Full day with a nasty start

A call at 6:30 from Steve in the Waggon and Horses sounding a bit shaken and telling me that Paul had died in the night, and if I could let mum know as he thought she'd find the news upsetting. Steve and Paul had come to Mason's funeral and both are regulars and friends of Mum's at the Waggon. Too early to call Mum, so I waited till 9ish to tell her the news, then called Steve back. He'd received a call early this morning from Paul, and had rushed around to see him, but found him. He gave him CPR for 15 minutes, till the ambulance turned up, but poor Paul was already dead. Mum was obviously saddened by it, and said she was going to the pub this afternoon.  

I found the whole thing somewhat triggering. Something about a sudden death, involving Mum, the day after Mason's birthday and I felt very stressed over breakfast. Lorraine gave me a hug, but it was a shadow over the day, and I only felt happier when I talked again to Mum in the evening. She'd been to the pub and talked to everyone.

Then off to happier things: the hands and feet masterclass. Melissa back and somewhat jet lagged, but great value. Looked at the way the bones work in the feet and hands, and so on. A model arrived later, a slightly gruff bloke in a dress from Brighton. As it was a life drawing class, he took everything off but most of us were drawing hands and feet. The odd hand or foot here and there were okay, and although I wasn't delighted with my drawings it had really helped ground me. 

Home, a chat with Luke, repointing brickwork outside, and then off to Brighton to see Anton. 

I'd expected to see him wanly lying in bed, but he answered the door to me, and said that oddly the most comfortable thing for him was standing and continuing to move. He had been painting watercolours, and we went down to the kitchen where I had a nice chat with Anne, who I'd not seen for some time, and looked well. Also the tall handsome Oskar, who is modelling and spends lots of time in the gym in the morning, which leads to a voracious appetite.

Then Anton and I continued to move (albeit gingerly) all the way to The Crescent. This was the first time in the outside world for Anton since his operation. We sat in the back garden, me with half an alcohol free beer, and Anton with a sparkling water and played a couple of games of chess. Last time I'd played chess was several years ago with Anton. In our second game Anton beat me for the first time ever, and was delighted. He has been lurking on Chess.com and so on and improving his game. He has an aesthetically pleasing vision of himself playing chess sitting in a sophisticated continental cafe with an elegant drink of some sort. He already plays remotely with his friend Dan, making one move every three days. We also stopped after another short walk at The Cow, where Lorraine and I had first met when it was the Tin Drum. Klaudia was passing, so she popped in to say hello. 

Then to get my paces in, I bid fond farewell to Anton, and walked down into town and decided to bus it home. I got the 12A(void) and get off before home and walked at the edge of town for a bit, looking at the low sun and cloudy sky over the corn stubble.

Home and Beth, James and Enzo were there, and we all ate a large fillet of salmon Lorraine had cooked. Everyone well, and I slipped upstairs to speak to Mum, then sat about chatting before a yawning Beth, a sleeping Enzo, and a whispering James made off. 

The stubbly field and blue grey sky; attempts at hands and feet.