under another sun

Up early and made breakfast early. A morning of laundry, and moving things from one room to another in the bedrooms. I also got a chance to try on my Santa suit, it made me feel Christmassy. Apparently, I will have two elves and be installed in a library, where, under my baleful influence, the children will learn to associate an interlude of Santaphobic horror with reading and books. Then Dawn came in her car, and drove us down into town where we went to The Eagle, where John and Beth arrived quickly. Beth sporting glamorously-curled birthday hair. We had the upstairs room, and it was a gathering for Beth's birthday. A cheery afternoon. with drinks and good Sunday lunches. Good to chat with John, and James who I think of as a kind of kindred spirit, and Amy, and Dawn and Rosie, and Alex and Luke, and Wayne popped in too with one of his pals. Just a cheery afternoon. Lorraine and I bought Beth some driving lessons. I see it as a good investment. Then home, and generally running...

I made us breakfast in bed this morning, nipping out to the Choice Cuts around the corner, before heading back upstairs with Egg and Bacon sandwiches and more tea. Lorraine has a cold. Looking at the wallpapering that Cass has done in the big bedroom. I like the colour. Eventually we got up, and drove into town. It was raining. We bought some paint for the other bedroom, and then went to where Beth was teaching to pick up my Santa clothes for when I get home after being in Vienna. Then a spot of shopping, and returned home. An interlude of doing little on the gold sofa, before I caught the bus and went to visit Janet and Ken. I bought some brownies from a butcher's at the top of second avenue. Some amazing pies in there, and the brownies were great. A good chat cups of tea and brownies with Janet and I very pleased to see Ken at home, who seems in good spirits. Janet is about to buy herself a Honda Jazz. I like the idea of Janet driving about in a Jazz. Having seen Janet an...

A bit of a slow start for Lorraine and I today. Beth and Amy into town to meet up with Sarah and Suzie and Ollie. Lorraine and I, along with Kitty caught a cab into the old part of town. En route we passed a poster for our show. There are quite a few around town, but given there are a bazillion posters and flyers around town it is a drop in the ocean. When you realise just how much of the centre is given over to Fringe stuff, and how often one gets approached with flyers it is amazing. We four went off to see Jane Postlethwaite , who Kitty knew slightly and we saw at the women standup show we saw a couple of days ago. A really entertaining and imaginative show called The House , which had us four in it, two others, a critic and a fellow actor in the audience. Matt, Kitty and I were dragged onto the stage. After this show, and Jane saying she may come to ours, Kitty discovered that her bank account had been hacked in India, and her bank urgently called her. All sorted quite soon, howe...

Up at an ungodly ten past five, and frenzied around before out taxi came at ten to six. Down to Brighton station, and caught the slow train up to St Pancras. Nice to be doing this commute without having to work in an agency. The train broke down a couple of stops before St Pancras, but this only added a small delay, and we met Kitty and Matt at Kings Cross and caught the Edinburgh train in good time. About four hours and twenty minutes later, we disembarked in Edinburgh. Chatted to Mum and Toby on the train, and texted Anton. A pleasant journey up, zooming through downpours and sunny spells. Amy met us on the platform, and we cabbed to our digs in Leith, an air b'n'b flat at the top of rather posh tenement buildings. A nice smart interior, but the sixty stairs leading up to it, time worn with people's feet. Then a bus to Edinburgh for our tech rehearsal. Collected some of the props we had preordered from Argos first, and had a coffee and a snack. Then to the Surgeons...

So blimey... Show day. Occasional flares of nerves in the morning. Found it difficult to concentrate on anything very much. So went to the gym early and did a workout which helped me calm down. Also great were Maureen and Pat coming in the afternoon. Chatting with them passed the time relaxingly till Beth and Lorraine got home. Then nerves for a while. Beth looked pale and could barely eat before we went out. Into the theatre, with only half an hour to get the set and everything ready. Fortunately this was managed fairly quickly. Beth, Kitty and Dylan pacing the stage whispering lines to themselves, then taking their places. Beth set on stage at the beginning. I felt writing it so she had to do this while people filed in was a bit sadistic in retrospect. I did a reasonable impression of someone who was calm, despite not being calm. A full house, the audience rapidly filling up the place. Lorraine sitting next to me, having helped at every stage. And boom, we're on. The play revol...

Fairly fresh and hangover free on the first day of the year, which is always a good thing. A slow start, having had a poor night's sleep due to the pesky trapped nerve in my back. But surprisingly sparkly this morning. Made off to the local shop first thing to buy bacon and eggs, and Lorraine, Toby and I had a cheery breakfast. Meanwhile Beth and her pal Amy stayed in bed all day, eating the Ace pizzas they'd acquired on the way home last night. Phonecalls to a groggy Anton, and Lorraine drove us and Toby down to the sea to meet him, and we had a stroll about along the sea front. Windy, cold and bracing. After mooching about in this for a while, Anton took his hangover home, and we drove back home. Toby and I sat chatting in the kitchen drinking coffee for much of the afternoon. As tea time approached, Betty and Amy emerged from bed.  Toby and I sloped off to meet Anton in the Preston Park Tavern for a cheeky drink. Anton arrived sporting his Russian hat, possibly in respon...

