Last week I took a backseat with gigging and only attended 2 events, more for the friends involved than a night out. I was working full time pretty much and needed some energy for our weekend away.
Here’s a quick catch up from the past week.
Last Wednesday evening I went to the Vertu Bar in the Jewellery Quarter to say goodbye to ‘Carys Matic’ Jones. Carys has now reached Bangkok safely and is about to spend an unknown amount of time in Thailand.
© 2014 Created in Birmingham
It was my dad’s birthday the same day, but I can catch up with my dad this week, Carys was only having the one Goodbye Bash. She piggybacked the event on an already existing acoustic night and invited all her performing friends to come and take to the stage. I wrote 2 poems especially for her filled with wanderlust and descriptions of bravery and strength. 
Carys made this photo collage of the evening. Southway were an amazing electro duet, friends of hers from London, they came up to play her party and then went off to the Hare and Hounds – they have been booked to come back to Birmingham and are currently in Bristol – watch out for them, they are beyond lively and great fun!
© 2014 Carys Jones
Everyone had a great night, lots of energy in the room and Carys herself couldn’t stop smiling!
© 2014 Samuel Francis
The following evening saw me journeying to Worcester on a mad chain of errands, work, then tutoring, then back to my flat to remove a dining table, then to the estate agents to drop off keys for the property then off to the book launch.
Andrew Owens writes prose ‘not poetry’ (a joke for any followers who were also at the launch) – his short stories and flash fiction are well known in this region. He invited us to guest spot at his book launch, which is very generous, there was a real sense of us celebrating Black Pear Press Publishing his book. We had 5 minute slots, I felt very under-prepared after the busy week/ day I had had I had to find material on my phone. I shared a freewrite, one of my FWF posts (need to get back to that challenge again!) – people liked it but it was a short 300 word flash, I could have performed a poem or 2 as well. I opened the event and had no idea of time, it was all a bit panicky for me. It was lovely though to see so many friends perform, Andrew, like me, gets around these events and there were performers from a wide range of the region.
I had some great feedback on my story during the interval including from the publishing team at Black Pear Press.
Great atmosphere and CAKE! And I got to hear some new stories as well as buying a signed copy of his book!
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Andrew Owens
On Friday (after 12 long weeks and lots of unexpected additional expenses) I finally completed on the flat, the exchange of contracts happened and everything was handed over and completed before I finished work. I spent some time on Friday night playing with the money on the screen – but now everyone has been paid back it isn’t a lot! However, I no longer have the expense of maintaining 2 homes and should be due a rebate on some of the mortgage payment too! (Good job because my car has its MOT and insurance to be paid for this week!)
I went to the flat for the last time Thursday night and woke up Friday morning, knowing it was no longer mine! Strange – but I have had nearly a year to let it go…. time is a great healer – just relieved it can be loved again and managed to catch up with a few of the neighbours again too.
On Saturday Mr G and I were up early to go away with friends down to Dorset/ Devon to visit River Cottage for a Food Festival. We have been there a few times over the past few years but it has NEVER taken so long to get there!
5 Hours in standstill traffic on the motorway!
We had a great time when we actually managed to get there though. There was a Cider Festival we happened upon the first night. The sun had come out by Sunday and River Cottage! It was amazing, we got to meet Hugh, tell him about our allotment and garden and get his autograph. He was chatty and lovely. We had seen him previously there but not to talk to. 
We have photos of ourselves with him too!
We had a great time with our friends. Everyone has been so busy these past few years it has been a while since we had a chance to catch up properly. We had a couple of evenings out dining and on the last day we were going to go to the beach, worried it would be another long journey back, we opted to leave and follow the others home.
A great weekend ended with some take-out burgers, a few hours in the garden, a cider and then a power nap that lasted all night! I have now caught up with my sleep – ready for a week in my poetry skin, starting with Poetry Bites tonight.
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