weekend, but there’s still tomorrow (despite going to see NCFC’s last home game of the season tomorrow afternoon), and the web site rebuild was just about the biggest project of them all (except for transcribing all the poems I’ve typed into this machine rather than scribbling them into my journal, including the one above).

On the web site front, I am also working on rooting through all the limited edition material I have which I’ve never that actively sold, so brace yourselves).

Stay true to yourselves.