Veganuary going strong. Went to my sister’s for a vegan curry takeaway and the new Knives Out movie on Friday night. Things didn’t go to plan though and a minor headache I was nursing became a gargantuan, throbbing agony. Drove home and slept it off.
Did nothing all Saturday. I did, however, come out with this haiku:
So dehydrated
Need to focus on fitness
Staying in tonight
Seemed fine by Sunday, went to Uppermill with family, had this:
This week:
2 new meetup groups have opened up: Manchester Activity Group and Manchester Motivation Group. Both pretty self-explanatory.
Journal Club Wednesday at Hinterland. The last one (the first one) was really interesting. There’s a meetup on Manc Mates. Discussion and practice on the art of journaling, on the theme of Freedom according to Eventbrite. That’s the same theme as last time. Dunno if that’s a mistake.
Thursday night: Poetry night again at Hinterland. I have nothing to read out. I just can’t think of anything that would work. So I’ll probably miss it, but if anyone else likes a good poem...
Saturday Night: Manchester Nightlife is out once again this time to new food outlet Dave’s Hot Chicken in the Printworks. There are a million fried chicken outlets. Will this be better? It’s certainly newer. Come find out. We might do a few drinks around there after.
Later that night British UFC fighter Lerone Murphy takes on Aaron Pico in UFC 319. I’d like to watch it. It’s not easy to find places that do.
Also, on the blog, a review of the last year and some goals for the next one.
Thursday 10th July – I’m in Hinterland, the vegan alcohol-free bar in The Northern Quarter listening to a poem about kangaroos and masculinity. They're not two images that would normally be mashed together, but that is the beauty of creative writing – it’s allowed. If you can think it, it can go on the page.
Tonight we’re in attendance for Hinterland Poets, an open-mic night of poetry. Dave Stone and Dave Viney present the night, and on entry I add my name to the ‘poetry fish’ – a cardboard cut-out fish – and take a seat. After an intro (Viney tells us of his work in prisons, teaching poetry), the open mic slots begin.
I’m fourth out of around 20 poets, and I finally get around to reading this poem Junkie, that I wrote in 2019. I liked other people’s poems, and they seemed to like mine. I’ve done tons of writing over the years but I can rarely think of anything that would work in poem form – a lot of what I write is event write-ups and psychology musings, normally with a lot of multimedia add in to tell more of the story, so putting things into rhyme wouldn’t really work.
But I’m going to try. I’m making a conscious effort to do other things with my social time than hang around in overpriced cocktail bars. So poetry might work.
The next Hinterland Poets is on 14th August.
After running a few meetups in Hinterland last year, I found that the vegan cafe could no longer accommodate us due to their own events. Their roster started to stack up with philosophy and poetry nights, all things that, in fairness, I’d be tempted to try out. I’ve been trying to find things to do that aren’t just going to bars and sampling cocktails, so an alcohol-free bar like Hinterland made a good start.
On Wednesday 2nd July they hosted a journaling class organised by Fi, who had chosen the theme for the evening:
What is freedom, really?
Fi encouraged us to free-write, in prose or poetry, what we thought of the word ‘freedom,’ and encouraged us to speak from our own perspective. We were given a few minutes to put together a piece on the subject.
Here’s mine:
The hardest thing about freedom is that you don’t realise how valuable it is until it’s taken away from you. Lack of money or time, or other obligations like family commitments can take over your life. But when they don’t, your freedom can allow you opportunities to try new experiences. Freedom, however, has its dark side. Too much freedom and not enough commitment, can bring out other frustrations.
2/7/25 Journaling event in Hinterland Manchester. #creativewednesday
— Matt Tuckey 🇬🇧 (@matttuckey.bsky.social) July 16, 2025 at 10:00 AM
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Fi asked us for our thoughts on ‘Freedom,’ or lack thereof, and she added them to the board.
• Self judgement / expectations
• Holding contradictions
• Staying open
• Allowing things to be messy / unresolved
Another prompt with a 10-minute free-writing exercise came next, on the title: A part of me that longs for freedom is…
I splurged this out onto the page:
A part of me that already is free, but I’m afraid to take that step. I could more, solo. I’ve never gone abroad alone.
I have memory difficulties. The restriction here is that new places are hard for me to get around. I rely on my phone a lot. New places require organisation. I’d be screwed without Google Maps. That said, I have managed it in other British cities live Liverpool and Newcastle. It could be done. Is a foreign country really going to be that different? It’s a big step, but I’m tempted to test that freedom and plan out a slow adventure. I’d be free from other people’s restrictions, other plans and priorities. If I want to try that club, that museum, I can.
Do I dare, though?
So, yes. Automatic writing rarely results in anything other than drivel, but hey, it’s honest drivel. Isn’t that why you read my stuff?
And Goddamn I need to practice Teeline. Trying to decipher my own shorthand after a few days was like trying to read the Zodiac’s letters, only I’d written it myself.
I think someone read out a poem at this point, then we dove into a new prompt:
The Place that I Find Freedom
The pen upon the page, bringing factual or fiction
whatever you can think of, without any restriction
not getting any younger, traverse across the land,
take the opportunity, embrace with both hands
order from the chaos, all you need’s a pen
That’s as far as I got before the timer went.
Enjoyable group. Good mix of people. Not too pretentious, great venue (I’ve never been to a bad event in Hinterland) and well ran.
BREAKING: Joseph R. Biden has been sworn in as the 46th President of the United States of America. https://t.co/5lTqNoetMC #InaugurationDay pic.twitter.com/ICjbnz13ml
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) January 20, 2021
There once was a moron called Trump
— Matt Tuckey (@matthewtuckey) January 11, 2021
of his habits, the world got the hump
he took a good hidin'
from Democrat Biden
at the polls, he was certified 'dumped'#parlershutdown
#isthisthewaytobarnardcastle
Cummings and Juice pic.twitter.com/b8HDDwoTTy
—
Matt Tuckey (@matthewtuckey) May
26, 2020
