Christopher's Online Journal

  The new website for Louth Poetry Group is up and running at louthpoetrygroup.co.uk Two new ventures are included - Creative Days: Full day workshops for Creative Writing, Poetry or Videopoetry. And 3 day Retreats for an intensive writing experience in your own genre. All are online, check the website for details.

The course is formulated. The. book list is created. The timetable is constructed. The first film is viewed. The first essay is written. The first week, of a six year process, is begun. Will I run out of steam. Can I encourage you to join me on the journey. Already I have learnt that  Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are free online courses available for anyone to enrol. MOOCs provide an affordable and flexible way to learn new skills, advance your career and deliver quality educational experiences at scale. I found the film  Synecdoche, New York  on Amazon. Motivated by the fact I was going to write an essay about it I watched it in a different light than I would for entertainment. My essay is a bit academic and dry but The Guardian’s  Peter Bradshaw in his May 2009 review  brings a true journalists art to the writing process.

It looks like it will take just over one hour to copy the 20 CDs onto Itunes so that I will have the audiobook version of the joyful path to good fortune on my iPod. Then one presumes it will take 20 hours at the very least to listen to the book. No matter to the time, for I will soon be able to transport myself to the Bow room at Madhyamaka, where in the past I have enjoyed their peaceful meditations. That I am loading up this audiobook now is because I thought to do something that I had never done before. Image courtesy of Oscar Ivan Esquivel Arteaga on Unsplash Ok so this isn't such a big new thing, says he has he ejects disk 13 and loads disk 14, not forgetting to say yes, to the do you wish import question. It is though quite a test for my motor-mechanisms, and my patience, he says as in goes disk 17. Image courtesy of Joshua Harris on Unsplash It is all about being unsettled isn't it, which we all do go through however perfect things appear on the surface. I myself have a

Photo by  Simon Berger  on  Unsplash In one month's time I will be closing down my web hosting account, which means that my various websites which have evolved over the years will no longer be available, nor will the emails associated with them. My email will be, and in fact already is: christopherakacoastmoor@gmail.com The blogs and social media will continue, although may need refreshing to acknowledge the new email address, also christopherakacoastmoor will become the name. Websites have given me a lot of fun over the years, and where they are free I will continue to develop them. I hope you have enjoyed my creative output, may it continue for many years, albeit on slightly different platforms. Thank you for your support. Christopher

The last time was to see The Last of the Shadow Puppets, who were excellent, as was the accommodation out by the zoo. This time it was November and we stayed on the seafront, which was another good choice, as was Burlington's for a classical evening meal for Andrew's birthday. But best of all was the sunlight over the sea and the sands, to say nothing of the coffee and cake in the tea rooms, and in the Pavilion on the Royal Prince's Parade, where the great and the good had their words painted on the walls. This was a short break, highlighted by the sad goings-on at YCC which dominated the radio both going and coming home. The poetry is from the LOTSP time, here goes: Tears One girl For no apparent reason Is crying inconsolably Her teacher tries to calm her But with little success So she then turns To another child Who she says is always good-humoured And asks could she cheer up the sad girl Who does in fact steady herself But fails to allow a smile Which ough

For whatever reason the satellite navigation decided to take us on a countryside scenic route through Norfolk to Besthorpe, which meant we went via North Pickenham and Ashill, and charming places though they were we did feel a little disorientated, especially when the final instruction appeared to be taking us to a service station. Nevertheless we made it. The next day we looked at a map before continuing our journey, this time the route to SCVA seemed straight forwards and we duly arrived in time for cakes and coffee, also to wander around this wonderful art space which never fails to have an air of  serenity and calm. Our next stop was The Assembly House, a rather plush hotel which the sat-nav just did not want to find, though this was more likely due to half of Norwich being dug up, with more road closed signs than you could throw a stick at. But w e were in time for complimentary cream tea thanks to the neat 'talk-you-in' reception service. They  don't do dinner but gav

Last night I watched a wonderful conversation on YouTube between Don Henley and Billy Joel, who obviously had deep empathy, and love, for each others music, and lives. Henley surprised me by talking of Walden and Thoreau, also by mentioning Zen, and then OnBeing which is one of my favourite podcasts. Billy Joel asked Don Henley which came first in his songwriting, the lyrics or the music. This reminded me of a songwriting workshop which I had recently attended when the host said we had to write the music first, which for me, as a total non-musician, would have been a wrecking-ball of an instruction had we not been collaborating. Photo by Caio Silva on Unsplash Fortunately I was partnered with John Newby, who pretty quickly got the music flowing, and I was able to write in a way that I don't ever remember doing before, all my previous attempts at songs being words first followed by some pretty nauseous monotone sounds, which most definitely don't qualify as music. So no poem thi