under another sun

Up fairly early. I have been having bad dreams, general assorted catastrophes. Just before I woke up I dreamed I had been having an affair. I woke up thinking oh God, what have I done? An immense flood of relief when I realised it was only a dream. Breakfast and teas and coffees with Mum. Neither of us terribly chatty. Mum receiving nice notes from Brad. I will write to him over the weekend, all being well. I am returning to see Mum next Thursday evening, but left her with instructions to call me at any time. Also a list of all the stuff we are doing, and where we are with it.  I feel tired and drained and left mum at about 11.30 am, bumping into Ben outside. A chat with him, then he went in to seem Mum, while I walked to Edgware and caught a bus to Mill Hill Broadway. In great contrast to last Friday, when I trained back to Seaford, the trains were excellent today, and the journey home passed in a blur. Nice to see the sea again, and felt cheery as my train pulled into Seaford sta...

A very sociable day today, at ten I made off in the rain to Rotunda cafe at Preston Park at ten and met up with Adele, Sally, Frances, Deana, Ben and Rick around the corner in the cafe. Nice to chat with everyone, and was amused by Sally talking about her dog's phantom pregnancy. She has just moved to a big new house in the country, and I pictured it teeming with ghostly puppies.  From there I walked into town, and having plenty of time did a spot of shopping -- two new masks --  before meeting Catherine. Turns out I had the time wrong, and actually was twenty minutes late. We had some lunch in the Bath Arms, and slow pint of beer, followed by a pint of soda and lime. Catherine made me laugh telling me about some infuriating feedback on her writing she'd received from a friend. We celebrated her new job, which required her to learn six programming languages. She is a bit of a marvel, and the job sounds great for her, as it is lightly supervised and working from home. Fond fare...

Lorraine and I mooching about happily today,  driving to Hove to change a tyre on the car, and to order some carpet to replace the stairs carpet, which looks atrocious and threadbare then to Homebase to buy electrical stuff.   Then off to Seaford, a little seaside town along the coast I have never really been to before. We went to the South Hill Barn to see my pal Adele, who was doing her first ever exhibition of Stained Glass there. The barn itself was on top of a hill, surrounded by countryside, and was near a car park and was a place where walkers congregate. Just a little east are the seven sisters. It was a beautiful location. It was great to see Adele taking wing with her work. I took some photos, not many of which came out nicely. She said that people were asking her about which art school she went to. She hadn't been to one of course, but we all thought that was a compliment. Lorraine brought a little glass heart. Some other interesting work there, including some by a ...

Slept in a little this morning. Heard the door click downstairs as Lorraine left for school and discovered a hot cup of tea my lovely had left for me. Up and tinkering with poems. Decided I wasn't in any kind of mood to do work of any kind today apart from brood over my poems and read poetry journals. Went off to the park at 10:30 at met up with Francis, Ben and Rick around the corner for a cup of coffee in the rotunda cafe. Nice to chat and get out. Still overcast and degrees colder than Lorraine was just a few miles north. Francis gave me a poem she wrote in the seventies to read. Rick around the corner said he had problems with animals burrowing under his house -- probably foxes. A man was going to come and deal with them. Ben showed us a little circular pane of glass on which he had replicated the painting of a bird on a cherry branch.  Home again, and I spoke to Sonia for ages, she showed me lots of photos of beautiful Bulgaria, and recommended Peacehaven as a place to live, a...

Up early... Was going to talk to Val this morning but the wifi in the hotel wasn't working, so eventually we arranged to do it tomorrow. Breakfast service at the hotel dismally slow. We had booked to go in at 9.00 and I only got my breakfast at 9:40 long after Lorraine had her's. We packed up and loaded up the car, and then made off for a lovely walk in town. There was a Seasalt shop which is one of Lorraine's favourite shops at the moment. Then went for a saunter by the river, sitting on benches and watching the stream go by. Very relaxing and nice. Lots of fish in the water too, which I liked. Looking at fish always makes me happy.  Eventually we had crossed a cricket pitch, walked along a road back to the hotel and collected the car. Mixed feelings about the hotel, lovely location and pleasant enough staff, but wretched communication about breakfasts etc. which left not just us feeling disgruntled.  The drive home speedy and quite pleasant. We sucked Sherbet Lemons, as I...

