Somewhere a clock is ticking...

This is on the t-shirt I wear when I coffee!

I lost this week thanks to doing coffee on Saturday at the Tendring Show. Dave picked me up on Friday evening and we made our way down to the site via a shop to get milk and ice. When we got there, it was nigh on dark, we pitched the gazebo, spread out sleeping bags etc and crashed. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, my new mat works like a freaking charm. I opened the valves at the top, unrolled it, popped my sleeping bag on top of it and crawled in. I was as snug as a bug in a rug. Bliss. Sleeping on the site of a country fair was not a quiet experience. We weren't the only ones on site. There were herdsmen bedding down their prized cattle at dark and at dawn they were cleaning up their charges. Their charges who like to sing in the middle of the night. Loudly, and off-key. 

The day for me was a success. I didn't screw up the till. My back didn't ache too much. We were steadily busy, rather than crazy busy and we had a lot of repeat customers. At the end of the day, we packed up and headed home via a fabulous Chinese restaurant in Diss. The staff were lovely and made us feel very welcome, even though we carried half a field of dust with us, were dog tired and were just about able to grunt our order.

Tomorrow, Strangers at Large is in Swaffham town centre for the weekend. Pop by and say 'hi' if you're passing. I'm beginning my barista training, so you might be unlucky enough to have one of my coffees if you're brave. Don't worry, if I screw it up, Dave will make you another.

Working a 14 hour day, on my feet in the heat wiped me out for days. I only started to feel human yesterday, in that I actually did stuff like water my tomatoes. I got my backside back to the gym to work on my physical resilience. We're in the middle of a three weekend straight and I have other things to do than languish on a couch for days. One of the things that is clear - if I am physically exhausted, I become low in myself. I went with it as there was no point fighting against what my body needed, but I'd like to even out the dips and highs in my energy output.

My work now focuses on creating the balance between the things that make it nice to live here: tidy house, clean clothes, food in the fridge etc. with the things that enable me to do so: regular exercise and earning something, with the things that make life worthwhile: being creative, writing and maintaining the relationships that maintain me. Wish me luck.

Cafe Writers was amazing on Monday night. Jon McGregor was a stunning reader of his latest short story. He captured the angst of an uncomfortable young man in search of shag, so incredibly well. The poet, Joan Hewitt was amazing. Her poetry captures intimacy, humour and poignancy with such a deft hand. As a reader, she is fantastic. 

I did read my poem in the open mic. Happily, I got there early enough so I was signed up in the start of the evening. I don't think my nerves would have held out for the whole event. Unhappily, I'd printed my poem off in 11pt and left my glasses behind. Note to Self: start taking reading glasses everywhere. I survived. No major stumblings or fluffing of lines. The weird part was the guy who ran out of the pub to say how much he liked my prose. Given I'd just read a 7 verse poem, perhaps you can see why I found it a bit disconcerting? 

This week, I haven't done any writing of note and that pisses me off. I'm hoping after my foray into the City this afternoon, I will be able to rectify that. Not writing now is like having an itch that grows and becomes ever more insistent. 

Hope you have a great weekend, whatever you do!

And finally, look! My tomato plants are still talking to me, despite their neglect.

Nature thrives despite my best efforts