IT'S THE 32ND OF MAY...
Hello beasties!
This week I have a new prose piece for you, but I'll come back to that in a while. I also have a few random photos from the first couple of weeks of May, where I was quite busy getting creative - either that or doing a bit of running around in the pursuit of future creative endeavours!
I have also been busy podcasting - I discuss that more in the next section and have already shared with you details about the pilot episode... Well, I can now share with you details about the first proper episode, which I just finished... Here's some information about it before we get under-way with the rest of this post...
THE SHY LIFE PODCAST -
EPISODE 1: SCHOOL-DAYS AND SHELVING IMPS...
This time - in our first full length episode of THE SHY LIFE PODCAST, Shy Yeti speaks to his old school friend, reads a sinister piece from his latest book and also discusses Shelving Imps in his continuing series about life as a librarian. We also receive feedback for our pilot episode, ask a cat his opinion and hear more stories of actor, Dameus Twinklehorn's time in the movie business. Our next episode will be available in mid-June once I am back from my holidays!! Please email me at shyyeti@yahoo.co.uk if you have any comments. This episode and all contents are Copyright Paul Chandler, 2016.
Now let's move on to my visual diary of some of what I got up to earlier in the month... I can't believe we're nearly all the way through May, already!
I have also been busy podcasting - I discuss that more in the next section and have already shared with you details about the pilot episode... Well, I can now share with you details about the first proper episode, which I just finished... Here's some information about it before we get under-way with the rest of this post...
THE SHY LIFE PODCAST -
EPISODE 1: SCHOOL-DAYS AND SHELVING IMPS...
This time - in our first full length episode of THE SHY LIFE PODCAST, Shy Yeti speaks to his old school friend, reads a sinister piece from his latest book and also discusses Shelving Imps in his continuing series about life as a librarian. We also receive feedback for our pilot episode, ask a cat his opinion and hear more stories of actor, Dameus Twinklehorn's time in the movie business. Our next episode will be available in mid-June once I am back from my holidays!! Please email me at shyyeti@yahoo.co.uk if you have any comments. This episode and all contents are Copyright Paul Chandler, 2016.
It can be accessed at: https://soundcloud.com/shyyeti/the-shy-life-podcast-1
Thank you to Paul H for being interviewed for this episode and for digging up a few daft memories along the way... The second full episode is in the can, but I doubt that will be out until I return from holiday.
Now let's move on to my visual diary of some of what I got up to earlier in the month... I can't believe we're nearly all the way through May, already!
Firstly pulling faces for the camera whilst recording a little film during my lunch break on Tuesday 3rd May 2016 whilst I was recording one of my recent prose pieces on my mobile - I was also seeing whether my phone effectively replaces my old camera for recording possible future yeti films. It was the first film of any sort that I've made in quite some time. Who knows - one day I might even edit those that I filmed for my MRSHYYETI Youtube page that I never completed editing... Maybe!!
...And here's the film - recorded on Tuesday 3rd May 2016 for a piece that I wrote last July called MY VERY OWN SECRET GARDEN - you can also read it at: http://thedaffypoet.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=my+very+own+secret
I took these on Wednesday 4th May 2016 on my way to The Poetry Café to drop off some material for my show in July... It's always exciting doing that as it feels like the first step in the build-up to another show...
The next couple of photos, taken quickly on the 5th May are from my initial trimming down of the scripts in HOT STUFF - SEASON 4... In the photo I'm chopping down some lines involving the characters Mavis and Edie and fictional versions of my friends Trowby and Lisa.
Early on Saturday 7th May I got up at my usual week-day time to speak to a podcasting friend of mine in the States to record an interview for his extra-special podcast; with Deeley as an audience! I've been recording a few little inserts for his show recently - but this time the whole show was about me and my writing! Wow! It's a real privilege and I really enjoyed the experience. I can't say a lot about the podcast yet, as it won't be released until next month - but I did get the opportunity to read four of my pieces - 3 from A YETI WAY OF THINKING: THE STUPIDITY OF BIRDS, THE ONE and TWO VAMPIRE HUNTING YETI and 1 from SHY YETI STILL RULES OK: I LOVE YOU LESS... More on the podcast when it's up and available to download!!
