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(My Weekly WalkaboutsVerse, E.G. - link above-right - is my poem "Walkabout Mexico".)

NAVIGATION

As well as the Page Links above-right, plus the Gig List below, I've created several alternative sites for accessing my work (and my email is david1franks@yahoo.com):

All my verses and tunes (plus some pics) are at walkaboutsverse.blogspot.com;

The title and a link, along with others, to my WeeklyWAV  are on x.com/davidfranks, facebook.com/walkaboutsverse, and linkedin.com/in/walkaboutsverse

You may hear and see a selection of my repertoire at myspace.com/walkaboutsverse & youtube.com/walkaboutsverse;
plus all my "Chants From Walkabouts" are at
writeoutloud.net/profiles/davidfrankswalkaboutsverse);

My photo Sets are here flickr.com/photos/walkaboutsverse (W.I.P.);

& my Google Maps contributions here David Franks - WalkaboutsVerse

Furthermore, I've self-published an A4 paperback "Walkabouts:  travels and conclusions in verse" and the, related, C.D. "Chants From Walkabouts," which have been gifted to some libraries;

Finally, any Gigs/Floor Spots (all amateur, so far) will be posted as Tweets (linked above), and as blogs, with some postscript information plus pics (click on once to enlarge), below - use  <  Home   > on mobiles and, otherwise, "Older Posts" or above-right "Blog Archive" links.

Floor Spots at Sharp's Folk Club, London: 2015-2016

Attended Sharp's Folk Club, London, a few times in 2015 and 2016.

Floor Spots & Singarounds at The Bridge Folk Club & The Cumberland Arms, Newcastle: 2003-2011

Attended both The Bridge & The Cumberland Arms (atop) in Newcastle upon Tyne several times from 2003 to 2011 (as well as singarounds and competitions at folk festivals in Durham and Northumberland).

N.E. England Gig - 15.11.2010

Poetry performance on Northern Lines event – 6.30 P.M. Monday 15.11.2010 at the Lit. & Phil., Newcastle upon Tyne (near train station).

P.S:  it wasn't just poetry readings at this event - one chap read a couple of 50 word (no more/no less) short stories!

N.E. England Gig - 06.11.2010

Theory Slam - like Poetry Slams except folks present a theory: 3.30 - 4.30 P.M. Saturday 06.11.2010 at the The Sage (now The Glasshouse International Centre for Music), Gateshead, NE England.  (P.S: this was my winning Theory Slam, as part of B.B.C. Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival.)

CUT CAPITALISM

After introducing myself, David Franks, as a repat. born the day Alf Ramsay's English team won the World Cup of football; plus mentioning, born a couple of months later, David Cameron's approach to the fine economic mess over-the-border Blair and Brown, among others, got us into:

We can fix the budget deficit, and level our Goliath-like inequality, with one sling stone - taxation of the rich. And there'd be no brain-drain from our nation if and when the United Nations finally respects native land rights, and makes all economic immigration (which is synonymous with capitalist immigration) illegal from now on.

And, as for capitalism itself, what some get for their hours work compared with others is ridiculous and inhumane, so, if we like fair competition, we don't like the free market. The better way is to accept that we humans are competitive, and have strong regulations to make that competition as fair as possible - with humane safety-nets; and the best way to regulate large facilities is to nationalise them.

Or, if your prefer it in verse from my collection WalkaboutsVerse -

"GLOBAL REGULATIONISM

No income-scale would be unjust -
It’s a matter of degree;
And, to have less inequality,
Regulations are a must.

For, in Millennium’s status quo,
The pay-gaps for human work,
And what’s obtained simply as a perk,
Are wrong - inhumanely so."

Or, if you prefer it from Shakespeare in Measure for Measure - "Liberty as surfeit is the father of much fast."
Or, if you prefer it from Steinbeck in Grapes of Wrath -
"Business is glorified theft."

