Tonight
I'll finish work at seven
get home at eight
have a shower
a glass of wine
( not at the same time )
put on pyjamas
relax for an hour
go to bed
sleep
wake
go to work for 10
( yes, work again )
finish at six
shop
for snacks
shower
wine
relax
Sunday repeat
Monday repeat
Tuesday
I'm beat
Wednesday
soak my feet in a tub of mustard
( old wives tales without fail always work )
and so do I
it keeps me active.

One day I shall rest
be a guest and someone
other than me can cook
and wash and dry,
yes indeedy
I shall
one day
be that guy

but for now
I work like a cog
in the machine
I'm a dog
barking up trees

thought it was a dream
but no
scheduled to appear
three hundred days a year

What flamin' Bank Holiday?

X
( Formerly Twitter )
Britain
( Formerly Great )

brackets
are a racket
they
can make a sandwich
out
of a
pile of ****.

Great Britain in
The Tate Modern
exhibiting in
the
retro wing.

Opened the cover of
a book
took a look
thought
what the ****
went and had a beer.

They might pity me
but
for one Euro
I bought a house
in Italy.
and
whee
full of glee
I shall
emigrate
integrate
and
learn the lingo
eat pasta
ride a Lambretta
sit in a Gondola
and drink
Limoncello

and then I'll wake up.

Daylight looms
weaves into me
and I rise
sleepily.

No crying
I'm a baby no more
the last of my childhood
disappeared through the door
and She
and She
builds me up
and says
fancy a cup?

ha
I know what I fancy

wonders if there's a chance
he
tries his luck.

****
killed
destroy
rebuild
repeat.

There  is nothing here now
but me
trying to stop me

left alone on my own
in a home
where there's no one left
to talk to

I don't know
should I go
or would I stay here
then
I remember it was
this time last year
I asked myself that question

and
it's always the devil that I know
who never gives an answer.

Never thought much of dying
when living gives a buy in
to the card game
but
it's chances that we take
that make us strong
or break us
and we're crying.

Mc Guire's on the wireless
and telling us
that
war will bring destruction

can't hear a choir
the Messiah
can't be listening

bury your heads in the sand
and make believe that it's
not happening
and
a selfie on the shelf
will make you think
that you're not
leaving.

don't you know
we left long ago
before the flowers
melted snow
and
started bleeding.

You wake up
plans have changed
world turned on its head

flamin' Nora
I need to pour a drink
but wait
it's only 05:28

one of these days
we'll look back on all of this
and think
ah
those were the good old days
and then the nurse will slip us
a 'Mickey'
and
we'll go back to sleep.

Are you 'swingin' the lead?' he said,

no guv,
off work because I'm proper poorly

hmm
more like trying to fool me
unless you're dead, the boss said,
you had better be here tomorrow.

Well
if tomorrow is truly another day
I'll be there on a wet Wednesday
in hell

Addled or puddled,
we all need to be cuddled.

What else can we do but make stronger glue because we're falling apart at the seams
and the dreams we once had have soured and turned bad
we all need a cuddle sometimes.

unable to cast off
the poverty within
he digs in to a paltry
and says
let them insult me
but I have to eat.

Well off?
we  are
and yet never so far
that we can't taste defeat.

Salutations friend.

I don't know this girl
I have never known this girl
but she wants to be my friend

about fifty years and a marriage late
if you ask me

My wife will see this and it could possibly
**** her off,
and I'll say
it's just my imagination darling

She'll scroll through my Facebook
anyway.

Crib sheets
do not a cover make

weirdly true
unless you can
show me it's not.

and here's a thing
I know that they'll remember me
at the Michelin
I'm the one who ordered
egg, beans, chips and spam.

wonders if I look old in this skin
if so
can I trade it in?

Someone hating on someone who's hating on and it goes on and on until someone else starts hating on someone who's hating on and on and on.

got the picture yet?
I bet the media has.

It's up for debate
Parliament sitting late
but the horse has bolted
and
it's too late to shut the gate.

They talk, but we know
that they blow hot air
they don't really care
it's time for that lot to go.

Monday and time to pay for your weekend
bleary eyes?
call in sick, tell the boss lies

not me
I'm as fresh as a daisy,

skeletal because I worked my fingers
to the bone, got home,
had a glass of wine,
and time to sleep,

now, I have a day free, which doesn't come
with terms and conditions.

She
may have other ideas.

Seems like the closest
that I'll ever get to Manila
is licking an envelope.

Reason being,
the flight is so long and my time may be short
and I wouldn't want to be caught dead anywhere
other than in familiar surroundings.

They fell
we fall
some build
another wall
for them to
fall off
again.

