under another sun

A blessed morning of not having to spring out of bed and stare bleakly at Keith staring back at me.  Instead Lorraine and I had a cheery day making bits of progress on the house. Lorraine's pal Carolyn called around for lunch, and to offer all kinds of useful gardening advice. Carolyn is planning to move to Scotland to buy a place with her man Ron. In the afternoon off to a nearby garden centre to buy soil and so on, and we started to plant some of the 350 bulbs Lorraine has ordered. Meanwhile Anton called to talk about the ghastly week he had running a business event.  Lorraine and I hurried off to The Boot at 5pm to have a drink with Steve. It was full of folks, and Steve greeted us very cheerfully at the bar, and the staff all joined in asking when we had moved and so on. All very nice. Soon were quaffing pints of Harvey's Old ale from the tap. Bloody lovely, and very nice to see Steve again now that we are neighbours. Better still was actually having a beer in a pub with L...

Lorraine and I driving off to meet Carolyn at Nymans gardens. So good to be seeing something new -- and chat to someone different. She is interested in sacred geometry, due to her deep study of plant forms. I mentioned about Ben's interest in them when we were all looking at camellias.  We had a cup of tea and a scone outside the cafe.  Glimpses of niceness at Nymans...

Up fairly early this morning and after breakfast we drove off to Carolyn's house where she was having a gathering and seeing bits to raise money for her charity project in Nicaragua, The Forgotten Children of the Land of Lakes and Volcanoes. Had a nice cup of coffee made by her friend Martin Antonio Ruiz Hernandez in Ometepe Island, who gave her some to take back with her. Bumped into Lesley and Derek in Carolyn's gorgeous little garden, had a nice chat about Guernsey and other things. Enjoyed this morning. Then off to a garden centre where we bought some soil and a raised vegetable bedding container. This proved to be galling, as there was a problem with one of the bolts which meant we had to wait ages, and were given a discount but sold something with a dodgy bolt that we are going to have to replace or rectify. Felt pretty cross by the end of it. Late in the afternoon a burst of work in the garden, creating a new area for plants and stones. We had fun doing this, and it ...

Lorraine starting an experiment when she doesn't work on Sundays like she has been. This made the weekend feel new and improved and more weekendish even on a Saturday morning. We set off for a drive to meet Lorraine's intrepid pal Carolyn for coffee. She is off again to Nicaragua again this week, where she has set up projects to help local people and is now pretty fluent in Spanish too.  Bureaucracy infuriating there however. She tried to ship over a box of essentials for a local school but the box has languished in customs for over half a year on a variety of bogus reasons, infuriating that its contents is simply to help Nicaraguan children. I fell asleep this afternoon, and slept heavily for an hour, and felt a good deal livelier for it afterwards, for this pesky cold never seems quite to leave you. Lorraine and I walked down the hill into town, and picked up the book, Buddhism for Busy People , she had ordered from Waterstones. Then we mooched off to Beth and John's ...

A strong domestic focus today. Lorraine and I enjoyably dragging things about in the house today, and packing things away in the big bedroom. Gradually we are establishing order. A good deal of opening boxes and looking at stuff and deciding its fate or where it should live. Surprisingly time consuming. In the afternoon Carolyn called around, getting set for more travels in Mesoamerica, including taking in Mexico City. She is brave, because she feels trepidation before setting off, but does it anyway.

Last day of freedom, trying to get various things sorted out.  This somewhat out of tune with Lorraine, whose last day of half term this was. Spoke to Janet this morning and she told me that Ken was in hospital having broken his hip earlier this week. He is in the hospital at Haywards Heath, and so I went with her to see Ken in the afternoon. She picked me up at home, and brought me a aloe vera plant, and a birthday card. Poor Janet doing well under all the stress of it. And Ken is fairly comfortable. It is quite a nice hospital at Haywards Heath, but sad to see my old friend there, but nice to be with Janet. We had tea in the little hospital cafe, and Janet bought me a Belgian bun with a cherry on the top, and we had quite a cheery chat. Late in the afternoon, Lorraine, now finished from school came to collect me from the hospital, and we drove off to Horsham where there was a local artists exhibition in the West Sussex council building. Lorraine's pal Carolyn was exhibiting h...

An excellent morning after Lorraine and I got up. Lorraine into town, to meet her pal Sarah for a long coffee, and I worked on some poems, and in that hour had something of a breakthrough on two substantial poems I have been working on. This made me feel like I hadn't completely lost my writing mojo after all, which was pleasing. Then into town to meet Lorraine. We stopped for a coffee in one of Brighton's innumerable coffee places, and then went to a recently opened shoe shop where Lorraine had just bought some rather cool boots. The Italian manager was cooing excitedly over Lorraine when we returned, and I ended up being given a small discount on a nice pair of tan and green suede numbers. I like shoes. Then a bit of shopping around town. A kerfuffle just outside Churchill square, and more cooing. People were taking photographs of two dyed doves, which had settled on a ledge just near one of the main entrances. I snapped this below. After some shopping, including a spel...

A decent night's sleep, and feeling more human today. Weirdly, nothing to get stressed about. Up late, but wrote a post on the Telltale site about Jess Mookherjee becoming a Telltale poet. Then out to get fixings for breakfast. Lorraine and I then had a mooch around the open houses nearby. Bumped into Reuben and Claire and three of the boys, plus three lots of educational folks that Lorraine knew. We bought a print by Heike Roesel whose work we liked loads last year when we saw it. Really nice woman too. Then a longish walk where we met Carolyn and saw her fine needlework and nature painting. Really enjoyed our afternoon. Also bought a ceramic light, moulded around a log. Rather beautiful. Not that we can afford all this stuff, but it does feel a bit like being a kid in a sweetshop. Home again, Lorraine working on school things. I cooked and did a few bits and pieces. Betty sleeping most of the day recovering from last week's shenanigans. I'm left with feeling there is...

Lorraine and up and at 'em unusually early for a Saturday morning. We drove Betty to the Goldmans stage school where she teaches on Saturday. Lorraine and I off to buy things for me. These included lightweight mosquito and UV resistant shirts and trousers for The Great Chad Adventure. Fairly useless in store help, but Lorraine had researched it on the internet the day before thankfully. I also bought myself a rather lovely and expensive grey jacket, that fits beautifully after Lorraine led me to a shop. A fashion classic. Sober on the outside, and thanks to floral purple lining, jazzular on the inside. Just like moi . Had to steel myself to spend the money, but my wardrobe is beginning to look a tad shabby. Bumped into Claire Turner and her sister who lives in New York and had a chat with them in the street too. Claire is such a lovely person. Brighton gorgeous and sunny today. South African rugby fans here and there. I learned later they were playing Japan at the Amex Stadium (h...

Resting mangled leg in my study, sorting and stacking more books in with the help of an additional bookcase I lifted on top one of the ones added at the weekend. The cats hanging around me, and sitting in boxes when they became available. Feeling really happy about my study. I'm not sure what to call it really. The Study, The Office, The Nervecentre?  I've even found myself calling it My Bedroom a couple of times. Nice to surrounded by my books and a single window with a lovely view - currently mitigated by guano on the glass. Have also been forcing myself to thrown things away, chiefly bits of paper, drafts of useless poems, and most symbolic of all, old rejections that I'd kept from publishers. Forcing myself to wonder why the hell am I treasuring rejection? No longer. Lorraine and Beth out all day and most of the evening, so I spent most of the day on this kind of thing. FaceTimed Mum who, with Mas, are still glum and coldy. Also and spoke briefly to Janet two second...