There’s only one place that sparks off nostalgia…

My Shed. Sitting in my shed in the warm weather, tinkering with some do-hickey or writing poetry.

The reason that this is that when I was a small boy, my parents had a shed at the back of the garden behind a massive silver birch tree. I used to love playing in it or just getting away from the world. Then there’s my grandfather’s.

One was an engineer for Rolls Royce aerospace and had basically extended his shed by bolting two together, cutting through and adding electrical points for a chest freezer, which looking back is quite a feat while also being a health and or safety violation.

The other was a retired fireman. Who was a keen gardener, painter and handyman. His shed was standard sized with a rug on the deck and draws and boxes of things everywhere. Including things hung from the ceiling plant pots were stacked on the floor and it collected rain water into a couple of water barrels.

So, no I’m a grandfather myself I have my own shed. Mine has a rug and a chair, a nice workbench made from off cuts of the kitchen. It has a solar panel on the side that has a micro usb connector, which charges a solar (or mains) powered light bulb, or my phone, screwdriver etc. I love nothing more than sitting in there in summer and relaxing, or writing some poetry. When I’m in the shed I do reminisce fondly of times gone by.

Im a poet and photographer. So I’d say yes. Right..?

Well photography has been something I’ve loved doing for many years. I’m talking disposable flash cubes long, without ever seeing it as creative. I’ve always just seen photography as something fun and a way of documenting those cherished memories for my children and grandchildren. In later years I’ve had people comment on my pictures and style and say I have “an eye for it”. Truth be told I’ve no idea of what I’m doing. I’ve never studied it at any level, well I did one photography for beginners lesson, at the hotel we were staying at over Christmas (it was 2hr while on our honeymoon) I don’t know what settings do to a picture or what or what focal length etc is, actually i lie I googled it yesterday. You get the point though I’ve no clue how to set up shots. I just like to take pictures, and occasionally I get shots like this.

My poetry however is a completely different animal. I started writing poetry or scribbles as I prefer to call them twenty years ago. This started out as a way of dealing with my crippling depression and anxiety (which turned out to be Autism, and PTSD) it was supposed to be a form of therapy to help me process what was going on in my life. It was when I scribbled a little something for my nieces naming ceremony, that things began to take shape, as people started asking me who wrote it, where did I get it from. I realised that i might have a gift for this poetry malarkey.

Unlike photography where I have a knack for apparently (Mrs Bob thinks so) poetry is something I’ve had to work at as apart from being on the spectrum, I’m dyslexic to boot. This means I’ve had to learn and ask my (actually qualified) proofreading wife, Mrs Bob, (who hasn’t read this post prior to posting) to help me.

So I’d say, I’m not creative. I’m just hard working and I’ve used therapy to write some emotional stories while learning to heal.

“(Excerpt) I didn’t want to be a poet, I just wanted to be ok”

“My metaphors aren’t pretty, they’re practical.

Every line is triage…

Every pause is me checking for a pulse.”

The biggest influences in my life are a small group of poets that belong to the Button poetry stable. The reason is that when I first started writing my scribbles and trying to turn them into poetry I felt I didn’t fit in with what poetry was supposed to be. All I’d ever read was the stuffy “I wandered lonely as a cloud” style of classical poetry.

That was until I was scrolling through YouTube one night and came across button poetry and one of there poets called Kyle Tran Mhyre aka Guante, with a piece called “Ten responses to the phrase, Man-up” it was raw, emotional, and so passionate. What I’d discovered was slam style poetry and this was more my style. It didn’t have to rhyme, and you could use any language you wanted to get your point across. The more I watched of Guante and other Button poets, such as Neil Hilborn and Rudy Francisco, the more I realised that this was the style of poetry i wanted to write myself.

That was nearly twenty years ago.

