Matt Tuckey is a writer from Oldham, England. He covers celebrities, night life, Manchester, fitness, creative writing, social media, psychology and events. Some of this may, in some way, help others. Or maybe it'll just entertain you for a while.
Back in 2009 I joined a little-known website called Meetup, a place for people to meet people to do certain activities based on their location. Writers Connect was the first group I joined, a community of creative types writing mostly short fiction and poetry. They were a good group that I was a member of for many years until it folded in 2018.
In around 2014, Meetup- a site I’d been on for quite a while – seemed to blossom quickly, with more groups opening up every day. I’d had no idea until this week, that the site was way older than this.
Meetup has just celebrated its 20-year anniversary.
The heads of Meetup- the site- are running a meetup- as in an event- virtually, at 8pm GMT on Thursday. ‘The CEO will share what’s coming in 2022 including measures for organizer success and exciting product updates.’ Sounds good. I haven’t been to a meetup in yonks- even before the pandemic- but I’m interested to see how it plans to compete with other tech bringing people together (the Pickle app being one. Wikipedia claims it’s about matching jobs to tradesmen, but it’s mostly people looking for drinking buddies.)
On the blog this week: a review of the Teeline project, and a potential psychopharmacological project is lined up.
Manchester's
Nexus Art Cafe has become the latest
casualty in Manchester's fight against COVID-19. Meeting point for
many a writers' group, the cafe was a great, cosy, quiet spot serving
tasty toasties and rocky road. Most of the stories I got published
were workshopped behind their walls.
We’re very sad to announce that Nexus has
not been able to weather the Covid-19 storm. As a not-for-profit
organisation, our margins were always very small, and even with your
help we didn’t have the reserves to keep us going. pic.twitter.com/ZRA3dNhOQ3
The staff were always friendly and considerate, frequently donating 'The Nook,' their private room, for our sessions. I
remember one time, after a 2-hour critiquing session pulling apart
some strong stories and poems, I absent-mindedly left my wallet on
one of their sofas- they hung on to it 'til I called in again later
that night.
I
mentioned back in May
that I was burgled the previous July, now over a year ago. I know
exactly who did it. I just don't have the proof.
The
culprit- we'll call him Kenny- was recently evicted from the
Littlemoor estate, and I hadn't seen him in months. On Tuesday, I saw
him on George St in Oldham in a wheelchair, being pushed by another
man. Is this the result of a degenerative disease? Or an assault? Or
is it an attempt at benefit fraud? Does anyone know anything about
this? If so, hit me up.
Recently,
police raided a scrapyard in Oldham, and found parts of my stolen
car. They're planning to prosecute, so I made sure I reminded them
about the the connecting man.
In
other news I hit 90kg on vertical grip bench press, a PB I haven't
beaten since 2011. This is largely due to Oldham's main sports centre
not having a chest machine with vertical handles. Chadderton Sports
Centre, where Oldham's Andy's Man Club is
held, does. I fit in a cheeky session before the club meets.
Today
I visited Orton's Writers Circle
in Nexus Art Cafe. I got some great
feedback on a poem I wrote. I'll polish it up and you'll see it here
soon. They're keen for me to write more of the same style.
The meeting with Ortons Writers Circle
went great and the feedback I got on a poem allowed me to polish it
off and upload it on Wednesday.
I've got another poem for the group to review soon.
Tonight
I dropped into the SMPLE: Work for a Magazine meetup in Nexus Art Cafe in the
Northern Quarter. SMPLE is an online magazine
based in Vancouver, Canada, born from a tech company, focussing on
art, culture, music and lifestyle. Organiser Josh Potts is taking the
lead in the UK, and sat out in the garden of Nexus he described how
he's looking for contributors for the 'cinematic' project: as well as
written content he's hoping to include video documentaries on a range
of topics, with 'no mandate on what we can and can't do.'
The
project is all about empowerment, collaboration and even some cash
rewards. It's early days, but I'm hoping that the community will give
an opportunity for people like me to get our writing seen by a bigger
audience than just our own blog readers.
The
following was written some years ago but not uploaded as the picture
we used for this writing exercise was taken down from the walls of
the cafe. Writers Connect has since folded, but another group runs in the same venue.
Writers
Connect are
held fortnightly in Nexus Art Cafe in the Northern Quarter. The café's walls are adorned with painintgs
and craftwork, one of which is a large, elaborate oil piece of a
monkey. We used this as a prompt.
