Thanks (& so the days grow longer...!)

What is life, but a dream? Sometimes the thing can seem so harassed and bloodied, and heavy and terse, that we forget this. But, recently, I've been feeling it. Life's lighter, sunnier... So much so, that I can almost see through my own arms. Things are not as solid as they were. I see things more as motes of dust, rather than stones being thrown.

Earlier in the year, however, there were whole clouds of dust, and at the time every mote felt more like a comet than a crumb: a planet, rather than a particle. Now that I am seeing things in a sunnier light, I would like to thank all the people who were supportive during the time when I was having trouble with this... I was also pretty ill with a swift succession of kidney infections, which didn't much help matters.

So! My sincerest thank yous to......

Lisette, the bestest housemate ever! Nothing like a straight-talking Cockney wench to help you see things straight.

Fiona, the wise and beautiful dancing sprite, for sleep overs and advice and energising dance classes.

Kevin, who has a heart of gold, despite being a filthy, funny fucker (watch this clip!).

Cheers, also, to hep-cat Nicholas and cool-cat Marsha, simply for existing; to my sister Linds and brother Mao for their timely advice; to Emma Syrup and Will Ford, for listening when I ranted on; and also to the various ladies who I bumped into when distressed, and who were very nice to me: Sheryl; Coral; Yin; and everyone else.

Thanks to all my lovely, funny Facebook friends - FB gets a bad rap, like 'it's not real life' and that, but conversing/interacting with so many sweethearts *did* help, and *does* make a happy difference to my life.

Thanks to my meditation/healing group for being like little sparks of sunshine in a dark, dark world, and for showing me where and how to find the Light in myself :-)

Apologies to all the many people I did not get back to, esp. Jack Pascoe and Rachel Jones - I hope you will forgive me!

Thanks to the 'friends' who got in a huff/struck out when I was feeling low, really glad you've fucked off/I've told you to fuck off/I don't see you anymore! :-)

Thanks to Buzz Magazine for being so understanding and giving me some great opportunities this year, and to Write Out Loud (esp Greg Freeman) for allowing me to blog for them.

Thanks to Chapter Arts Centre, for hosting PechaKucha Night; and to Annie Haden at the Dylan Thomas Birthplace for being so kind and supportive.

Thank you to everyone who supported my cultural trip to Japan earlier in the year. See the full list of people who helped fund the trip here: but I would also like to thank those two who funded the most money (because I said I'd write a blog about you, and I havent yet): marvellous performance poet Anthony Fairweather and the super-talented singer-songwriter Cheryl Beer. 

Thanks also to Cheryl for asking me to perform at the wonderful Celtic Women festival.

And to Luke Wright, who helped sponsor my trip *and* booked me for the Latitude Festival, which was great fun.

To Leona Medlin of Mulfran Press for the lovely, poet-y London trip.

Thanks to Hirono Chikako of the Kansai St David's Society for asking me to perform at their festival in Osaka, Japan, and to photographer Rhys Jones for recommending me.

Thanks to the National Botanic Garden of Wales (David Hardy, in particular) for having me as their first ever Poet in Residence.

To Steven, for driving me to the Latitude Festival; for the sweet moments; and for making me realise I prefer dogs to cats.

And to many other people, too many to mention here!!! You know who you are, though!!! Much love to you, and a very happy Winter Solstice to you all!!!!! xxx