The Gonzo Daily - Monday
I have never liked the transition period before
going away, whether its for an expedition or for something more mundane. I
know that some people experience a frisson of excitement, but to me it is always
horribly reminiscent of the last day of the school holidays before I went back
to boarding school. I didn't mind being at boarding school too much, although
the concept that they were the 'happiest days of my life' is lost on me and on
the whole, being at home wasn't too bad either (as long as my father and I were
on speaking terms, which we usually weren't) but the day before the journey back
to my crappy little alma mater was sheer, unadulterated hell.
Of course today isn't anything like that, but there
seems to be a million and a half things to do: blogs to be written in advance,
kittens to be packed into their travelling crate and sent to Helen's house,
animals to be fed and instructions given to Graham, the hire car to be collected,
Mother's packing to be supervised, and - in the middle of all this - Graham is
trying to finish my tax return. Bloody hell, I will be glad when this is all
over.
Thank you to everyone who makes kind remarks about
my stupid poetry on the occasions that I take it into my head to do both the CFZ
and the Gonzo blogs in rhyme (the same rhyme with a few words changed). Especial
thanks to Faye Rutherford who thinks that Dr Seuss has nothing on me! That is
very kind of you m'dear, but I have never approached the lyrical genius of
'Green Eggs and Ham', nor, sadly, am I likely to. Whereas I have loved
Kipling's poetry since I was about six, Dr Seuss was the poet I first admired,
and that admiration has never gone away.
By the way, people, I am also the editor of the
rather wonderful Gonzo Weekly, a free, anarchic music magazine featuring all
sorts of groovy stuff. To make sure that you don't miss your copy of the next
issue make an old hippy a happy chappy and subscribe:
http://eepurl.com/r-VTD
* The Gonzo Daily is a two-way process. If you
have any news or want to write for us, please contact me at jon@eclipse.co.uk. If you are an artist and
want to showcase your work or even just say hello, please write to me at gonzo@cfz.org.uk. Please copy, paste and
spread the word about this magazine as widely as possible. We need people to
read us in order to grow, and as soon as it is viable we shall be invading more
traditional magaziney areas. Join in the fun, spread the word, and maybe if we
all chant loud enough we CAN stop it raining. See you tomorrow....
* The
Gonzo Daily is - as the name implies - a daily online magazine (mostly) about
artists connected to the Gonzo Multimedia group of companies. But it also has
other stuff as and when the editor feels like it. The same team also do a weekly
newsletter called - imaginatively - The Gonzo Weekly. Find out about it at this
link: www.gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/11/all-gonzo-news-wots-fit-to-print.html
* We should probably mention here that some of our
posts are links to things we have found on the internet that we think are of
interest. We are not responsible for spelling or factual errors in other
people's websites. Honest guv!
* Jon Downes, the editor of all these
ventures (and several others), is an old hippy of 54 who - together with his
orange cat (who is currently on sick leave in Staffordshire) and two very small
kittens (one of whom is also orange) - puts it all together from a converted
potato shed in a tumbledown cottage deep in rural Devon, which he shares with
various fish, and sometimes a small Indian frog. He is ably assisted by his
lovely wife Corinna, his bulldog/boxer Prudence, his elderly mother-in-law and
a motley collection of social malcontents. Plus...did we mention the orange
cat?
