I'm invited onto Facebook & dutifully sign on.

Two things.

i) I'd not anticipated the subsequent deluge of invitations
ii) my inviter doesn't seem to be in contact (so why ... ?)

Odd.

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Back to the Chalkface - or at least the series of meetings, preparations, etc.

This year - more than ever - the holidays seem to have evaporated. This year - more than ever - the year ahead seems to fall into clearly defined fortnightly segments. Is this an effect of age?

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The Gallagher brothers split.

Hard to conceal feelings of complete & utter indifference.

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Reading American Psycho. Not a novel that I enjoy. It's too obviously having its cake & eating it. Too obviously written (from my UK perspective) in thrall to the generation of GQ, The Face, Thatcherism, and Easy Money. I remember having dinner with an old university friend who'd gone into the City. Not surprisingly he offered to pick up the tab. As he explained. his bonus was equivalent to my year's salary in publishing.

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Last night; moules frites. One of the reasons to continue living in Belgium.

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This arrives ...



... The Ancient Use of Stone by Ray DiPalma. Elsewhere on this Blog I've written of not being able to know how to read DiPalma (which I take to be a virtue of his work). This latest volume is no exception. Since its arrival on my desk on Wednesday, I've gone through the following reactions:

voyeuristic joy
intrigue
fascination
bafflement
frustration
doubt
anger
inadequacy

One thing it has done is to convince me that this Blog had reached an impasse. Why continue writing about when the challenge - as seen in these pages - is writing itself?

So ... for the next few months (I'll see how it goes) this Blog operates weekly. I'll post like today. Meanwhile, I'll focus my time & energies into more little volumes: further chapters of Hampton Armpit, more poetry, as well as poetical-collage-assemblages (distillations of the kinds of stuff that went into the earlier Blogging). Again, the same offer applies: send your name & address & I'll mail you a copy.

That's the deal from now on.

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Oh. And I've deleted my Facebook account. Just not my scene.

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A chill in the air. Autumn's on its way ...