under another sun

To London, after confirming with Mum that it was okay due to the extreme heat. Flitting between shadows on the uphill walk from West Hampstead Thameslink to Hampstead station where I arrived early, but just couple of minutes before Mum. We slunk down Flask Walk where Mum really likes the houses as they are beautiful, and also remind her of her grandparent's home in Folkestone. Then into The Olde White Bear, which is proving a perfect little pub there, as there's always space and friendly and covered in pictures and prints featuring white bears in vintage advertising and so on. We lapped up some cold drinks, lager shandy seemed to be the ideal drink for me today, and some food. Mum in good spirits. So lucky that we are still able to meet up in Hampstead. Among other things, she told me her miracle herbal pills seem to be really helping her knee. After a couple of hours we sun dodged back to Hampstead station.  Trespassers on the track somewhere in south London had created train ...

A good day for me. Up fairly early and tinkering, before breakfast with Lorraine. Actually raining today in Seaford.  Strapped on my neoprene knee, and Brian collected me for a walk in Friston Forest. Brian had already been for a swim and had been up since six. Always lots to talk about, with Marley the dog zooming after sticks, and we tree bathed in the green light. The earth very dry, although there was some fine rain, and it had been raining overnight a little. I always enjoy how Brian is unafraid to talk about the big stuff, like death and religion and art and so on -- and of course we have a laugh too.  Collecting Yvonne and Sebastian, Brian then gave me a lift back, before they went off to look at dinosaurs in the afternoon. Lorraine back, and we snatched a bit of lunch together, between rhyme time, and her having to go round to be with Pat and Maureen, as they waited for the nurse to come and sort out his blocked catheter. Poor Patrick had been in some discomfort. I mad...

A disrupted day. The plasterers came this morning, and a quiet young man called Adam plastered the wall in the spare room. I worked in the kitchen. Did some admin things, including emailing the editor of Poetry Salzburg, and David Longhorn of Supernatural Tales.  Lorraine off to do Rhyme Time, then took Pat and Maureen shopping. With Pat and Maureen in tow, Lorraine drove me off early in the afternoon to Newhaven Polyclinic where I had my abdominal aortic aneurysm screening. Apparently my abdominal aorta is unlikely to explode like an appalling balloon. I arrived ten minutes early and was out in less than ten minutes. The women doing it, a nurse with a reassuring bedside manner, and someone from the vascular health department all good.    Then a long stand in the rain in Newhaven waiting for Lorraine, and Pat and Maureen to collected me.  Home, and I did a bit of writing, then we drove Pat and Maureen back to their flat, which had a carpet laid in the front room. Lor...

Up early and was collected outside by Brian shortly after eight, with Marley in the boot. Brian had already been swimming in the sea and was generally glowing. We went to Friston forest and had a lovely walk through the trees deep in discussion about all kinds of things. We paused at the place where you can look down into the valley and see the hedgerows make a big cross in the landscape. Brian uses this place to pray briefly most days. I find this quite touching.  Home again for breakfast, and as Rosie had stayed overnight we had breakfast and long chats with her. Rosie and Lorraine went off to see Pat and Maureen, before Rosie went off to work in the afternoon.  Lorraine told me that when Rosie arrived yesterday, they were talking and there was hammering on the roof. It was two crows, pecking at bones, with seagull feathers. The current theory is that the Robert the robbing herring gull has been murdered by, or at least scavenged by, crows. Probably a murder of crows. I did ...

This morning, Lorraine found some more Covid tests. Lorraine's positive, this time. She has all the classic symptoms. Mine negative again, so decided perkily this morning to do carry some things out of the house into the garage, water the glasshouse plants and feed the fish. This rapidly exhausting so I repaired to the sofa with Lorraine. And this just in from the self-pity news desk, my back has seized up too,  and I have shaved off my beard off, as it was irritating new sore patches on my face.  As we nicely settled, Brian had a horrible fit. It went on for at least a minute. We were quite sure we were witnessing his death. One of the worst things I've seen. Eventually, it passed, and he hid for a while under the sofa. He had thrashed about, and had torn out several claws which were dug in the carpet, so there was some blood too. Miraculously, he emerged a while later seeming fairly normal.   Lorraine fixed up an emergency vet appointment in Eastbourne, and had to ask B...

