Couch surfing

Ways to spend your time when you're off work with a cold or flu.

1) Read a book and realise why you had that stack of books by the foot of your bed for so long, but you never had time to read. Realise that you actually have good taste, and know that it may be some time before you get the chance to read again (possibly even the next time you're sick).

2) Watch tv and become amazed at the number of things you notice. Such as how on Sky tv, they play the same 10 shows on constant repeat, from sun break to sun fall. Every day. The same as they did last year when you had a few days off and the same the year before last when you had a week off. You wonder if this constancy is resassuring or disturbing. If you don't have cable/sky tv, skip to 3.

3) Get so bored with tv that you leave it, the way our grandparents do, but put it on mute. So it's a bit like another person in the room, a background presence. No wonder old people believe in the beyond. Do something else.

4) At some point, start watching the muted tv again, watching the images flicker constantly, until you actually want to know what people are saying and it's a small relief to put the volume back on. Phew. Even if it is some fluff piece about Tom Cruise and his life/acting career and you actually don't believe people are being totally honest. Watch it for a bit and then think that was time well spent.

5) Start making lists. This is a great time. One of those things that's been on your to do lists for ages, hasn't it been? Well list making doesn't take too long and you can do it in your head if you want to go for the real minimal approach. No brainer. I preferred to perch my laptop on the living room coffee table and made semi-official ones. (Tip: don't do work if you're sick. You'll make a stupid mistake. It's inevitable)

Stuff I haven't made lists of but that you might want to consider: tv shows and films watched while sick, books read while sick, books ever read, countries you want to visit. Lists I've been half making in my head: friends I need to get back in touch with, stuff I need to ask people about, good quotes overheard from tv, catalogue of cold and flu symptoms. Important list: nearest and dearest who don't mind going to the shops for you or keeping you company during your ill period. Most important really.

6) These lists get me on to the next idea: text your friends. Hit the friends who are not at work as they're more likely to have more time on their hands. Best to leave friends at work alone unless you really want to annoy them. It does make you realise just how gratingly annoying those people who text or phone when you're at work - don't they know - time is money??? Well now it's payback time. Hit those people who text super early or ring really really late, drunk, just to ask how you are. You can tell them all about it.

7) Sleep on the sofa. Being trapped in the box of your bedroom is no good. Set up ship on the sofa, throwing down a ton of blankets, duvets, keeping one for yourself, and hopefully getting a few good views of neighbours comings and goings, housemate noises and the best sleep of your life.

8) Realise when you're not as well as you thought you were and accept defeat.

On that note, I'm going to rest up, maybe put in a film, make mental notes on filming and editing techniques from stuff from the 80s, and count down the hours.

myPublicServices Conference, London, 26 November 2009

On Thursday morning, Mark from SCIP and I took the 7.44am train up to Victoria for the myPublicServices conference. The conference was looking at how digital media could and is changing the face of public service delivery: via twitter, blogging, websites and youtube, it's used to open up two way dialogue, communicate messages, inspire, attract, ask for feedback, and ask not only service users and the public to reflect, but also service providers. Most of all it's about creating change- changing communication, changing mindsets, changing services to fit what people need. 

Our role that day was to be social reporters, working alongside an informal team of other reporters, including @amyrsward, @brian_condon, @amandagore, @BenjaminEllis. The conference was organised by Patient Opinion, a site that brings NHS patients, carers, family, staff together, and with representatives from Headshift,  myPolice, Enabled by Design, On Road Media , FutureGov, thinkPublic.

Having spent two years working with PPI Forums and what feels like a million years working with young people and in local communities, I was pleased to attend two morning workshops, "Understanding youth: connect, engage and inspire" and "The journey of myPolice" - I'll be posting up my write ups from both sessions shortly. 

If you'd like to read more about the opening session, in which James Munro, Tom Loosemore, and Denise Stephens gave presentations, see BBC's coverage or search for #mps09 on Twitter.

A following, non-writing and a small tribute to Charlie Jordan

A group of beasts from http://www.supermundane.com/

It's an evening of gentle leisure. That's as much as I can cope with today. First day back at work after a holiday. It wasn't particularly straining, but the plodding of 9-5 work wears me down more than I'm willing to acknowledge. I had stuff to do, but sitting hunched over a laptop every evening, after a day of work is just too much sometimes.

Found a few obituaries for Charlie Jordan, one by digging for the Tuesday Argus in the recycling bin at work. The other found on the CVSF email list. Charlie was a long-standing and well-respected Brighton community development worker and activist who did so much, it's almost hard to believe. Charlie, who set up the Emmaus community in Portslade, died quite young at 61 of a second heart attack last week. I couldn't believe it. I was in France when I read the email announcing his death. Of course, it was only a few years ago when we were all in France together, on a trip involving a breakdown, canoeing, bad singing and a beautiful farmhouse.