Thus, the Statue of Liberty, in Paris and New York, should be renamed the "Statue of Regulationism," and the newly-formed Tea Party should be dissolved.

And speaking of tea, the People's Republic of China, which I enjoyed visiting in 1988, now needs a socialist revolution to get rid of what seems to be the "Chinese Capitalist Party," and the revolting inequality its producing - to the point where Chinese are now buying into our free-market club football, which should, rather be regulated back to how it was: mostly locals in MEANINGFUL competition.

To sum up, then, in our "pursuit of happiness" (the theme of the festival), we should cut capitalism, because fair-competition requires strong regulations NOT freedom; and, unlike Castro at the U.N.!, we only have 3 minutes, so thanks for listening.

(It, along with the other Slams in this Cafe Culture event, should be broadcast on Radio 3's Night Waves, early next year.)

N.E. England Gig - 06.06.2010

A brief spot at Newcastle upon Tyne's Green Festival, in the Green Tent, Leazes Park (near the city centre), during afternoon of 06.06.2010.

N.E. England Gig - 04.01.2010

Theory Slam - like Poetry Slams except folks present a theory – 7.00 P.M. 04.01.2010 at the Urban Cafe, Dance City, Newcastle upon Tyne.

ANYONE FOR TENNIS?

Further to some of my verses on tennis; I played A-grade juniors - football, also - with a clubfoot, have studied ergonomics, plus watched and analysed the game quite a lot.  However, I tend now to question females playing tennis, as - unlike table tennis - it does put a lot of strain on the racket-arm..?

(Work In Progress - details will be posted later.)

N.E. England Gig - 24.10.2009

Theory Slam - like Poetry Slams except folks present a theory – 4.00 P.M. Saturday 24.10.2009 at the The Sage (now The Glasshouse International Centre for Music), Gateshead, NE England. 

P.S:  this Theory Slam "will be recorded for future broadcast in Radio 3's Night Waves" (BBC website - http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/b00qn4b8); the Slam starts at 31:15 and includes about a third of my three-minute speech at 35:45 -  "If you are not American, don't Americanise - for the love of our world being multicultural."

Checked in October 2020, and the BBC recording is no-longer available; I shall add all the words shortly but, meantime, they are summed-up by this Tweet - 

To all non-American humans: rather than copying American pop, rock & (c)rap, PLEASE perform your own good musical traditions, to keep our world/our #UnitedNations nice & multicultural; &, to Native Americans/First Nations, please keep your traditions alive davidfranks.blogspot.com/p/repertoire.html

N.E. England Gig - 18.04.2009

Spot on the Morpeth Northumbrian Gathering Concert - 6.30 P.M. Saturday 18.04.2009 at the Bagpipe Museum, Morpeth, Northumberland, England.

N.E. England Gig - 05.01.2009

Theory Slam - like Poetry Slams except folks present a theory – 7.00 P.M. Monday 05.01.2009 at the Urban Cafe, Dance City, Newcastle.

SUMMARY OF NATIVE-GARDENING TALK – 2009 THEORY-SLAM

"Green"/ecological gardening is native gardening, so fruit and vegetables/edibles, plus other consumables, should be the only exotic-flora we plant or hybridise - as doing so can help limit food-miles, packaging, etc. By filling our other garden spaces with natives, we limit the risk of foreign-diseases and -pests, plus use less water and other resources, whilst aiding the native-fauna that, over the centuries, evolved with them - that is, habitat creation. (You have probably heard of American skunk-cabbage and Japanese knot-weed, among other big-problem species, but even high-nectar exotics, such as Buddleia, that are very attractive to some of England's native-fauna, should be avoided, because they upset nature's/God's balance – God created evolution, too, that is; so the Victorian plant-hunters were brave but wrong and, rather, it is better, for example, to grow geraniums in England, and pelargoniums in South Africa.)