Up late, after much needed snoozes. I sprang up to go to the reassuringly middle-class Arkwrights shop to buy the fixings for a large breakfast. L and I cooking together, as Betty and her pals Amy and Millie sloped down having crept in shortly before dawn. Had a humongous breakfast with these girls. They sing lots in the morning. It's good to have Betty back home, and to see Amy who we'd not seen for some time. I got on with my affairs in the afternoon and Lorraine and Betty went off shopping and returned with the makings of a vast Sunday roast. They sat together conspiring and looking at clothes on the iPad and laughing at pictures of internet cats. Rosie came by for supper, and we all gorged like mad things. Delicious food, roast pork with crackling, a multiplicity of vegetables and apple crumble afterwards. Rosie persistently doing her rather excellent Welsh and Yorkshire accents. All sprawled about afterwards with stomachs like bowling balls. Watched some Glastonbury mu...

Up then with a song on my lips to head off for London again. Actually I was feeling oddly sweaty which, given the robust health I have been in in the last few months, is typical. A busy day at work, mostly trying to figure out what needed doing, and being given lots to do at the end of the day. Had a cheeky drink with First Matie on the way back to the station, for it is her birthday tomorrow and she needed to be bought a cider. Home late and then out immediately to a pub called Circus Circus where Beth's pal Laura was having her 21st birthday party. It was a jungle-themed party so there were people dressed as bananas or lions or in pith helmets and so on. Amy and Beth were dressed as parrots, which explained the tell-tale feathers I discovered on walking through the front door. Lorraine and I went in civvies, so felt badly under-dressed. Glenda and Richard were there too, and we had a few noisy beers with them. Was feeling a bit tired, but managed a protracted cavort. The ba...

Up early to buy some green paint, for no Easter is complete without a spot of DIY. At lunchtime into town where we met Anton, Klaudia and Oskar. We did some milling about in the Brighton Food Fair, which was filling the air in New Road with sizzles and mouthwatering aromas. Curiously we didn't eat any. Went to the Pavilion Gardens, had a cup of tea and I played a good deal with my Godchildren, especially Klaudia who was demanding to be carried about a good deal. Then off to The Battle of Trafalgar , where we sat in the garden in the back and sipped a beer before Anton took the bairns home. A warm and lovely day, before the sun set. Lorraine and I waited for a short while before being joined by Paul and his son VJ. VJ being a reading prodigy at 7 or 8 and already an expert in train and tram stations. Then Betty and Amy arrived, to make for an eclectic gathering. But good to see Paul, who was his usual characterful self. After Paul left, Lorraine and I continu...

Pasties and fools Wide awake at 6:30am and eventually I got dressed and after leaving a note for Mel and Craig and headed back to Brighton. Beautiful morning, and was home a little before ten enjoying the sunny trundle through the countryside, reading the paper. The Observer today carried an excellent April Fool article that lead singer of the famously drug-fuelled Happy Mondays, Shaun Ryder, was now an adviser to the Tory Party. After breakfast with Lorraine and Betty, I simply went back to bed. Marvelling at the terrible week Prime Minister David Cameron has had. One strand of the debacle (which also involves sleasily selling access to the PM at Number 10 for donors to the Tory Party who are then able to influence policy) revolves around the humble cornish pasty. The government has decided to slap tax on hot food, so a man buying a hot pasty will pay 20% more for a hot pasty than a cold one. The (not just April) fool then claimed that he liked pasties, and bought one at York train st...

Cider in the country Up early this morning and wrote a new poem in about two minutes, and it is good. Experience tells you of course, that you have to let these things settle for a while. But I have never written a poem so fast. It is called Predator and left me feeling on a bit of a high during the day. In the late afternoon off to Beth's pal Kayleigh's 21st birthday party, swerving by Mark's place to collect him and Richard and Glenda. Off into the countryside, driving along narrow roads with dozens of rabbits in the verges. Pleasant garden party with a barbecue, lots of nice people with singing interludes from Mark, who wrote a song for Kayleigh with a hangover this very morning, and other performances from Betty, Amy, Jo and others. All rather good fun. I mainly drank cider with Richard and Glenda and other guests, and waxed exceedingly loquatious until shepherded into the car by Lorraine. Richard and Glenda singing Strangers in the Night in the back as the entirely s...

Wrong goes very right The big play day today. Rushed about doing a few jobs before going to meet Beth, Mark and Callum at Lorraine's house. Beth and I taxied to The Marlborough with props and we met Amy there. Much of the day spent setting things up, running the play, making phone calls, while Amy fiddled with sound systems and the lights. Nice to see the actors with costumes, make up, fake blood and wounds etc. plus slices of turkey and cranberry to eat off the corpse. I was also liaising with Tarik, who runs the Theatre with David. Everyone behaving professionally and well all day. Much relieved to see Beth and Mark run through Wrong unscathed in rehearsal -- it was great to see all three just go for it in a very uninhibited way. Broke for a late pizza in a local restaurant at 3:30 as everyone was suddenly starving. Lorraine and Glenda, Mark's Mum, arrived early bringing calm and organisation. I repaired down to the bar for a steadying few drinks. Learned about people droppin...