A sore throated weekend, feeling wan and deeply attracted to the gold sofa. Luckily the European Nations cup finals had started, and so I was able to simply able to watch football most of the day.  Sunday, a lovely text to start the day from Beth wishing me happy stepladders (aka stepfather's) day.   I was still wan and sore throated but simply got on with light stuff in the garden with Lorraine, potting seedlings and deadheading roses and filling a feeder pool for our fishpond to see if it is leaking and so on.  We spent an hours tidying up the house and we went to Morrisons. Then Lorraine went off to help Beth, and I had more gold sofa action with England unconvincingly winning their opening game against Serbia while tucking into roast chicken and assorted veggies I'd sorted out, in a cheesy sauce Lorraine made.  Spoke to the Tobster, whose birthday it is tomorrow. He is spinning many plates, finishing up the school year, which is in itself stressful, while having ...

Lorraine off for story time this morning. I was a little sluggish after last night, and mooched about tidying my office and the house after  putting in a lot of work podcasting this week. Walked this evening to Patrick's house. Lorraine and Beth went to book group, (slightly delayed by taking Micky the cat to the vet's). Bumped into Kate, Adele and a brown as a berry Brian, who gave me a manly hug, en route. Andrew arrived moments after me, and we went up to Patrick's studio where he played us three songs he had been working on. All quite different, one with a punkish energy, but more sophisticated, another slower song with a beautiful melody, and a dance track with rock guitars.  Andrew and I invited to listen and comment -- and we had a good deal of fun listening, and suggesting edits. One thing is clear Patrick has an amazing ability to write melody, and has mastery over all kinds of forms. And of course the technology is there, at one point Andrew suggested changing an ...

Patrick and Maureen here today. I lurked in my office doing some recording with Robin this morning. Just as Lorraine and Pat and Maureen were going off for a little trip into Seaford, Lorraine found evidence of more criminal behaviour -- in two varieties -- from Brian in the dining room. We thought he was on the straight and narrow, but it is starting again. Just after I finished cleaning this, Brian was getting under my feet and I ejected him with threats out of the cat flap. Felt like a monster afterwards, as he obviously had no idea what was up.  Off to Edgware then, for reasons there are only limited trains at the moment from Lewes to London, so had to go via Brighton. I ended up staying on the train and going to Victoria, then tubing it from there for a change. I felt strangely separated from the world of work, now looking at those folks commuting home after a day at work as an oddity. I have not had to commute to work since just before Covid. I miss it not a jot.  Bought...

A day of solitude, which I enjoyed. Working in the kitchen with the cats this morning, then off to the gym just after lunch. An enjoyable session. Getting mum to provide information about her parking tickets so I can appeal. The computer has already said no, but it's worth a go. Filled out the forms on the website but this crashed six times in a row on the same section. There was also an option to write to them, so I printed it all off.  Lorraine home at 10 am after doing lots with Pat and Maureen. Happy to have her back safely. Still struggling with Brian and my attempt to train him to go outside to the toilet. He does when I am watching him, but when he is left to his own civics he will pee in one of two places. It makes me furious. I found he had peed in the living room just as we were going to bed. 

Feeling free and happy. No podcast to make, no freelance to be done so at last I had a morning doing poet stuff, such as writing a cover letter, and printing and mailing a pamphlet length MS in the post office, which felt pleasingly old skool.  Lorraine off to a story telling class this morning, and read books with her special upside down reading skills to small children. She enjoyed it lots.  A lunchtime interlude of cat flap struggles. We had it installed at great expense of glass cutting, yesterday. To discover today, the flap isn't working properly. We need to program it to recognise the chips in our cats, and so stuffed an increasingly irritated Calliope through the flap a few times, but the mechanism didn't work. Currently the cats can get in and out but with no locking. The cats reluctant to use it. Brian, when pushed out looked pleadingly at us through the glass door rather than using the flap a few feet away.  I went off to post the MS off and go to the gym, and ...

