As a result of the haiku writing, I became a member of this group blog where I am able to post haikus along with a bunch of other wordsmiths. I pledged to observe the American obscenity rules and avoid swearing, sexual references, Mexicans and Canadians.

But, fate plays its part, and while it suits me to stick to seventeen syllables per day – I enjoy the discipine, adopting a structure for a month is something I have done ever since starting to blog – things are happening which I want to write about.. long live Deek Deekster, he made me into who am I not today.

I lost my gold fish, and a haiku wasn’t enough. It’s a hollow antique from Kings Lynn, a fisherman’s charm designed to keep sailors from drowning. Hollie gave it to me, she the most tormented of all my lovers, the biggest and maddest of them all. She’s dead now – didn’t even reach 30 years old – and wearing that I felt somehow an element of her strong protection. I lost it sometime this morning, dressed in running gear, walking with GGF to school, then jogging back. The water was off this morning – I was torn between the need to get the supply re-established and wanting to retrace my 2 miles of steps in a futile search. I did go and look, but too late – if it was visible, someone picked it up. Gold and silver too attractive a proposition to ignore for a passer-by. It’s either submerged beneath wet leaves, or in a stranger’s pocket.

It is the end of an era. I am moving from this flat very soon, in a matter of weeks and this kind of underlines it. I keep reaching for my small fish, familiar on the chain around my neck, which now feels empty, like this home soon will be.

Astonishing scenes of the flash floods yesterday in Olde London Town – lots of these scenes are where I grew up.

I spent three years writing Blog of Funk most days; in fact, out of a possible 1095 days, I wrote on 668 of them – that’s 223 days a year. Not bad for an unpaid job.

Since I started this occasional, unstructured, un-promoted project: four thousand downloads of the associated media files. That seems a lot to me, considering how little attention I have given it. What I really like about this place is that I have set up quite different expectations. I also like that it gives me a place to muse randomly in public – like every good blog – and that I can podcast as much as write.