Off  to the park this morning, and saw my glassmates Ben, Adele, Sally, Kate, Kate, Deana, Francis and Jane. Felt rather ashamed as I turned up empty handed, and was given a mince pie and a bottle of Adele's blackberry vodka, and three cards, and a small bar of black handmade soap by Deana and a box of chocolates from Frances, and a tree hanging from Jane.  Lovely to chat to them, standing in two rings in the park which was cold and bit windy. Walked back across the park with Ben afterwards, hoping for better times next year.  I bought a card for Sonya to slip into her bag of wee pressies, and wished her happy Christmas, from a distance of course, like all the business of the day. Chatted to Mum and Anton today. Lorraine's last day at school today, which was excellent. Home, tired but with bags of pressies. However not long after being at home, a phone call which meant she had lots of work people to call till seven. I collected a curry, and we had a happy night indoors be...

Monday, and Lorraine back to work, and off in the rain for an inset day. It was just the teachers. I tried to get a grip, feeling curiously nervy this morning and attempting to push on with stuff.   The rain abated this afternoon, so I mooched up to the hill fort keen to walk, passing the same two women in the woods with their pack of dogs, only about 7 or 8 this time, with two school age children thrown into the mix. Dogs barked at me again. I felt Pooterishly affronted. In the evening after dinner, I popped around to Rick's house and met him and Ben there, sitting at distance from one another in his kitchen. Nice to chat with them. Crept home at 10:30, and into bed. Lorraine fast asleep. Below the muddy path on top of the hill fort, and a stencil I spotted on the street near me. The adrenochrome conspiracy theory suggests that Hollywood celebrities and the liberal elite have child rings from which they somehow extract a substance in there blood to be used in Satanic rituals. Dish...

Up and finally heard from my French clients. I had emailed them this morning, having had an anxious dream that they had gone out of business. They said they had been very busy, and would get back to me this morning with feedback. I got it at 6:05pm, and simply ignored it. Otherwise working on a my new updated track record document to send to potential new client. A few emails, then off to the park to day hello of a ring of glassmakers on the grass, chatting with Ben, and Chris Williams, Adele, Rick, Sally, Kate, Frances and Jane. They were eating donuts, and so I had one too.  Ben has lost lots of weight, and is eating lots of fruit. Then my first proper haircut since Valentine's day in my usual barbers called Clippers. However three of the five guys have left, two retired and one left for new pastures. I had my hair cut by the new woman, very chatty with tattoos and piercings and full face visor who charged me about six quid more than the last time I had it cut there. Stil...

A terrible night's sleep again, a chain of nightmares about getting lost in dark versions of London, that led me to start awake feeling horrible.  Felt a little sluggish today as a result. An absolute scorcher of a day, however. I took a couple of walks to get up to 10k. The Golf Course now recaptured by golfers, which in a way is better as there are fewer of them, and if you stick to the paths you can still thread around the place. Lorraine off to work again, in fresh clothes and a positive attitude. Heard from Val today, and all mes amis in Paris have been okay. She wrote 'I must say your Prime Minister remains a mystery to me.... the way the UK has managed the crisis is clearly not at the level of this country.' (She meant France.)  Her sister was running a C-19 ward in Quebec, but came through it without getting the disease. There was also a smidge of work from them too, which I did this afternoon. I wrote to Ben with an idea for a stained glass window. Had a Face...