Here I am buying only the essentials in IKEA near Croydon later in the day on Saturday 7th May... The photos below are some of the plants I bought, plus a recent purchase that is currently flowering; but just the one...
Anyway, going back a step, the very first recordings for the very first episode took place by the canal near my flat on Saturday 14th May 2016 - just the intro and outro of what would become the pilot episode... But it was nice to make a start - moving the project from just an idea to something actually recorded to go towards it!! Here are a couple of photos from just after the recording...
...And this is Deeley having a bit of a pose on the same day... I took the first four and Toby took the fifth picture where he looks like somebody stuffed him and stuck him up on the shelf! He also took the sixth photo where he looks a little like some kind of super robot cat!
As mentioned before I did a bit more recording on Monday and it was as much a surprise to myself when I released the pilot episode of my podcast on Soundcloud a couple of days later - it can be listened to at: https://soundcloud.com/shyyeti/the-shy-life-podcast-pilot-episode - as you now know the first proper episode is also now available.
I would have said that it's unlikely that I'd be posting anything new before late summer - and I want to record some things whilst I'm in Amsterdam, but I've pretty much got enough material for my first full episode - we shall see...
Our prose piece this time comes from a very simple idea - a day that cannot exist suddenly doing just so - partially inspired by the 32nd May photos that I took, which you can see on this post... I began writing the piece in early May, but lost the original incomplete version due to accidentally over-writing it on Blogger - I began again as best I could on Saturday 7th May 2016 and I don't think there are a lot of differences from the original. I really must be careful when I write first drafts directly onto the blog - it's asking for trouble; well, it is when you're me!! I did a further draft on Monday 23rd May - a few days ago now where I made a few changes and a few additions...
I'm posting this just before I head off to Amsterdam - and although I'll be writing things to post whilst I'm out there I probably won't have anything ready until my return ... Hopefully there will be plenty of photos - a holiday diary and maybe one or two prose pieces; maybe even another video! I also intend to be recording for future episodes of the podcast too.
More soon!
Yeti hugs,
Paul xx
P.S. It looks like I'm going to be spending my birthday in Venice - with another trip or two booked for my summer holidays in August, one of them being my "writer's retreat" and one being another trip over-seas; but more about those two nearer the time!!
P.P.S. Deeley was so excited by this post that he nearly fell out of his chair!! Thanks to Toby for that photo. :0)
THE 32ND MAY...
Nobody cheats time -
There is always a price to pay...
Even when you seem to have a free pass and are allowed to play...
How he had wished that June the 1st would never come...
It was a day when everything was meant to change -
And yet this was the problem...
He didn't want it to change...
And yet by making that decision there was no way that things could remain the same;
Change was inevitable...
She would be heart-broken -
But it was not just about her -
Everything around them would be different...
The house, the job - the business - his family - her family...
It would all be affected in some way or other...
He just couldn't see where it would end...
But as much as he tried he was ultimately a coward;
Betrayed by his good intentions -
Although good would hardly seem to be the correct word...
There was no doubting that he'd left it to the last moment -
These were things that he should have said, long ago...
He had responsibilities, but was refusing to admit them to himself...
It was easier to put it off...
January turned to February...
In March he still felt there was time -
And yet by April it seemed almost too late...
Anything said now would look like he'd suddenly had cold feet...
Then, as April rapidly turned to May -
He kept on wishing that the matter would be taken out of his hands...
That she would suddenly call things off - but she did not...
And now, if he intended to do so -
There was going to be no denying that he'd left it to the last moment...
But then that moment had never come...
May 31st became not the 1st of June, but the 32nd -
The day that he had dreaded never arrived...
Rather than accept what was meant to be happening -
Time was passing - altering - taking another course...
Like a flood - forging a new path previously never travelled...
Life was going on around him -
It almost seemed to be forgetting him...
Simply leaving him off the list...
Careful what you wish for, they always say...
But he had made his wish and it had come true;
All responsibilities now were removed...
June the 1st would never come...
Whilst May the 32nd was long since past...
Today was the 71st of May -
And so the days ticked on...
Nobody cheats time -
Even when time cheats itself!
There is always a price to pay...
Even when you get a free pass and are allowed to play...
You end up alone...
This post and all contents are Copyright, Paul Chandler 2016. All photos by Paul Chandler, unless separately credited.