Our green gardens, with their edibles and natives (harvest and habitat), can be made still-greener (better places for wildlife to feed and live) by the addition of compost heaps/bins; a wildlife pond – for native frogs, newts, and so on, rather than exotic goldfish; bee- and bird-boxes, plus carefully-selected regularly-cleaned feeders; rain- and grey-water butts; by, at harvest time, leaving some vegetable plants to flower; by avoiding pesticides and growing everything organically - including thrifty home-propagation, plus species-swapping; and by leaving lush untidy patches (less mowing - perhaps just for a path), with decaying branches/insect hotels (helping to offset their global decline). Also, using manual- rather than electric-tools is both greener & quieter - whilst helping stay trim without the gym!

In summary, do the best you can with the limited pallet of natives plus veggies and, thus, reduce food-miles, help keep our world/United Nations multicultural, AND help the native fauna that EVOLVED with the flora native to your part of the world - a process that will continue with climate change, which we should, of course, be trying to limit, partly through planting & protecting plenty of NATIVE trees.

For those who agree, there are books and nurseries, some run by local councils, offering native plants and information on them; and, hallelujah, Kew has taken a Grow Wild initiative - https://www.kew.org/learning/community-and-access/community-learning-programmes/grow-wild (new tab)

P.S: whilst our selection of indoor plants is, logically, not as critical to the ecology of our greater environment, we need to be wary of importing struggling species, as well as foreign diseases and fauna in plant pots and, thus, lean toward home-grown &/or reputable retailers.