Charlie had been one of my trainers as a community development worker on the WICO (working in community organisations) course. He was the reason I gave up smoking about three years ago; it was talking to him about group dynamics, underneath a great old tree on his farm in the south of France, with all of us trainees, making us laugh with stories about him and his best friend Jacque and all their stupid drunk antics.

I remember Charlie telling us how he'd given up smoking after he had his first heart attack. Just like that, he took up jogging, starting riding a bike and swam regularly. I suppose it gave him another five or so years of extra life, but by god, we never imagined a person could go so suddenly. I remember he seemed disappointed when I saw him at Amy and John's wedding and I'd mentioned I'd stopped doing community work. Charlie was a great warm, tears perpetually streaming from his eyes from laughter kind of guy, and he will definitely be missed.

Tonight, I'd hoped to write. Ambitiously, a story, as that sometimes happens when I sit down with a pad and pen and give myself a good hour. But I find it so hard to settle - my own fault for not ignoring the lure of internet and other things I could categorise as 'research' - so instead I combed through a notebook from a year ago.

What a mess an entry is when it's just your rambling thoughts and fleeting emotions. And yet informing to accept that subjectivity on the road to something fresh, new and creative. I forget how many reams of paper it takes to get to good writing. Thousands of miles worth.

The notebook, a burgundy hardback A4 book, is the one I drafted part of my third novel in; in the back are three dozen loose sheets of notes and some of the chapters printed out. So the snippets of my own 'diary' entries throughout the notebook are fairly minimal and less interesting than the small stories within the story that lie within.

I forget that taking time to stop and take stock of past writing is all part of the process. It's the reason for being blocked half the time. Let's see what comes of this expedition.

Trash Menagerie (the site I write for) has been nominated !! Votes in !!

News flash - the site that I write for, Trash Menagerie, has nominated by Dazed Digital, as one of the top 15 music blogs in the world. We're all quite chuffed at the nomination; needless to say, we're wetting ourselves that we might actually win.

Never heard of Dazed Digital? It's the online version of cooler-than-thou art/music/culture monthly magazine Dazed & Confused.

Apart from the obvious fame and glory, Trash will be featured in the Dazed October issue and will also receive £500 worth of G-Star product if chosen as the winners for the music section.

I/we would love it if you voted for Trash Menagerie - and you can do so here: http://www.dazeddigital.com/projects/BlogAwards/Finalists.aspx?Category=Music

Voting ends on 31 August.

Muchos besos for your support.

About the Dazed Raw Blog Awards:

"We don't need to tell you that blogs have been exploding in the past few years, growing in numbers, in influence and in quality. The Dazed Digital team alone read 300 blogs and on a day to day basis, we're constantly checking out, bookmarking and subscribing to new ones. So we have decided to get our bloglovin' habits out there officially and in association/collaboration with G-Star, we present our first ever Dazed Raw Blog Awards."

Breaking Up - again

It's Saturday and I'm sitting here in my pajamas and a dressing gown, drinking black coffee and eating Bombay mix. Across the table are about six books, which include it's a breakup not a breakdown and I can mend your broken heart.

The residue of that Pimm's round Jen's houselast night (the one that made me pass out on the settee) is fading fast, but the memory that I was actually going out with someone with a sum total of three months - a record for me over the past three years - lingers in an annoying way, annoying mainly because it requires self-help books to shake off.

It's another break up and unlike the other two brief romances I've had during my glorious single years, I actually liked this guy when we split up and knew in a small way that I'd miss his company. I knew that, apart from my bruised ego and a dent in my self-esteem, it would be harder to accept the break up: I couldn't do a character assassination, diss his love-making skills, or otherwise denegrate his worth as a person in my head. There was nothing seriously wrong with this guy apart from the fact that he didn't want to be with me anymore. Which is fair enough. We weren't a match made in heaven - I guess we were two nice people enjoying one another's company, for as long as the enjoyment and mutual attaction could hold out.

The return to single life has been relatively smooth apart from the occasional emotional vacancy that accompanies splitting up. I never gave up my friends or lost myself in this guy. I have way too many extracurricular hobbies to get bored and I like my own company, sometimes for days on end.

There's something about dating that got a bit difficult logistically - for instance, when I stayed the night at his on a Friday night, Saturday morning I'd want to see him but I'd also want to jump on my computer and listen to some new tracks and write and somehow you're not allowed to have both when you're at someone else's flat. Because dating is about 'spending time' with that person. Not ignoring them for a few hours while you flick through blog entries and check out what your friends are up to on facebook.

Then there's the constant comments about your lifestyle and person that I definitely won't miss. I hate the feeling that I'm being scrutinised or judged, which is inevitable when you're dating someone and trying to suss out if they're good enough or right for you.

It's a nice day, sunny and the back garden beckons. Armed with a blanket and my laptop, I forsee an easy Saturday morning. On my own.

Menace to society: kids hanging out

I'm a trustee of a local young people charity called Audioactive and we were recently revisiting our PEST analysis, which is in exercise in looking at political, social, economic and technological factors that can impact on your organisation and its work.

