Hello lovely people, this video was shot during the launch of 'Our North' a CD compiled of various Barnsley poets. Our next Barnsley Spoken Word Collective event will be held at the Old School House, Barnsley (Used to be the Polish Club) on Sunday, February 16th at 4.30 p.m. It is a Valentine Special. Come along and have a laugh!
I'm not quite in my normal routine yet and it is almost the end of January, but I am getting into a certain rhythm. Pilley Hill three times a week, back to healthy living, and looking forward to Ballroom Dancing Classes in Barnsley. I'm going to attend a Creative Writing workshop and I am hitting my reading targets. So all in my world is well, if indeed all is not well in the world at large.
I am aware of the Coronavirus that is sweeping China, but I'm not worried about it, and hopefully it will be contained.
Brexit means Brexit! 31st January. Are you celebrating? It's a bone of contention. The way I look at it is let's just hit the future with as much zeal as we can muster. Whether you are a Brexiteer or not, we are where we are, and we should all pull in the same direction for great things to happen. Personally I have no time for negative thoughts or actions that only cause misery. So let's all be positive and party our way into a productive, pioneering, and perspicacious future.
And, by the way, a fifty pence piece is a fifty pence piece, and if it's in my pocket it will be very much appreciated cum Shed night when I want a can of cider.
Oh lovely, lovely January! It is so nice to be able to cosy up and do inside things, like the jigsaw I was given as a Christmas present. It's years since I did a jigsaw, and I'm a bit rusty, but piece by piece it is coming together. The trouble is at this rate it won't be finished until next Christmas. So I am going to up the action, stay up a bit later every day, and see if I can finish it before the 1st of February. I do have other things to do. Continuing my little experimental, words and music, project, I have completed another piece - Be Mine Tonight. Here it is for it's first airing. If nothing else I am having fun getting my fingers to work on the piano keys again.
So, almost all the chocolate in the house has gone, just a tin of biscuits left to enjoy, and then it's back to the old 'if you don't buy it, you don't eat it,' regime. David and I took our first yomp of the new year, up Pilley hill, yesterday, and last night I could hardly walk. It shows how easy it is to stiffen up. I managed to put half a stone on over the holidays, not good. But we had a most delightful binge, so I'll take the bad with the good.
I'm in pieces, bits and pieces! Jiganuary!
As for New Year resolutions, of course I want to read more, of course I want to write more, of course I want to play more cello, of course I want to fill my life with lovely experiences, but what doesn't get done, doesn't get done. I have made a good start, however, so it's onwards and upwards. As for the world news, when wasn't it depressing? Trouble in Iran, a plane of almost 200 people shot out of the skies, and no end of unrest in the Middle East. And if that wasn't bad enough, Prince Harry and Megan have up-skittled the Royal Family again, (just as things had gone quiet on the, Andrew scandal). As for our family, well... suffice it to say, the first few weeks of 2020 have been as bumpy as a banana ride in the Bay of Biscay. (Enough said.) Not David and I, I hasten to add, we're coasting along like cruisers on a canal. I'm busy putting a set together for the Barnsley Spoken Word Valentine's do, and I must say I'm really looking forward to that. It's on Sunday 16th Feb. at 4.00 p.m. The Old School House, Barnsley, if you fancy a coming along. Now, back to my jigsaw, I'm on a mission. Talk again very soon, Cosy up and keep busy! Love and hugs, Jane x P.S. And we've still got half a bottle of Baileys to finish off!
Well, we had lots of fun on Sunday at the Tap and Brew in Hoyland. Higgs Bottom was well and truly launched, Scary Woman in Barnsley got it's first airing, we downed lots of beer and bubbly (not in the same glass) and got to know a few more Barnsley poets.
A big Thank You to all who came to listen, and all who came to join in the open mic session.
Onwards and upwards! Our next wordy do is on Sunday, at the Rockingham Centre in Hoyland at 6.00 p.m. when the new CD Our North will be launched. See you there all being well.
Pics of yesterday in Hoyland.
Whacky Lady at the launch of Higgs Bottom
It's all good practice
Guest Poet Pat Dale
A bit of Erotic poetry to set the mood.