Since then I’ve continued to write slam style poetry and I’ve found my own style and voice. I’ve written about some painful subjects and I’ve raised awareness of mental health, with poems such as “This poem Ends Every Forty Seconds” (statistically a person takes their life every forty seconds) The crowning achievement for me was probably having the people that inspired me, become more than just my peers and become virtual friends. I also (anonymously) took part in a No Kings event organised by Guante, where poets, artists etc all worked together and shared their work and ideas.

So the people that inspired are

• Kyle Tran Mhyre
• Neil Hilborn
• Rudy Francisco
• Jesse Parent

Stay safe Bc

The last thing I did for fun was get my new camera and start experimenting with its features and new shooting styles and effects.

So stay tuned and let’s see how this pans out.

There’s only one man I’d credit for being a positive role mole and influence in life, so much so that I took his name and used it in part for my pen name. That man is Walter S Christian. He was my maternal grandfather.

When my biological father (sperm donor) walked out the night before Mother’s Day. I was not even ten years old, and I didn’t really have a male role in my life, not that he was one before he left.

My grandad taught me so very much about what a gentleman should and shouldn’t do, from the little things like making sure your shoes were polished and you made an effort to look smart, to things such as helping your fellow man regardless of their faith or creed. He taught me the value of working hard, being honest, and above all being a stand up guy.

He was a retired firefighter and in his later years he’d become an excellent artist, sign-writer and gardener. He was always happiest in his shed or in the greenhouse pottering with his tomatoes. While I’ve never been very good either plants, I’ve certainly developed his love of a good shed, and can be found most weekends tinkering with something, writing poetry, or just watching the wildlife in my garden.

So I’ve spent the last 20 years or so writing and creating under the name that reminds me daily to try my hardest, do my best, and to be a decent person that honours his memory the best way I can.

Stay safe Bc

In December last year i said to Mrs Bob that 2025 would be our year, as I’d just bagged a spot in a brand new culture and literary magazine called Aeos,

My life has exceeded my expectations for these last 12 months. I’ve had great success with both my writing and photography. Mrs Bob and I have finally had the kitchen remodelled which wasn’t on the cards and has led to a spate of repainting and fixing things around the house. We have also had a massive clear out and now have a functional office we can share.

Personally my life hasn’t all been roses and chocolates. I had the unpleasant experience of having someone I thought I could trust, try to scam me out of £100 in store vouchers, so while it hurt me deeply I had to say enough was enough. I’ve also developed breathing issues which either stem from my heart condition last year, or asthma. We are waiting test results back.

So while I’ve had a very mixed bag of events this year, it’s safe to say that my life is better than I imagined it would be twelve months ago, and I’m excited to see what the next twelve months holds in store for us.

Check back in another year to find out…

Stay safe BC

There’s probably a couple of places I’d really like to visit.

One is Salem Massachusetts as it’s always fascinated me due its history with the witchcraft trials and the panic that it caused. Next up is the Antarctic circle as I’ve been to the arctic circle so I’d like to visit the other to complete the set. Finally the place I’d really love to visit but due to conflict etc is going to have to wait. The top of my bucket list is Pripyat.

This is a place many may never have heard of Pripyat. This was a town built from 1970 in parallel with the construction of the nearby Chernobyl nuclear plant. Initially it mostly housed the workers building the plant. Although since the reactor fire at the plant in April 1986 the whole area has become a ghost town for obvious reasons. The reason I’d like to explore the area is I love urban exploration and I find it fascinating to see like some post apocalyptic movie set what happens when people leave an area and nature takes back the area and humans are excluded.

I’m assuming that the prompt means when you’ve shuffled off this mortal coil, so it’s how I’m going to answer it.

While I’d love to say something like he wrote some decent poetry or that my photography shows promise or some such flattering nonsense. It’s not what I’d like people to say about me. Sure it’s nice to be recognised for such talents but it’s not what I’m really about.

The one thing i hope people will say about me after I’m gone is that while I made mistakes and screwed up like most people. I had a good heart, and that I did things for the right reasons or the with the best intentions.