When the world ends, which will probably be after a commercial break.

Not to put a damper on it, but we are not likely to know about it,
one minute we'll be here, the next, somewhere in the atmosphere and that's only if there's still an atmosphere to be here in.

Yes
times do look grim, the lights are growing dim and dim as in
the politicians that we've elected to lead us and where does that leave us?

back to the atmosphere
and
not one postcard saying
wish you here

Called in those
Town and Country Removals
it
didn't work

still in London
still in England.

feel cheated.

West Ham United play at home today, sadly I won't play at home today because I must work, I don't know about the wolf but working definitely keeps the Lamborghines from the door, maybe the wolf is watching West Ham.

I'm getting
an old Ford Prefect, perfect, a bit suspect, but what can I do?

just saying
a bit of praying works wonders

oh yeah
they said that about Double Diamond beer
and that just got me ******

Another day to ****** away
and it's getting 'otter
ha
see what I did there?

No?
suit yourself
I do,
but work beckons me
with its long skeletal finger.

it's Saturday
and She says,
that's right
but no prize for you
go to work and do what
you do

I'll see you later.

Tried and tested,
was
tired
now rested,

no change.

She smiled at me
it must be your age
She said,

If age is just a number and
I slumber until ten
and you shake me to wake me
what then?

Eurovision
on
Television,
televised
live.

Will you be watching?

not me
I don't have a TV.

The day has been torn away
I worked hard and am now
worn out,

Captain Morgan says
have a *** boyo,
I think he might be Welsh.

Whatever,
the dragon is upon me
the fire is within
I'll have a single ***
otherwise
it'd be a bottle of gin.

King,
Queen,
who have you been in a previous life?

Me,
a **** shoveller
or a
groveller.

no good pretending when you know your station and I'm getting off at the next one.

Well, you know everyone's been a Pharaoh.
but
I was still me in whatever century

She says
what are you waffling on about?

but that's Nefertiti for you

We saw waves crash against the shore
an orchestra played
and in black and white films
we knew they were getting laid.

All very quaint

and then when the music stopped
and the sea became calm
arm in arm
they would walk along the beach

in the old days
they had such nice ways
of telling a story.

Warm?
really?
oh,
seal me in a box with a few pairs of clean socks,

fukin warm?
are you mad
it's been baking

someone taking the proverbial
and up in Seven Dials
Sherlock's
thinking of *****

fukin ******.

Oh not me
says he
with a halo around his waist

haha
less haste and more amphetamines
or as we say
more speed

I need a drink.

Dance like no one is watching
because
no one is watching,

they're busy rolling their eyes
at the screen,
seen it
seen it
seen it
refresh screen it
looks like rain.

I dance like Zorba
a heartbeat
slow and rhythmic
no one watches
and
I don't care.

The sound of traffic below me and a light on to show me that I don't need the light on to hear.

ah!
Wednesday and its child should be full of woe
but no,
I feel no woe

just checking the calendar in case I got the days
mixed up
and no again
it's definitely Wednesday.

My morning cup of Joe
coffee is bad they say
but so is Wednesday,
they say that too
in fact
they say
that nothing is good for you.

I woke up and no pain
so I woke up again just to be sure,
and I was right,
I don't need the light on.

Beyond Meta
there may be something
better.

I do hope so.

Sinking under the weight of industrial wreckage
a victim of technological advances
we win and we lose

Plant-based plants
churning out
plant-based foods,

where are the protests?

stop killing our Kale
save our greens
love your aubergines

not happening yet
but it will

and
then it'll back to
steak
bacon
pork and lamb
and I'm as sure as I can be
about that.

How can it be the 13th today?
it being May
and of course it is,

I woke up
in a tizz
thinking I was late for work
and then remembered
they gave me a day free

whoopee

there's always housework
our work
'not only but also'
I must go
shopping.

I'll go out
or stop in,
the beauty of a free day is
whatever you do, you generally win.

Glad I woke early and as
this day stretches out ahead of me
I stretch out too

who am I to complain.

It was a fine box
a box with flowers on
and not a flower box
more of a pine box
which was fitting for
the occasion.

****** recognition?
rightyho
it's
ammunition for the state,

one day in the not to distant
you'll see yourself illuminated
find yourself incarcerated
and all because
you look like you do

so
what do we do but smile at the cameras
making sure they get a good angle on our jawlines.

it's here and we're done for
Sing-Sing will sing even more.

On the evolutionary scale
we're still picking off the ticks
from our prehensile tail
but oh, how we preen
and
look about to see who
might have seen us.

Singing
it's a long way to meet Queen Mary
it's a long way to Rome
Tipperary's just a pipe dream
I may as well stay home.

