Wake me up when September ends
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As I write this, I am sat on my bed with my laptop trying not to move too much. I've spent most of the day standing up. Between an exhibition I attended in Birmingham, which essentially involved a series of queues, each with only a brief and sometimes questionable reward at the end, and a three hour rehearsal with my recently reformed band, my lower back has taken some punishment. It's fair to say, however, that today is not out of place in what has been a busy month.
Okay, so I haven't been to an exhibition every day in September. Today was, in fact, one of only two such events this year. But I have nevertheless had my normal routine dashed against the wall at every opportunity so far this month. Sometimes I didn't even have the time to notice which wall. It hasn't necessarily been a bad month. Indeed parts of it have been exceptionally good. It's just been rather more full than I would normally want my months to be. August wasn’t much better, I admit, but at least I had time to remember some of it.
The early part of September saw me busying myself with wedding preparations. No, not mine; I remain some way off that! The wedding was for a good friend who had bestowed on me the perhaps dubious honour of being best man. I say 'dubious' but in actual fact I was very flattered to be asked and proud to be able to stand alongside him on his big day. The start of the month involved a stag party for the same. It was a rather tame affair, all told, even if it did involve me seeing considerably more of the morning before sleeping than I did afterwards. Thankfully the big day went off without any noticeable problems.
While this busy September has seen several happy occasions, it has also seen at least one sad one too; namely a funeral for a much-loved member of my extended family who was taken many years before her time and will be sorely missed. Needless to say neither my website, on which this blog entry is published, nor Facebook, on which somebody might read it, is the place to elaborate, but that was a challenging time for all involved.
But now, September is almost at an end. I've already written it off as something that happened to other people. I maintain I've been far too busy for it to happen to me. I have vague recollections of August, but September has had a certain 'blink and you'll miss it' quality that I'm not used to over any protracted length of time. Not that any length of time has felt particularly protracted of late. My year to date has consisted of a handful of memorable images connected by a series of blurs. I'm sure I've enjoyed the majority of it (funerals aside), but I've not really had chance to notice.
Next month is the first month in a while in which I have relatively few plans. My band is playing a couple of shows, but neither should present any particular challenge; not least after the events that have preceded them. I'm hoping that October will see a return to form of sorts. With any luck I can return to some of my favoured and, recently, much-neglected pastimes—perhaps even including the writing I've put off for so long. But first, I think I've earned a rest. September still has a few days left in it and I fully intend to use them to unwind after what their predecessors have done to me.