OK, life’s mainly a grim struggle and I’m not exactly the sort of bloke who brims with optimism at the best of times.
But it just so happens I recently wrote a very uplifting ditty, called Happy Days, which I think works both as a poem and a song lyric.
I’m going to read it at the next meeting of The Bards of New Brighton, which will take place on Bank Holiday Monday (May 7), at the Little Brighton pub (The Ginny), Rowson Street, New Brighton, 8.30pm onwards.
Anyone who writes creatively, or who is interested in writing, is welcome to attend the Bards. We meet on the first Monday of each month and the group is very friendly and supportive of writers and poets.

There is no admission charge and I do hope some of you who read this blog regularly will be tempted to attend.
During the next meeting – at about halfway through the poetry readings – there will be a high quality acoustic music set from Popstar Paul, followed by a couple of dramatic monologues.
Anyway, here are a few verses from my new poem / song, Happy Days. Perhaps it will whet your appetite for poetry and tempt you to come along to the Bards for a great night on the bank holiday evening …

It’s a four-nil win, a wicked sin,
A beer glass full, a workplace lull.
It’s an empty road and a faster drive,
It’s all the ways of being alive.

It’s Sandra’s hot pants and some old chance,
It’s the last shout and the slowest dance,
It’s her perfumed hair and her dirty smiles,
It’s youthful hopes and adult wiles.

CHORUS
And life is big if you let it rip, so make the trip, make that trip
Don’t hold back or try to hide
And forgive yourself if you have lied
‘Cos they don’t just happen, your Happy Days
They have to be built in so many ways
And then you claim your Happy Days

It’s turning up and it’s showing off,
It’s earning enough, it’s blowing off.
And it’s being there, really being there,
Staking a claim, doing your share.

And it's laughs and cars, cafes and bars,
Loads of meaning, nonchalant leaning.
It’s your look of love and my outstretched arm,
It’s being tired and feeling calm.
(C) copyright, Stephen Regan 2007

A WRITER I hope will come to the Bards one of these fine days is Justine Tennant. She’s one of the few local poets who is actually trying to make a bit of money out of versifying.
She has designed a handsome range of greetings cards for sale, featuring photos of Merseyside scenes and each with a special poem by her printed inside. Have a look at them at www.liverpoolpoems.co.uk/

I THOROUGHLY enjoyed my fiftieth birthday celebrations, by the way. The most recent of them was held in the beautiful East Anglian city of Norwich, where a couple of decades ago I was a columnist on the evening newspaper.
I met up with my old chums Marcus Aurelius, Bad Gav and Lord Vino. This time our gathering was also graced by the beautiful creature I used to call Donna Lad (though there was never anything remotely laddish about her).
Donna still works in the Norfolk area, as does Marcus Aurelius, but most of the rest of the old gang from 20 years ago are scattered to the wind.
My girlfriend from that era, Miss ‘Treacle’ Tartt, didn’t show up for my grand birthday meal at the Elm Hill Brasserie.
She is a soccer mom these days, so had to spend the day driving her young sons to different ends of Norfolk for football matches – instead of coming out on my p**up!
Apparently she doesn’t hate me, though, and she truly is interested to find out how I am doing these days.
I think she’ll be pleased to know that I am not filthy rich, I haven’t married and nor do I have any children...
And that I’m just an average sort of Joe, who has kept his good looks (though they are undoubtedly a curse) and that I am kept busy and financially stretched by having to support six publicans, a tax accountant and three stalkers.

EXCITING news from New Brighton. Tallulah Swells, the famous glamourpuss barmaid from Hell’s Waiting Room, will soon be opening her own bar in the resort.
And she is calling the venue Tallulah’s, which is a very good name for the sort of bar she has in mind. I think it is going to be quite an opulent wine bar sort of thingie.
Tallulah is not her real name, of course (hardly anyone in my blog is given their real name) but she is certainly a real person.
And Tallulah’s is a fine name for a bar. This lady of whom I speak is a superb barmaid with exactly the right sort of personality for that noble profession.
Her smile alone can light up a room and she is most elegant and stylish. There is considerable excitement and eager anticipation about her new venture, which will be in Victoria Road, New Brighton. Watch this space.

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