A rather glorious day, with all clients at bay, and time to think and read, and write a little of my own stuff. Woke up feeling lethargic and a bit rubbish, but decided to go to the gym early, and found I had gas in the tank and this perked me up lots. Read another story by Ligotti today, called Flowers of the Abyss , and started reading his philosophical work The Conspiracy Against the Human Race . Also researching horror podcasts. I am becoming increasingly interested by doing my own podcast in one form or another. In the evening, after cooking a rather spectacular chicken stew, and fed Lorraine leaving her about to watch The Great British Sewing Bee, I sloped down to the Rose Hill Tavern to watch a Jazz combo and meet Ben. Good to see him, and had lots of chats in between the music. He really is a lovely man. A strange night, with a troubled but talented saxophonist/clarinettist who kept complaining about his borrowed equipment, apologising for wrong notes that nobody could spot...

So a little work on a story, and then off to Stained Glass again. Finally today was able to hold my  window up to the light, having soldered everything into place. Very pleased with the results, and I thanked Ben for all his help. Next week will be all about cementing the glass into place, a bit like grouting tiles. Still a big moment for me. I do like the results. It will also change with different light conditions. You can't see really from the photo below that the clear looking glass is actually tints of yellow and green, for example. Coffee afterwards with Rick, Yvonne, Adele and Frances, and after they went I did a bit of work in the cafe, before going for a stroll along by the sea and onto the pier, before catching a bus back to my neck of the woods, and taking a long walk to make sure I had walked my thousand paces. Home, and Lorraine shattered after a hard week. Lorraine called for a curry, and I snuck out and collected it. A stormy night outside, with wind and rain roari...

Juggling spiders Up to London, feeling twitchy. Had woke in the night feeling anxious too. Made it to work without incident however. Lunch with Keith and Matty boy. In the evening off to Mum and Mason's. Treacherous burst of rain just before I reached them. Ben there too, which was nice. And it was good to dry my trousers by the fire. Cheery glasses of wine with Mum, Mas and Ben. A spider let itself down from the ceiling just behind Mason, and Ben and Mum doing elaborate spider juggling for some time. Enjoyed a turkey supper and, yippee! more Christmas pudding. In the wake of the James Ellroy stuff I am reading, got Mason to talk about life in LA in the fifties and sixties. He told me about taxi dancing, which was renting someone to dance with in certain bars. Fairly early night, sent to bed with two hot water bottles, and slept like a large baby after calling Lorraine and reading a bit more about violent murder.

Gecko in a handbag Up doing a few chores this morning before working on Skelton Yawgrave. Called Ben, who is cat-sitting Mum and Mason's cat Salty, who is apparently in rude health and bringing rodent friends into the house like a feline Fred West. Heard from Joan and Mum in Costa Rica. The intrepid adventurers have now reached the Pacific coast. Joan told me that my mother was "enjoying all the wildlife she can get her hands on. If she comes back with a gecko in her bag don't be surprised." Later heard from Mum that she had been snorkelling. All this a far cry from her hospitalisation just a couple of months ago. Maureen and Pat who came to my house for a cup of tea before leaving for Kent. A quiet afternoon, with Lorraine doing an embroidery and me wasting time trying to fix a computer problem caused by my iTunes. In the evening off to Wayne and Matt's new flat, where we met John and Matt's folks Dave and Anne. Anne displaying her knee, which has recently be...

A Thanksgiving Started the day learning that my poem A sparrow at 30,000 feet will be in the first issue of a new magazine from Guernsey called Written In. The editors have also kept hold of other poems to use them in subsequent issues, so this is all good. It is important to me to have work appear in Guernsey. Also I recieved a note from Joan who has been talking to Dick about my megalithic find, (see previous entry) and thinks it is a stone age scraper used to scrape hair and fat off hides. He was familiar with this instrument because he just read a book dealing with the prehistoric natives of Ontario. I have sent my jpegs off to a local museum to see if they make anything of it, or simply tell me it is a piece of stone. Then up to Edgware for Mason's tradional late Thanksgiving supper. A cheerful gathering there, with Tanya and Robert, Ben and Poppy (over from Guernsey) and Diane who is looking remarkably good after her recent radiotherapy treatment. Nice to fork into some turk...