Fluffy
Oakes, zoological consultant extraordinaire, sits facing the glass of
the monkey enclosure with his steel clipboard and pen poised.
Most
of the marmosets are asleep, but one- the zoo named him Max- is
engaged in a stare-off. The room is very quiet. Fluffy writes,
'Attentive.'
Max
peers over the glass at Fluffy's clipboard, chin raised, like he's
trying to look at what he's written.
It
started at the turn of the century in the States- zookeepers had
managed to teach animals to tap objects based on verbal instructions
for rewards. Oldham Zoo were intent on taking it a step further.
The
marmoset pressed his hands against the glass.
“Lie
Down,” Fluffy instructed.
Max
shrugged, or so it seemed.
Fluffy
held up a bag of peanuts. “Lie. Down.”
Max
dropped to his hips, propping his head up on his elbow, human-like.
Fluffy
passed the peanut through the sliding drawer and Max devoured it.
It
was time to move things on. Fluffy pressed his lips together, as Max
watched. He made a “pah” sound. He held up another peanut. “Pah.”
Eventually,
Max would copy, and language would follow.
Other
than that, I grew some balls and read out a poem about depression at
Orton's Writers Circle.
I got some great feedback on it and I'm now ready to knock it into
shape before churning it out to a few magazines. I felt a little
awkward reading it out but the group were understanding and
supportive.
Love Island Season 4 has begun, and I am for
some reason watching it. All getting a bit samey. The launch was
Monday, raking in 2.9 million viewers, double of last year's launch.
I watch it to see if I can pick up tips with women, but after
watching season 2+3 I can't say I've learned jack shit. Still, I'll probably be getting my picture taken with a few of these characters in random Manchester bars over the coming months.
I
attended a pretty unique event on Tuesday night. Have you ever been
networking and go-karting at the same time? I went to
Netkarting at
TeamKarting Rochdale on Tuesday night,
ran by Director Andy Hall
and CEO Matty Street. A nicely arranged, unique night with 2 bouts of karting, a presentation
from the organisers and a chance to meet other people for business
networking.
I
can't kart for the fucking life of me, but it was still fun. I was so
bad, in fact, that I got pulled over for blocking or something. I
dunno.
Friday:
finished work and on leave until the 20th.
Sunday
afternoon: Orton's Manchester Writers Circle
met in Nexus, and I dropped in to
check out the new group. Writers Connect has unfortunately folded
after around 9 years of twice-monthly meetings. Sad times. But Ortons
met today in the same place an hour earlier, midday. Their meetings
seem a little more varied, not just critique sessions, and at a
variety of times. We'll see how it goes. Today's meeting went well,
with no warm-up exercise unfortunately but some very knowledgeable
advice being dished out.
Life
is short, and so is money, so there's two good reasons to come for
happy hour in Manchester's Turtle Bay
restaurant. Manchester Cool Bars are
dropping in at 10pm for 2-4-1 cocktails this Friday.
No
plans yet for Saturday or Bank Holiday Sunday night, but Sunday afternoon
is Writers Connect
time. I need your feedback on some poems! Join us at
Nexus at 1pm.
Writing
warmup exercise from Writers Connect
with the above phrase as a prompt. 10 minutes on the clock. I
produced this:
“You
went to Avici White without us?!”
“Well,
yeah.”
“Where
was my invite?!” Hudson throws his arms out slightly, like this
admission has stung him in both his armpits.
“Well,
would you have come if I'd have asked?”
“Yeah,”
he blurts, as if it was the most obvious answer.
“Last
time I asked you you didn't wanna go; you were out in Oldham,”
I stress, “again.”
“But
it doesn't matter where you go,” he says, jamming his thumbs into
his jeans pockets.
“Hudson,”
I say, rolling my eyes, “Come on. That's just a bullshit phrase
people use to, uh, to get people to do something they don't wanna
do.” I stun myself with how confident I can be since the last time
I saw him, and remember that it was that phrase, his group's mantra,
that pushed me away from his group in the first place.
“Matt,
you've changed,” he says.
“Yeah,
Ferro said that on Facebook,” I remind him. “Because I won't go
to Yorkshire Street. I don't go to Oldham.”
“But
we're your mates,” he says, “and that's where we go.”
My
blood runs cold as I stare into those black pupils, and remember the
discomfort I felt when I first met him- my instincts telling me, I
now realise, not to get involved.
“Hudson,
Oldham's a shit night out. The only change is I won't put up with
it.” I walk off.