So, that weekend came and went, after weeks of preparation, (not to mention preparing nibbles for the audience), and all went extremely well. We had an excellent open mic session, and now I'm looking forward to the next poet meet, which is next Sunday. It was so good to see our North Yorkshire friends and be able to spend some time with them. We had a silly Saturday night in our shed, complete with fairy lights, electric heater and a bottle of Champagne. I actually cooked a chicken curry which was not half bad, according to those who ate it. I had a mushroom only version. Sunday lunch was down the Cock in Birdwell, which was excellent as it always is, and thereafter we hit the Tap and Brew, Hoyland. I'm afraid the official photographer didn't take his job too seriously, so, sorry if you were there and didn't get a shot. I must catch up on a bit of reading now that the book launch is over, I'm in the middle of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman, and then I'll dive into the poetry again, I have so much unread stuff to catch up on. Then it will be back to the shed to get creative. We had a few wet days last week, but yesterday and today have been what I call, a good drying day, a bit of wind and sunshine, and blue skies. Hopefully tomorrow should be more of the same so I think the walking boots may be coming out. This morning David and I went down to the local doctor's surgery where we had our flu jab, and also a pneumonia jab, so it may or may not affect us, let's hope not, but we have a week to get over it. Now is the time to start losing a few pounds in readiness for the Christmas binge, so it's no cider and no chocolate. I don't like the sound of that, but it's necessary if I want to wear the clothes I've got. I don't want to have to buy new ones because I'm trying to help the planet. My footprint is very good at the moment, no car, no flights, and no meat, so I'm doing my bit. That's it then, it's 9 o'clock and time to watch Dublin Murders, so I'll say ta ta for now. I'll be back next week with an account of our little do at the Rockingham Centre, Hoyland. Love and Hugs, Jane x
Hello readers, what a weekend it's been. First I broke the toilet, yes, I flushed the loo and my fingers pushed the chrome button straight through into the cistern. Lovely Ben, the plumber was soon on the job, and hot footed it to get a new part, but it turns out the loo is so old that parts are obsolete and we have to have a new toilet. Hopefully that will come today. Meanwhile we have to dip our hands into the cistern and cause the flush to flush. Do new toilets come with a new seat? I might have to go out and buy one. Anyway moving swiftly on. We had a trip to Doncaster on Saturday, to do the poetry thing with Ray Hearne and company, in the market square. There was a small audience, but the event was fun and I got to meet some new Yorkshire poets. One lady came up to David and asked if we were bible pushers, when he told her we were poets he said she looked equally horrified - there you go!
We looked around Doncaster after that and went for a spot of lunch at The Black Bull. The place was heaving and obviously very popular, but the food wasn't anything special. Then we had to wait ages for a bus home because of delays due to roadworks. It took over an hour to get back to Barnsley, then we had to wait for a 66 bus home, so it took the edge off the day. It seemed a long way to go, but worth it to meet up with those lovely poets, and listen to their well crafted words. Barnsley Spoken Words
This is the lovely Jeff Jethro Platts introducing what turned out to be a great afternoon/evening of Barnsley spoken word. He also gave me a great plug, and enabled me to sell all the copies of Higgs Bottom that I'd stuffed into my bag in the hopes of maybe selling at least one. Thank you Jeff! It might seem silly, and I suppose it is a bit, but Dave and I spent our Friday early doors, in The Art House, which is my shed at the bottom of the garden. We have put a heater in there, some fairy lights, and best of all a little bar. So we tried it out for size and spent a good couple of hours laughing and joking, and looking out over our lawn and the backs of Chapel Street. Then we went into the house and cooked up the £12 meal deal that I had bought in Marks and Spencer in Barnsley - mushroom stroganoff with cauliflower rice and oven chips. It was delicious! So now I have one week left to put the final touches to my programme for next Sunday's book launch at the Tap and Brew in Hoyland, kick off 4pm. Copies of my book have arrived, I have ordered a few nibbles, and the mic has been arranged. Good! Now all I have to do is clean the house ready for our visitors coming to stay overnight, and hope the toilet will be up and flushing by the weekend.
Remember, as well as my whacky words there will be an OPEN MIC session so do come along and enjoy the fun. And next week, on the 3rd November, there is another opportunity to hear some Barnsley voices at the launch of the Our North CD which is to take place at the Rockingham Centre, Hoyland on Sunday, 3 November. And, here is one to put in your diary, Barnsley Spoken Word Open Mic at the Maison du Bierre in Elsecar on Sunday, 8 December, 4pm. There's lot to look forward to on the poetry/spoken word scene. My Scary Woman - A poet in Barnsley is now live and available from Amazon, and I have copies on the way ready for you to snap up as a treat or as a unique Christmas Present. I'll report back after the launch next Sunday (probably a Monday blog) meanwhile, have a lovely-chumbly week. Bye for now, Love and hugs, Jane x
