My third cbook – a collection of poems written during the Covid pandemic – is currently at the printers. All being well it should be available in September. It’s called COVID TYMES and follows a timeline from the first UK lock-down in March 2020 to “Freedom day”, July 19th 2021.

I’t’s mid August now, and Freedom Day seems a long time ago. We are not free of this virus. There are still over 30,000 new cases registered every DAY. Face coverings are not mandatory, but most people still wear them in shops, and it’s requested on public transport. Most people I know have had a double vaccination. Even 16 year olds can have the jabs now. But there’s still a lot of it about, and even with vaccine protection, it can be nasty.

I wasn’t intending writing this Covid book. I did write lots of poems. Everyone will have their own memories of these exceptional times, and there will be a great outpouring into new books about those experiences, from all walks of life, I am sure.  I was asked by a family member if I was going to publish another book, and I told him I had dismissed the idea at present. Later, I thought it would be worth putting the poems all together, just for my own record, and as a family reminder of the times we went through together, and for a next generation to understand a little about it.  Having made  the decision to do it, the process was quite quick as the work had already been done. Word about it got around, and hopefully  getting a few printed is a worthwhile idea.

One of the difficulties encounted over the last eighteen months is that I haven’t been able to promote the previous book, Candle. No Gigs/spoken word events, no social group meetings or club events.

September will be an exciting month. Things are opening up again and I will have TWO books to shout about!