That'll not make the charts
chanted the group of old farts
who were all
sat on the seats reserved for the elderly
but
I don't expect thanks from that troupe
of ancient cranks,

I live in a world of my own.

What I should have done is put a round of potatoes in my spud gun and gone on a rampage and done some damage, but pacifism rules and my 'peacemaker' stayed in the holster.

Or it could be that I no longer care about tax hikes, electric cars and  electric bikes, the state of the economy, the way that they go on at me, do this, be that, take off your hat in church, yeah right! sit on your perch and who's a pretty boy? I want to scream out Floyd and pop the machine gun but those days too are gone, Capone's in the government, Kelly's still at war, Bonnie and Clyde have been taken for a ride and we won't see them anymore,

on the plus side?
and here I have to think

nope
I'll get back to you on that.

coffee.

Well, we all could be sat in the Vatican
eating haddock and chips from the pan again
but we're here again ******* on straws
the old ****** from an older Babylon

carry me on the shoulders of Christ
or cart me off with the horse.

Jeez it's Friday night in the township
ain't nobody hip anymore?

The previous maladministration was probably better than the present one,
adjustments have been made for flexibility in producing more waste and increasing poverty whilst inducing mass psychosis, not forgetting the unforgotten but countless
homeless,

so
how's it going for you?

please note:
it wasn't Covid that killed us,
it was being dragged through the streets like lepers while you were being told we were contagious,

outrageous?
so is everything these days.

A witness
witless
shifty eyes
and shirtless

recognised anyone yet?

but
not because I spotted him
or took a shot at him
that's just fake news.

******* emanates
from every
radio wave that permeates
the morning air

so glad I'm here
and not there
wherever there may be.

Still the witness
sat in the Oval
looking Gormless,
what
states we get into.

On the Island of Yesterday
not yet grey or foreboding.

Therapy.
some need it
like me

you
never did.

you hid behind
the mask of eyes
that stared

I never dared to

and what did it do
but make me the poorer,
dissecting
the thoughts of each day
each getting in the way
of
more thoughts to
dissect,

and cut away
to a Summer
when I was younger
and strong

now I struggle to
get along
still with the thoughts
that appear and dissolve.

I am a world that revolves
around a colder sun.

Before we began
even before the birds sang
and when Dinosaurs were in
at the birth
the Earth was a violent place.

so
not much change then.

Yeah
it goes the way of Saturday, and some say Saturday will take us all away, but I put that down to the mushrooms they eat.
I woke up ready to go back to sleep, thought I might keep this day for another day, but you and I know things don't work that way.

Easy come and don't you know
it's never easier to pack up and go
we all want a minute more.

Well,
I've come to terms with coming to terms,
terms and conditions apply.

Please wait in line,
the firing squad is experiencing delays

and we'd all like to delay
but the inevitable is generally the rule.

Making breakfast
enough to last
until supper,

not the last supper, I pray,
that's already been done to death.

Mesmorised
then demoralised
when
She closes her eyes.

The weekend arrives
but not for me,
I'm working, see,
but I can't see why,

it's never the other guy
who draws the short straw
it's always me
and I can't see why.

She says
stop whining
the sun's shining
Summer is almost here

aha
She's opened her eyes and
now I can see her,

Finally.
I cry into the coffee cup
the coffee's gone
I drunk it up
and so
to drink the milk of
human kindness
is a kindness in itself.

You are special
and that's official.

before five-thirty
finding a shirt he
dresses up well

and it's Thursday
a good hair day
something he'll say
when he's bored.

Summer feels colder
older than it was when
I was a lad.

and he's waiting
for the turning
which he knows
will take him home.

Trying to blend in
but that task is
unending

standing out from the crowd
is allowed.

I'm standing outside
which is also allowed,
but not advisable when
the weather is miserable.

By-Election
promises
pass me by

I
never believe them men
who'll write those
instead of them.

They will pull the strings
that make you dance.

Anyway
it's Tuesday
not that it makes a difference
after all
it's not Christmas day
is it?

So
Kellogg's cornflakes
or a boiled egg?
kedgeree is off the menu,
the butler has the day free
and now
it's down to me
to decide.

Yep
been in there and out there
been almost where I should have gone
ah
some things are not meant to be
like me for instance.

Worked to death
and taxed to death
these shysters
don't give you the time
to draw a breath

oh
but they'll sit on their leather seats
giving a show
and I think we all know
that it'll never make the ratings.

*** them parliamentarians.

Bank Holiday Funday
but not when you work in
hospitality
or even in hospitals

as I said to Rik
on many occasions
it's all a load of
**** management
with no
imagination.

or something like that.