January 8 1999 Walcott Street. The morning rain is heavy. A and I struggle our amps and guitars up Walcott Street toward the Hat & Feather where we have hired the back room to teach his brother, G, our short, Shit-Pop set for the Moles gig. When we get to the top of Walcott Street, … Continue reading Notes From a Fragile Island…26
December 1st 2005 Croydon Up the stepladder in the stockroom looking for a new bottle of stain remover for H, who is hungover. She has left a tidemark of medium brown tint on her client's forehead giving her a comedic Frankenstein's monster look. In the 80s everyone used ash from the ashtray and a cotton … Continue reading Notes From a Fragile Island. 25
Jack had a spare for J. Lydon’s book chat event at Whitley Bay’s Playhouse last week. (Book chat? Book shat, more like, I didn’t say.) It was kind of him to think of me. The show had been postponed from last year. The queue winds three sides of the theatre, beach front, side street, back … Continue reading Swastika Décor.
October 10 2004 Croydon Blue. Click clack click clack. Footsteps behind me. A wonderful, feminine clatter spills across the concrete and glass and Saint George's applauds and so do the pigeons and so do I. The arcade, everything, is suddenly charged: electric. I fall into a stroll and her footsteps fall in beside me. Fingers … Continue reading Notes From a Fragile Island. 24
July 9 2015 (Croydon) It is warm. Queen's Garden is busy with other lunch timers. Wander around with a sandwich, a book and a small water looking for somewhere comfortable to sit. Settle on the grass bank near the subway, in the shade shaped like railings. Eat sandwich, but my heart isn't in it. Ditto … Continue reading Notes From a Fragile Island 23
May 9th 2016 (South Shields) Arriving back from the city on a late night Metro I decide to treat Jayne L and myself to a nice drop of wine. I pop into Safeways, where, at the end of the quiet aisle I am accosted by a member of staff as I carry a bottle of … Continue reading Notes From a Fragile Island. 21
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