Levenshulme Allotments 2017

Levenshulme Allotments; 30/1/17

Levenshulme Allotments; 18/2/2017

Levenshulme Allotments; 13/3/2017

Levenshulme Allotments; 13/3/2017

Levenshulme Allotments; 13/3/2017

Levenshulme Allotments; 13/3/2017

Levenshulme Allotment; 13/3/17

Levenshulme Allotments; 13/3/2017

Levenshulme Allotments; 13/3/2017

Levenshulme Allotments; 15/4/2017

Levenshulme Allotments; 17/4/2017

Fire at Levenshulme Allotments; 24/4/2017

Levenshulme Allotments; 27/5/17

Levenshulme Allotments; 18/6/2017

Levenshulme Allotments; 25/6/2017

Levenshulme Allotments; 27/6/2017

Levenshulme Allotments; 8/7/2017

Levenshulme Allotments; 8/7/2017

Levenshulme Allotments; 23/7/2017

Levenshulme Allotments; 5/8/2017

Levenshulme Allotments; 14/10/2017

Levenshulme Allotments; 14/10/2017

Levenshulme Allotments; 14/10/2017

Levenshulme Allotments; 14/10/2017

Levenshulme Allotments; 14/10/2017

Levenshulme Allotments; 14/10/17

Levenshulme Allotments; 14/10/17

Levenshulme Allotments; 14/10/2017

Levenshulme Allotments; 14/10/2017

Levenshulme Allotments; 14/10/2017

Levenshulme Allotments; 29/10/2017

Levenshulme Allotments; 29/10/2017

Levenshulme Allotments; 29/10/2017

Levenshulme Allotments; 5/11/17

Levenshulme Allotments; 5/11/2017

Levenshulme Allotments; 5/11/17

Levenshulme Allotments; 23/12/2017

Levenshulme Allotments; 23/12/2017

Levenshulme Allotments; 24/12/2017

Levenshulme Allotments 2018

Levenshulme Allotments; 27/2/2018 -
during The Beast from the East

Levenshulme Allotments; 19/5/2018

Levenshulme Allotments; 9/6/2018

Levenshulme Alltoments Filming; 26/6/18

Levenshulme Allotments; 14/7/2018

Levenshulme Allotments; 5/8/18

Levenshulme Allotments; 5/8/2018

Levenshulme Allotments; 5/8/18

Levenshulme Allotments; 5/8/2018

Levenshulme Allotments; 5/8/2018

Levenshulme Allotments; 5/8/2018

Levenshulme Allotments Open Day; 2/9/18

Levenshulme Allotments; 29/9/18

Levenshulme Allotments; 29/9/&13/10/18

Levenshulme Allotments; 29/9/2018

Levenshulme Allotments; 29/9/2018

Levenshulme Allotments; 3/11/2018

Levenshulme Allotments 2019

Levenshulme Allotments; 17/4/2019

Levenshulme Allotments; 19/4/2019

Levenshulme Allotments; 19/4/2019

Levenshulme Allotments; 12/5/2019

Levenshulme Allotments; 12/5/2019

Levenshulme Allotments; 12/5/2019

Levenshulme Allotments; 12/5/2019

 

 

 

Growing and bathing, on the longest day,
at Levenshulme Allotments; 21/6/2019

Levenshulme Allotments; solstice, 21/6/19

Levenshulme Allotments; 21/6/19

Levenshulme Allotments; 22/6/2019

Levenshulme Allotments; 22/6/19

Levenshulme Allotments; 7/7/19

Levenshulme Allotments; 14/7/2019

Levenshulme Allotments; 26/8/2019

Levenshulme Allotments; 26/8/2019

Levenshulme Allotments Open Day; 8/9/19

Levenshulme Allotments; 19/10/19

Levenshulme Allotments 2020

Ready to go again, Levy Allotments; 25/2/20

Levenshulme Allotments; 12/3/2020

Levenshulme Allotments; 13/3/2020

Cat napping in glasshouse, L.A.; 20/3/2020

Levenshulme Allotments; 22/3/2020

Levenshulme Allotments; 25/3/2020

Levenshulme Allotments; 28/3/2020

Levenshulme Allotments; 29/3/2020

Levenshulme Allotments; 29/3/2020

Levenshulme Allotments; 7/4/2020

With some skill, looking after local horses -
Levenshulme Allotments; 7/4/2020

Levenshulme Allotments; 7/4/2020

  

Welcome spring blossoms during Covid19,
Levenshulme Allotments; 9/4/2020

Levenshulme Allotments; 14/4/2020

Levenshulme Allotments; 24/4/20

Levenshulme Allotments; 8/5/2020

Levenshulme Allotments; 1/6&18/7&2/9/20

Levenshulme Allotments; 1/6/2020

Levenshulme Allotments starlings; June 20

Levenshulme Allotments; 16/6/20

Levenshulme Allotments; 25/6/2020

Levenshulme Allotments; 14/7/20

Levenshulme Allotments; 21/7/2020

Levenshulme Allotments; 30/7/2020

Levenshulme Allotments; 1/8/20

Levenshulme Allotments; 8/8/2020

Levenshulme Allotments; 9/8/2020

Levenshulme Allotments; 18/9/20-15/10/20

Big tools! Levenshulme Allotments; 18/11/20

Not Balinese paddy fields but Levenshulme
Allotments after Storm Bella; 27/12/2020

Levenshulme Allotments; 29/12/2020

Levenshulme Allotments; 31/12/2020

Levenshulme Allotments 2021

Levenshulme Allotments; 25/2/2021

Levenshulme Allotments; 15/3/2021

Levenshulme Allotments; 15/3/21

Levenshulme Allotments; 20/3/2021

Levenshulme Allotments; 26/3&6/6/2021

Levenshulme Allotments; 14/5/2021

Levenshulme Allotments; 12/6/21

Levenshulme Allotments; 19/6/2021

She's back! Levenshulme Allotments; 8/7/21

Levenshulme Allotments; 13/8/2021

Wish it was a Red at L.A.; 18/9/2021

In my 5th year, 1st I'd seen racing pigeons
 around Levenshulme Allotments; 19/9/21

