Tuesday 31 December 2013

2014 and all that.

Another grim day - not so windy, rain due. managed to save the next door fences with wooden props, at some point I have to have a conversation with them about fixing them - if they fall - they will fall into my garden, and then will neatly find themselves deposited on their kitchen roof. Very low light today - have the lights on.

New Years Eve, not my favourite time of the year - which is why I usually end up working. Tonight I shall be back at the Masonic hall, fighting off the drunken hoards of middle aged artists and failed London media types who have decamped to the seaside, pretending to be amused by their antics and jokes as they hoover up worthless 'faux' cocaine that they bought from the man in the veg shop. Oddly enough - as this is an Andy Warhol Factory party - we have a house drug dealer - she will be wandering around with a tray selling little packets of 'Columbian' sherbet and a selection of jelly babies, Maltesers and Quality Street. I shall be wearing a purple, ruffle fronted Vivienne Westwood shirt that someone gave me (it probably cost a fortnights mortgage) in my vain attempt to channel the cast of Boogie Nights.

I've not really though too hard about next year - I'm just glad to get this one over, but I say that every year. It's been a bit of a bumpy ride, I lost a few clients, gained one, worked very hard but am about to slip into debt with a tax bill due in January that I can't pay. I have a rising sense of panic related to my age and general physical well being and have this overwhelming sense that all the best parts of my life are receding behind me - and I have potentially 40 years of slow decline ahead of me. On the bright side, I still have all my teeth - which at one point, seemed like it would take a miracle - I have a private consultant to thank for that, and I'm very grateful - although I'm trying to train myself not to smile because I look like I have a cleft palette. I also now know I need glasses to get through the working day.

Work wise, I'm actually pretty pleased with the stuff I've done this year - all good work, no duds - I need to capitalise on that more - which is why I've pre-paid the studio until the end of the tax year to give me the space to work on going forward a bit. I do need to be a bit more ruthless. I'm also pleased that I can boast commissioned photography in a successful book (It's sold really well and the paperback is out in July) and have a quote in a major book about the history of menswear coming out soon... That makes me 'somebody' - I should really tweet about it.

I've started my New Year resolutions by digitising my CD collection - 25% of the way there already, I'm shocked by how many CD's I bought at full price that still have the security stickers on them and were never played, hundreds of pounds worth of worthless plastic - and I can tell you that about 20% of all the CD cases break after a couple of uses. Yesterday I had washed about 20 woollen jumpers, I'd been putting that off for ages - the difficulty now will be getting them to dry. I did the same with a couple of pairs of trainers - they didn't like the process.

Tomorrow I have to collect a parcel that I had to pay to be re-directed , I have no idea what's in it - if it turns out to be a Freemans catalogue I'll be furious. The next day I need to wait in from 8am to 6pm in the home my new broadband router appears - and spend the whole of next Monday at home waiting for the bloke to install it. I hate having people in the house.

Apparently, according to some people, this blog will be written by a Romanian from tomorrow. As the son of an economic and political immigrant - I have very little time for that train of thought.

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