I avoided writing or posting about David Bowie today, and turned down a couple of opportunities to talk about him because I feel as if I said it all on this day last year. There's a danger that I will spent every January 10th writing the same thing, so I kind of kept a low profile as far as the Bowie tweets and posts were concerned. 

That isn't to say that today passed by in a Bowie free blur, far from it. David Bowie is a part of my life and has been since I was a child. My MP3 player only contains his music and nothing else and I have been hoovering up radio programmes since the weekend and have just started reading Ziggyology: A Brief History of Ziggy Stardust by Simon Goddard (which is a bit slow if I'm honest). There are pictures of him all over the house and piles of books, videos and DVDs about him, and records/CDs of course, so it isn't like I don't miss the guy. 

Last year Mandi had given me the ultimatum that probably saved my life, I had to seek help for my depression or we were finished. At first I denied that I needed help but eventually I realised that I needed to sort myself out. I didn't carry on with counselling but I am still on medication and I feel better. On the morning of the announcement of Bowie's death I was sleeping in my daughter's bedroom and was shaken awake by Mandi with the news. It was only at the weekend prior that I had started taking medication and had to take time away from the day job at the law firm to adjust as I felt like shit. The whole of Monday was spent listening to the radio with tears in my eyes as they played nothing but David Bowie for the best part of the day, while at the same time glued to my laptop trying to write my thoughts down with two tabs open, Twitter and Facebook, and seeing how much love there was out there for the great man. If I can gather one bit of good from this devastating news it will be the fact that it repaired the rift between Mandi and me, and we were able to go to London and stand with the hundreds of people at the mural in Brixton and the Ziggy Stardust plaque on Heddon Street. 

Here's to David Bowie, there will never be another.

Further reading (red text is a link)

Written on the day the news broke.

Written on the day we went to London to pay our respects.

Two more Bowie songs.

One more Bowie song.

Comic piece I wrote about the Blackstar theories.

===

 This week's edition of The Sunday Alternative is here. 

Thank you in advance for donating using the PayPal button at the top of this page. It all goes towards creating podcasts, sketches, documentaries, films and more, all of which I will make available for free in return for your generosity.