under another sun

Quietly industrious day's work. Little to report, nice to hear  from Amanda in NZ who may be going to Sicily next year. Gingerly back to the gym. Getting better at the Sketchbook software. Ordered a new electric toothbrush Innis posted a link on facebook to a photographer with a wonderful fairytale quality to his work -- Pentti Sammallahti . Cooked small bits of salmon and a stir fry with Lorraine tonight. Meanwhile Boris's Government of fascist clowns decisively lost their first vote and their majority, as with comedic timing, a Tory MP walked into parliament with his new Liberal Democrat homies, and sat down on the opposition benches. Later, the loathsome Rees-Mogg sprawling on the Government front benches with all the insolence of privilege. Boris revealed as the odious danger he is, under the fool's motley. Terrifyingly misguided politics, but also just repulsive people. This is just day one of a long conflict. I enjoyed Tories lead by former chancellor Philip Hammond...

Slightly hungover this morning, after a night out with my musician mates. A glorious blue skied day, with temperatures reaching over 20C, the highest recorded winter temperature in the UK. As our M.P., the UK parliament's only Green MP Caroline Lucas said today, 'This isn't some jovial Guinness World Record. This is a climate emergency.' Trying not to get sucked into doomy feelings about a sunny day. I walked into town at lunchtime, to pick up a prescription and return a library book, and also lurk in Waterstones looking at about ten books I want. Walking back through the park I passed a couple with a baby, the man wearing flip-flops and shorts. Bumped into Philippa from next door, who had just taken little Magnus to the cinema. Chatted to Mum. Not too much going on. Also had a long chat with Bob, both of us with mixed feelings about the whole big birthday thing coming this Autumn. Heard about the demise of Mark Hollis today, who was the key composer in a group ca...

Felt  cheerful this morning still. Up and doing stuff of one kind or another. Even getting a cut and paste book rejection (from the large agent I sent the children's book to yesterday) didn't phase me. I think they were just bouncing that kind of book at the moment. Resilience. Put a chicken in the oven, and waited till Lorraine had got home, (Dawn was staying the night) before boofing off to Lewes to the John Harvey Tavern to a Needlewriters event to hear three poets: Jeremy Page, Mark Urbanowicz and Robert Seatter. Enjoyed the readings. Robert's was from The Book of Snow , a beautifully produced book mostly about snow and paper. He read very well too, so I bought the book. Jeremy read a short story which was quite funny, and about life on campus. I noticed a woman in the audience who I thought looked just like Caroline Lucas who, when she left, turned out to have been Caroline Lucas. Also enjoyed hanging out with my poet pals in general, and Robin, Sarah, Stephen ...

Reeling from the shock election result, which confounded all opinion polls. I stooped to venting on Facebook, something I try to avoid and I shall not duplicate all that here. There is precious little to be gained from venting, and more to be gained from actually doing something. I am pleased however that Caroline Lucas the solitary Green politician in parliament, is my local MP. Wasted lots of the day reading about the fallout of this event rather than doing much actual work. Still it was Friday, and Lorraine and I zoomed off by bus to Hove, where we slipped into the Ashoka, to meet Rosie. People in the restaurant all around discussing the election. Rosie has not been well lately, but scoffed curry heartily nevertheless. And after a good feed, we bused home again. Below Hove in red for Labour, Brighton for the Greens. The remainder of southern England resolutely Tory.

In the morning making tea blearily saw the next door cat Cactus doing that pussyfooting slow walk away across the garden, and noticed that he was retreating from Calliope who had just sicked up her breakfast in his direction, obviously a scary new tactic in the cat wars. Otherwise worked hard and uninterrupted apart from lunch with Betty before she zoomed off to Downs school to teach a drama lesson. Lorraine home from work briefly before going out again, but we collected  Beth and the three residents of Kenny Towers off in the car tonight to vote, all for Caroline Lucas. She is the country's only Green MP, and is probably the best MP I've ever had, enough anyway to make me swallow my tribal Labour loyalty and vote for her. I spoke to the Labour and Green guys outside, who said that turnout had been brisk. Lorraine off to see Jan and her pals, Beth went off to buy a chicken breast and I had fish and chips, and watched a documentary about sharks. There are some weird Greenl...

Morning after The Election resulted in a widely predicted hung parliament, though slightly short of the workable majority I thought the Tories would get. All politicians looking exhausted. God knows what's going to happen now. A Liberal Conservative pact, is the early indication. In my Brighton Pavilion constituency the UK's first Green MP, Caroline Lucas , was elected. I had some more French work to do first thing, which I started very early and was done by mid morning. Gingerly, and rather exhuastedly, off to the gym again where I am now listening to my iPod audiobook while on the hulk legs machine, and then home via the printer to view the proofs for the words for This Concert which I am having fairly cheaply printed in a limited edition of 100 to sell next week. In the afternoon, laying out Richard's poems for A Guernsey Double . Some absolutely gorgeous work in here, and I am proud to be sharing the book with him. More on this in the next few weeks. Fairly drained by ...

Election day Broke off early to vote. Returning from the polling station, I passed one of my Twitten neighbours who asked me if I'd voted. I said, yes, but that none of them deserved it. And he said he was off to choose the best of a bad bunch. Hardly startling, but the kind of conversation I suspect was played out a million times around the country. The reputation of politicians has utterly nose dived in this country in the last year. In my constituency of Brighton Pavilion, the leading candidates were Caroline Lucas, leader of the Green party, and Nancy Platts for Labour. I overcame my Brown nausea to vote for Labour, tribal loyalties proving impossible to overcome. But I am sympathetic to the Greens too, and Lucas has had an enormous amount of publicity lately, and seems a competent politician and likely to become Britain's first Green MP. Not that that is any kind of recommendation. Contacted twice by wild eyed Labour canvassers during the day, which clearly means it is tig...