Levenshulme Allotments; 10/10/2021

Levenshulme Allotments; 22/10/2021

Levenshulme Allotments 2022

Levenshulme Allotments 10/2/22

Levenshulme Allotments; 25/2/2022

Levenshulme Allotments; 10/3/2022

Levenshulme Allotments; 7/4/2022

Levenshulme Allotments; 21/5/2022

Levenshulme Allotments; 21/6/2022

Levenshulme Allotments; 27/7/2022

Levenshulme Allotments; 21/8/2022

Levenshulme Allotments; 1/9/22

Levenshulme Allotments; 13/9/2022

Levenshulme Allotments 2023

New year/new fashion!
Levenshulme Allotments; 25/3/23

Levenshulme Allotments; 4/4/2023

Levenshulme Allotments; 3/5/2023

Levenshulme Allotments; 8/6/2023

Levenshulme Allotments; 12/6/2023

Levenshulme Allotments; 13/6/23

Levenshulme Allotments; 10/8/2023

Levenshulme Allotments; 2/9/2023

Levenshulme Allotments; 13/9/2023

Levenshulme Allotments; 8/10/2023

Levenshulme Allotments; 24/11/23

Levenshulme Allotments; 24/11/2023

Levenshulme Allotments 2024

Levenshulme Allotments; 18/3/2024

Levenshulme Allotments; 18/3/24

Levenshulme Allotments; 5/4/2024

Levenshulme Allotments; 30/4/2024

Levenshulme Allotments; 19/5/2024

Levenshulme Allotments; 14/6/24

Levenshulme Allotments; 17/6/2024

Levenshulme Allotments; 3/9/2024

Levenshulme Allotments; 26/10/25

Levenshulme Allotments 2025

Levenshulme Allotments; 1/1/2025

Levenshulme Allotments; 10/3/2025

Levenshulme Allotments; 15/3/2025

Levenshulme Allotments; 26/3/2025

Levenshulme Allotments; 30/3/2025

Levenshulme Allotments; 1/4/2025

Levenshulme Allotments (hey!); 2/4/2025

Levenshulme Allotments; 4/4/2025

Levenshulme Allotments; 7/4/2025

Levenshulme Allotments (wink!); 8/4/2025

Levenshulme Allotments (ready); 9/4/2025

Levenshulme Allotments; 23/4/2025

Levenshulme Allotments; 30/4/2025

From the new spring-collection?!
Levenshulme Allotments; 2/5/25

Levenshulme Allotments; 11/5/2025

Levenshulme Allotments; 14/5/2025

9th year here & thought I'd seen it all -
a kite bird-scarer on a mounting pole,
Levnenshulme Allotments; 16/5/2025

Levenshulme Allotments; 19/5/2025

Levenshulme Allotments; 21/5/2025

Levenshulme Allotments; 13/6/2025

Pretty-in-pink hat for summer!
Levenshulme Allotments; 28/6/25

Levenshulme Allotments; 8/7/2025 -
The latter looking a bit like Mexico's
Yucatán Peninsula, with machetes
required to reveal long-lost garden-sheds!
...more wildlife-friendly, however

Levenshulme Allotments; 10/8/25:
hats-off for another good harvest!

Levenshulme Allotments; 26/8/2025

Levenshulme Allotments; 16/11/2025

Levenshulme Allotments; 31/12/2025

Levenshulme Allotments 2026 - a decade of aerial photos...

Levenshulme Allotments; 4/1/2026

Levenshulme Allotments; 22/1/26-3/3/26

Levenshulme Allotments? 14/3/2026

Levenshulme Allotments; 14/3/2026

Levenshulme Allotments; 17/3/2026

Levenshulme Allotments; 17/3/2026

Sore back?! Lev. Allots; 17/3/26

Levenshulme Allotments; 18/3/2026 -
atop, the "Prickle-Eye Bush"?! (traditional)

Slip, slop, slap! Levenshulme Allots; 21/3/26

Levenshulme Allotments; 25/5/2026