Calliope sleeping on or around me all night.  Lorraine and I up early and eating our healthy seeds, berries, nuts and live yogurt etc. for breakfast with glee. Lorraine off to the doctor's first thing. Then to her personal trainer. I lurked at home, catching up on this blog and gradually getting my act together, Calliope insisting on sitting on my lap all the time. In the afternoon Lorraine and I took Brian who had a poorly paw off to Top Cats in Patcham. Another drive in teeming rain. He had a painful sore claw that was digging into his pad, and becoming infected. We came away with his paws sorted out, nails removed (with some blood) and antibiotics and painkillers to administer. A nice vet called Henry. I am always amazed at how a good vet can handle an animal without them freaking out. Brian was already much perkier by the time we got home. And it wasn't as eyewateringly expensive as we had feared.  Had my reading in Lewes confirmed for Thursday 11th January,  in the J...

Monday, and up and moving. Downstairs for another nice breakfast -- the owner chatting to us. A lovely woman. Then after paying we mooched our gear into the car, and then went to see Matt in Acorn & Pip  where Reuben works. It's a toyshop, with excellent educational toys, sells clothes, and has some tables for coffee and teas. Reuben's boss stopped to chat too. A lovely bloke. Said cheerio to Reuben, then Matt walked us to our car. It had been brilliant to see them both. Off then driving up across the high hills and down into valleys, including the one where the filmed Last of the Summer Wine, until we made it onto the M1 after being rerouted due to an accident. A fairly miraculous journey home, with few slow bits, and even the hideous M25 behaved itself. The time went fairly quickly, we did a crossword, listened to music, and so on. We were home in Seaford at about ten past four, but drove to Morrisons first to get a bit of shopping in.  Having spent five hours at the whe...

Dejected by lack of improvement to the back.  But people were kind to me all day. First, Lorraine rescued me from this, by setting up an osteopath appointment, and going off to Ashford to take Pat to an appointment. She also called Brian and arranged for him to collect me. Not before calling our old pal Brian Bell by mistake first, which was fun. Brian in Seaford kindly picked me up, Igor-ing in my slippers into his car.   The osteopath was incredibly gentle and very chatty behind his facemark. After twenty minutes or so of deceptively light massage transformed the rigid muscle into something more pliable. We were chatting all the time. His father was an archeologist, and his mother a dentist, and he and his brother grew with bones to play with. He also said that the majority of spines are horizontal, which I had never thought about in quite that way before.  He took my payment, while chatting intensely, and it was only when I got home, the receptionist called to say the ...

Up early and Brian called round for me at 8:15 this morning, and we drove off to Friston Forest for an hour's walk. Brian, hardy soul, had already been for swim before he collected me. A lovely walk through the trees, with Marley the dog racing ahead and back again, and pleading with Brian to throw sticks for her.  Always a profoundly interesting conversation with Brian. We tree bathed in the beech forest, and talked about kindness, and responsibilities. Brian said I was a calm person, which I liked as I think of myself as a bit of a hysteric. We looked down at valley Brian told me was called Charleston Bottom. Beautiful sight, and suddenly dozens of birds in the sky over one of the far fields -- herring gulls and starlings and crows, and amid them a bird of prey, too far away for me to identify it, but obviously causing the commotion. Home and worked more on the seven new poems. Then joined in the frenzy of housework day. Members of Lorraine's book group were coming around. I ...

Friday, clearing up after the liveliness of yesterday, and feeling a bit sadder and wiser after feeling overly refreshed yesterday. Lorraine off to her personal trainer. I made off to meet Yvonne for a coffee and a gossip in Pomegranate. At one point this morning, I called Brian from the kitchen and he didn't respond at all, until I walked out beside him. Lorraine and I did some tests, and it became clear that the poor thing has become deaf. Suddenly some of his behaviours make sense in retrospect. Including when he walks around the house with a catnip fish in his mouth, miaowing trying to find us, and we yell Brian! at him to make him stop. And recently when he was being chattered at by Magpies, he seemed utterly oblivious. Luckily he seems perfectly happy still as far as we can tell.  Otherwise a pretty chilled day, very hot and sipping mineral water. I wrote poems sitting outside with Lorraine, and then we did some assorted light gardening, and then had what seemed to be a much ...

