Walking The Wall

I have just walked Hadrians Wall!! Hadrian was a roman emperor who built this massive wall that is 84 miles long across the country. It was to keep people out of England. It is about 2000 years old. Most of the wall has gone now but you can still see bits of it, it used to be 15 feet high and 10 feet thick!! It was great to walk it. It took me and my old mate Andy, 6 days to walk the full length of it. It only rained on one day so that was OK!! Here are some of the stuff we saw on the way... a tank driving on the road, loads of ruins, a lost man from Poland, Carlisle, millions of angry looking cows and one bull!! Now it is the last day of August which means that the summer jollys are about done and dusted so its time to put my walking boots away and get back into schools. Today and tomorrow i am in Rotherham libraries doing some writing workshops with teenagers. Its all walking and walls and writing and workshops innit!!!!

Sitting in the sun

I have just finished a book about the old blokes who put together the first proper English Dictionary. it was all a bit mind boggling. It was a book about murder, madness and the English language!!! Blimey O Riley what a story!! This bloke who used to be a Doctor in the USA went a bit doolally and shot a bloke cos he thought he was going to attack him - he wasn't - and he got sent to a hospital for poorly people. Then this other bloke, this really clever bloke had the job of putting together teh dictionary and asked for people to help him...well.. this mad bloke wrote to him and helped him loads. In fact he went on to be one of the most important people behind the dictionary. He was called Dr W. C Minor and the other brainy bloke was called DR James Murray. It was a brilliant book. You wouldn't think that a book about another book could be so interesting but it was. It made me think about books and the people who write them and about all the work that goes into it!! You gotta treat books with respect people!!!

Carig Bradely and Greg Smelly

I am not a brilliant typist. I have learnt to be better because i am a writer and i have to do a lot of it. I always write poems with a pen in my hand because i am a better writer than i am a typer and besides if you write a poem on the computer it looks finished when it isn't.....but when i write emails and blogs and all that stuff i have to type. But here's the thing, i type my name like this Carig Bradely. I don't know why its just where my fingers want to go and who am i to argue. Another thing about my name is when i sign autographs somethings in schools it looks like i have written Greg Smelly. Imagine that, being called Mr Smelly!!!

Jimmys

I was doing two cool things today. I was on BBC Radio Leeds. I went through the papers and tried to find sommat interesting to speak about something funny and a bit weird then after that i went to a hospital called St James or Jimmy's as everyone calls it, and read some poems out to the young people in there. It was mad and loud and frantic but all in a good way. It was red hot today and it looks like the summer has come at last!!! I plan to spend all weekend in the back garden doing nothing except cutting the grass, having a BBQ, playing football, teaching Jack to ride his bike, reading, packing for the holidays, sunbathing, more reading, maybe do some writing, stare at clouds, daydream, go for a zebra ride, fight a bear and drink cold drinks.

PS i made that bit about the zebra up but I'm dead serious about the bear!!!

The Man From The BBC

Today i had a bit of a different day. I am making a documentary about a man called Joshua Tetley. Joshua had a brewary in Leeds, years and years ago now, and BBC Radio Leeds asked to talk about him on the radio. Tetleys brewary is leaving Leeds after 189 years. I have done lots of radio stuff before but never a proper 1 hour show about anyone. I had to research Joshua's life and find out lots about him. I had to sound like i knew what i was talking about!!!! I did it with my mate Nick, who is a producer at BBC Radio Leeds. A producer is someone who tells me what we are going to do and to say my bit again if it was rubbish!!! And i was rubbish quite a bit!!!! We went into Leeds market to talk to people about Tetelys brewary. Its called vox popping. That was good fun. I am doing a lot more work on the show and it will be on the radio this August bank holiday. Doing this kind of thing is completely different to reading my poems out in primary schools but i think doing different stuff now and again is a good way to learn new stuff!!!

Raw seagull anyone?

One of the best things for me about summer is that i have more time to read. I spend a lot of time thinking about which book to read next and take ages picking books up then putting them back down and picking up another. I have just read a book about Captain Bligh who was a real sea captain back in the late 1700s. His crew stole his ship of him (its called a mutiny) and left him in a little boat. Amazingly he sailed over 4162 miles across the pacific ocean and made it back in one piece, just about!! He survived drinking a spoonful of water everyday!!!!!!! He even caught seagulls with his bare hands and ate them raw!! What a trip, what a story, the next time your train is late or you are stuck in a traffic jam just think about poor old Captain Bligh!!!

Done but not dusted

I have pretty much done for the summer now and its been a bit busy but in a good way. First i did the Coast To Coast walk, more about that to come on the website, then i got back and went straight into school visits, 2 days in Stockport school which was ace and then 2 days up in Gateshead at the Jospeh Swan school where i did 8 performances to over 400 pupils in 2 days. Then i had another week in Blackpool. I have been Blackpool Schools Poet In Residence this summer term and i have had a blast. I was in St Johns, Boundary, Thames and Devonshire and i enjoyed myself in every one of them. Doing this Blackpool residency has been great so ta for everyone at the school, especially to Mr Kirkpatrick who took me out for a curry, even if some one said that i look like James May!!!
Now i have to get my old mate Sprocket to tart me old website up, loads of stuff about the walk and Blackpool to put on and then that's me done for a bit.

Slippers out, feet up, well till the next time.....