One of the things that came up in our analysis was the fact that nine years on, the media and general public are still tarring and feathering young people - it's something we still find shocking. 

Back in 2000, the anti-social flavor of the month used to be ASBO kids, skateboarding, hoodies and graffiti; now it's knife crime. The papers across the country have gone knife mad, tacking campaigns on to this easy target - it started in London last summer and slowly got scooped up by Brighton local rag, the Argus.

Audioactive works with children and young people, building their confidence and skills in music, music technology, djing, art and the performing arts. It's also the kind of organisation that's worked with the city's toughest ASBO and at-risk kids, in pupil referral units, community centres and alternative schools. We know what's going down in the underground, and while knives are more of a problem than they were a decade ago (probably), it's not the issue it is in Brighton that it is in London. 

Highlighting social problems is not inherently bad, but forcing facts to fit a theory where it may not be true is dangerous. Put an unnatural spotlight on a phenomemnon - don't be surprised when the "alarm" becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy.

I feel for today's teens - who wasn't challenging when they were that age?  You can't generalise a nation of young people by a handful of incidents that happened in inner-city, deprived conditions. Most young people are just trying to survive the ever-increasing stresses, hormones and challenges of this fast-paced world.

The media feeds and is fed by the fear adults have of young people, but a bigger concern is for young people who feel unsafe amongst other young people - and who find it harder to protect themselves than adults. Sensationalist handling of this situation does not help. 

Why doesn't the press focus on other, more problematic areas? Institutional racism and the police? Rich kids with too many drugs? White collar crime? Oh yeah, we're in a recession because of white collar crime. Nearly forgot. 

I read a statistic recently that white middle class and affluent young people in England are more likely to have drugs than their Black counterparts. I can believe it.

I went to an inner city magnet high school where half the students were Black, with FOUR crack houses around the perimeter. Sure there were drugs in the area, but I never saw any drug deals in school, we only had one incident where someone (not from our school) brought a gun. In my senior year, the police did a drug bust of two rich, white high schools and made the biggest drug bust to date. Not the problem, Black, inner city kids that the media would otherwise love to report on. 

So what ever will be next? 

Thanks to Audioactive Chair Dom Green for emailing this article feature in the Onion to us as it sums up the media-created paranoia that grips people today.

Area Teen Up To Something
January 24, 2009 | Issue 45•04 

GREENFIELD, OH—A local teenager, standing on the corner of Spring Street and Dunlap Lane, is clearly up to some kind of no good, neighborhood sources reported Thursday.
Enlarge Imag

Neighbors are keeping close watch on the teen, who has an unsettling number of pockets.

The teenager, spotted by Greenfield residents at approximately 4:36 p.m., has been described as tall, suspiciously quiet, and almost certainly looking for trouble. According to concerned sources, the teenager has absolutely no business being out there like that.

"Just look at him," said Bob Page, one of several men and women currently watching the 14-year-old from their living room window. "That boy's definitely up to something."

Signs that the teenager may be up to no good have so far included his hunched over posture, the way he keeps looking around with his eyes, and the fact that he probably owns a number of those violent video games. 

Residents told reporters that they are especially troubled by the teenager's hooded sweatshirt, which he is wearing with the hood drawn, despite it not even raining outside. 

"I don't like how I can't see his face," said homemaker Ellen Campbell, who attributed the teen's erratic behavior to the lack of positive role models in today's music industry. "He'd show his face if he weren't thinking of doing something wrong. I bet he's thinking of doing something wrong right now." read more

Donnie Photos - Christmas 2008

Donnie going wild!

Donnie & I recently spent Xmas in Amersham with the Hardman family, having been invited by my friend Kat. During our stay, Donnie lived on the floor of the breakfast dining room. The Hardman family were enchanted by their unexpected little guest, taking his towel off every morning so they could sneak a peek at him.

Donnie, who had his second birthday on 19 August 2008, was on top top form this year. Christmas day started with a stocking that he received from Santa, filled with chocolate drops and hard orange hula hoop treats, which he stuffed his cheeks with. I received a nice present from Donnie (a first!), tubs of chocolate and tropical fruit body butter. 

He came out several times to meet the family and visiting friends on Christmas day and everyone remarked what a nice personality he had. Later in the afternoon, I arranged for a photo session for Donnie, as Kat's brother Will received a camera for Christmas. 

Donnie in a quiet, modest moment, looking like the Robert DeNiro of the rodent kingdom. 

Overall, he seemed fat, healthy and happy, although when we came back to Brighton, he caught a slight cold and his eyes sealed up for a while. I'm not sure if it was the exposure to the cold weather due to this cold snap, but I can report that he's mending nicely now and has this year decided to go for a minimalist look for his crib, with a magenta bauble and a string of yellow plastic flowers along the top, which he hopes will kick off the year in a positive but lean way. 

Me and Donnie chilling in the dining room.