A day of industry and sunshine. Lorraine and I hard at work in the garden again today. We had taken delivery of a cast aluminium garden table and six chairs. We had to bolt the legs on and so on. Very sturdy and nice, and the chairs are very comfortable. Sat there having cups of tea in the sun, and ate lunch on it too. Then in the afternoon we did a bit of rearranging of rocks in our rocky bit. Then we deployed the circular saw Lorraine ordered recently, and working together I sawed lots of sleepers in half to make the short ends of the beds. I enjoyed doing it too, which is weird. If on my own, I am not sure I would have felt confident enough to do a job like that. But one of the excellent things about Lorraine, who was busy measuring and using the set square to draw lines, and hefting sleepers with me, is that she makes it all possible somehow. Finished late afternoon, just as the rain came again. As a footnote to the joyful garden, there is creature, a wood pigeons perhaps, or s...

Awake early as I always am when Lorraine is away. Picked up the threads of a job to do with dog health for Val in Paris as well as uploading the podcast, with my interview with Robert Hamberger who is a lovely bloke. Felt a bit like I couldn't see the wood for the trees on the job I was working on. Luckily Brian called by at 2pm and drove us to nearby Friston forest. Lovely to walk among real trees there. I am getting to know him better now.  He is an interesting and thoughtful man. Among other things we were talking about the miracle of Jesus helping a blind man to see, by rubbing his spitty thumbs on his eyes. When the man opens his eyes, however he can only see trees, but when he opens them again he sees people instead. He drove me home, but not before we stopped at The Plough and Harrow at Littlington and quaffed some Long Man bitter, which is literally brewed across the lane. It was great to have an interlude out of my office.  Home, and I spoke to Lorraine who was still ...

A rest from brainwork today. Instead, an intense day on Kenny Farm. Zoomed off to Morrisons round the corner in the car as they were selling multipurpose compost at a snip, and got six bags of this some of which was put into the raised bed, along with topsoil and a layer of John Innes no. 2. Into this Lorraine planted her hardy winter salad leaves.   Meanwhile I set about digging a trench, through a layer of stones, and a membrane layer quite deep. This was filled with with manure and soil, into which two raspberry canes and a goji berry plant were planted. We had lunch outside in the sunshine and after a few hours, felt that we had done a good day's work. Lorraine really happy when we are working together in the garden -- and I am finding it satisfying, and cheaper than the gym. So the tally of things we have introduced...  Pears, apples, plums, raspberries, strawberries, goji berries, blueberries, rhubarb, hardy winter salad leaves, and Lorraine has planted seeds for chillie...

So, farewell January. Lorraine and I up early. Bleak mood this morning, back now seized up as I haven't been moving enough. Getting dressed difficult. Then I peed over my jeans in a freak micturition incident, and had to get dressed again. A new fridge freezer and dishwasher were about to be delivered, and the old ones taken away.   Cue sweaty grappling with white goods and wooden doors and kneeling on the floor twisting things at ankle level with a mulgrip. I also broke a screwdriver.  Poor Lorraine clearly unwell. A Covid test: positive. Too late to cancel the delivery, Lorraine stayed in the sitting room, and I aired the kitchen a bit, before two blokes arrived carried the goods in an out, one taciturn, the other with the client facing skills calling me 'boss'.  Lorraine spoke to Maureen during the day. Pat is 'Covis' positive too and Maureen unwell. Lorraine was going to go with Maureen to her rehabilitation meeting this week, but they have had to cancel this. I...

Very cold day, and Lorraine cancelled plans she had as the roads were lethal with ice -- although Seaford remains an island of no snow.  After a morning of doing mostly podcast type stuff, and a bit of light writing, I mooched (carefully) off to go to the gym this afternoon and felt disinclined to do much afterwards.   I popped out this evening to Steamworks, the little pub by the station, where Brian and Ian were having a drink. Joined them for an hour or so. Hadn't really chatted to Ian before. I liked him quiet and intelligent. Brian full of beans as usual, and excellent company. They went off for a curry -- and I slunk back in the cold sporting gloves and a cap and scarf and lots of layers and happy to be back on the Gold Sofa with Lorraine catching up on the last few episodes of Masterchef.