Hello Alan –
lot of water
under lots of
bridges, lots of
other stuff too…
but yes, it’s
great to have
our trans-global
interconnections
still ticking
away in the
background of
our shared
lives… here's a
photo that might
be of use to
you, I'm seeing
Susan over the
festive days, so
I'll show her
your email and
get back to you
later... it’s
been a dazzling
white-knuckle
ride of a year –
thanks for
sharing it with
me (if only in
virtual form),
so as it winds
down I’m sitting
here counting
the ways…
walking through
the Wakefield
precinct,
pausing to watch
the buskers, as
usual. Yes, some
nice acoustic
twiddling. When
I was doing the
college thing in
Hull there was a
guy who offers
to teach me
guitar. ‘Anyone
can play guitar’
he says,
scrunched up in
a SU corner. And
I did a bit, but
not enough.
Sometimes you
wonder.
Sometimes you
sit here
thinking, when
your fancy is
provoked by a
ripple of guitar
chords tripping
down the
alleyways across
the precinct.
Always been
mesmerized by
guitars and
curly-leads in
music-store
windows like
others get hung
up on flash
motors. But if
I’d actually
managed to
achieve any
degree of
dexterity all
those years
back, there’s be
a different
story, an
alternate
time-stream, a
parallel history
in which I’m
hanging around
with musicians
and playing in
various failed
group line-ups,
a troubadour
with dust on my
boot-heels, rock
‘n’ roll I gave
you all the best
years of my
life, always one
step away from
what was
happening. And
now I’d still be
playing in bars
with increasing
desperation and
wondering where
it had all gone.
As it is I never
play guitar with
any degree of
competency.
Never get to
join any failed
groups. I play
typewriter/laptop
keyboard
instead. It
doesn’t matter
about looking
cool or trendy,
catching the
youth-wave of
passing fad, you
just write this,
then you write
that, then you
write something
else. So long as
there’s some
kind of qwerty
there you can
still coin new
lines for
stories, new
poems. As long
as there’s
scrap-paper to
scrawl
half-formed
notes on, and
revise them into
shape. That’s
all I need.
There’s still
magazines and
websites out
there that will,
every now and
again, pick up
on them, and you
get a ripple,
each and every
time it’s great
and warm and
rewarding.
Alternate
time-streams
don’t
necessarily work
out too well.
Maybe failing to
master those
three elusive
chords wasn’t so
bad. Yet I watch
the buskers, and
think yes, it’d
be nice.
Enjoy A Festive
Yule…
Look to The
Future Now
It’s Only Just
Begun…
Have A Christmas
That’s Bigger
On The Inside
Than It Is On
The Outside
-Andy-
|
