Progress report

Just back from being a member of the last ever team to win the quiz at the Black Harp, which is closing down to remake itself in a "modern concept". Fortunately, the nerdy and extremely good-natured quizmaster Andrew, of Quizit, is moving to The Occidental, so all is well. I will miss my monthly dinner of Eton Mess, but no doubt The Occidental will have a suitable dessert I can replace it with.
The Poetry Society competition entries were down this year, due largely to a reduction from our usual Christchurch entrants. The judge of the junior haiku will have an easy time of it especially. Never mind. It did mean I got all the poems recorded, coded and mixed for sending away before Queens Birthday Weekend, and I actually had a holiday. Nice.
So I've done some more work on the books I'm altering - more tearing and glueing, but not much painting yet. Still preparing them for the art work. That's what I'll do at nights - there really isn't anything on tv to keep me from it, other than comedies and House on Sundays and Misfits on Thursdays. And the rugby of course, but the Hurricanes have been a little disappointing. Some of the books I'm recycling have beautiful paper and others are crap. The main pre-requisite is that they're hardback, so a bit of variety in the quality is to be expected.
I'm having a hard time deciding who to ask to read the ms. for me. I need to think of people who know me enough to be bothered, but not enough that they'll steer clear of hurting my feelings rather than offering genuine feedback. Difficult line, really.
Now I've had my cup of tea I'll get on with some more prep work. I'd like to write tomorrow, Wednesday being my nominal writing day, but work's got so behind while I've been doing the competition, and I've got tax records to update so I can get our returns in on time, and all the other things that conspire to prevent me from being the consistent writer I'd like to be. I've decided to start by writing one poem before I do anything else, and that will have to do me for this week.