Freedom From The Mundane - A Writer's Blog

Gail gave me the opportunity to have a bit of a lie in this morning, but I wanted to get up and get some things done about the house so I never took the full offer up. After a quick brunch I nipped round to the newsagent and got Racing Post and some Irn-Bru.

After making my afternoon selections I got stuck into what will be my office. Now that Laura has moved into her completed room, I gutted out what was rest of her toys, removed the bookshelf (to be panted later) and started to strip the wallpaper.

It took me most of the day but it was good to be finally making my own mark on the house. I'm determined to make a good job for my own personal satisfaction and so that there is evidence of what I know I can do. When it's done, it will be just the way want it; perfect for writing in and even better for escaping to. My own little space, with my own design.

Gail was invited out for dinner with some pals so once I got Laura settled I tried to do some writing, but struggled. A BBQ across the street turned a bit wild and by 10 o'clock the noise from the party became too unbearable to do anything. Even with the windows closed, all I could hear were women screaming to a Franz Ferdinand record and men playing drinking games and singing football songs. Wonderful when you're involved, but not so good when you're playing the sensible married man from across the street.

I started clearing out some of the directories on my PC and came across some MP3 files I forgot I had downloaded a while back. They are from a poet called Rick Lupert - of the Poetry Super Highway - and he was reciting poems over music, which he had then made available on his website.

This is the same bloke who offered the free CD in a similar vein with one of his poetry books and it is something I want to try my hand at. I will need some equipment for my PC and some suitable poems as well if I am to go through with it. Which I will as part of my e-book publishing idea.

I went to bed and lay alone in the dark unable to sleep for the noise over the road. At around midnight I got up to visit the wee men's room and as I was returning I could hear a noise from outside; louder and more urgent than before.

I went into the bedroom and cast my nosey ayes over the cul-de-sac. The noise from the street was alarming; so too was the 20 people fighting in a mass brawl. No joke - the BBQ/party had spilled out onto the street and descended into a melee. Turning into the amateur hack I once wanted to be, I whipped out my DV camera and started to film the proceedings from behind a gap in the curtain. (Just in case any crime was committed I might be able to sell to Sky News).

Men were battling with their fists and the women trying to do as much damage to each other. At this point I wondered if maybe I should phone for the police because it looked like it was really getting out of hand and showed no sign of stopping. The taxi driver caught in the middle of it all did the honours for me and 3.5 minutes later two cop cars swooped in on top of them. An ambulance was called for one woman and a man and a woman both arrested.

Now THAT is the gripping kind of borderline reality cum fiction, that living in Leith can inspire. Eat yer heart out Rankin!

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