under another sun

Up and enjoying not having to do much. Spoke to Mum and Lorraine spoke to Maureen and then Lorraine and I caught the train into Brighton to meet Guy, Tim, and Catherine and Tanya. After popping into Pen to Paper and infinity foods we them all in the Chilli Pickle by the Library for lunch, and as a belated celebration of Tim's birthday. Lovely time as usual, and we gave Tim a bottle of olive oil and a crocheted bag Lorraine had made. I also gave each couple the Mariscat Sampler, as Tim has read some of my poems and listens to Planet Poetry, and Catherine and Tanya have been interested in my poems too.  A lovely meal, and well priced. We guzzled a few starters and I had lamb balti grand thali which was almost too much. Catherine had gunpowder fries and Tandoori Chicken Xacuti. Lorraine had an aubergine grand thali. Then, as is traditional, to Brass Monkey where we sat outside licking ice cream. Spoke most to Catherine, who is working from home again full time now. She has now turned...

So a busy Sunday. Off to Seaford Station on the icy pavements, but the trains were delayed or cancelled due to ice on the third rail and there was no foreseeable train for at least half an hour. This country going to the dogs etc. So we got a refund on our tickets, and decided to drive instead. As soon as we left the station and were almost home there was the galling sight of a train arriving.  Nevertheless a pleasant drive to the University of Sussex where we met Paul and Dawn to see a fantastic French string quartet, The Quatuor Arod, The concert had been relocated from the usual concert hall to the Meeting House, a modern church building with effective stained glass in simple blocks of colour embedded in the encircling concrete of the round building. A lovely setting, although perishingly cold and everyone sat with their coats on, except for the four young guys in the quartet.  First they played Mendelssohn's Op.44 No.1 with sparking competence, but the piece itself left me...

A day of celebrations today. Up early to make my lovely wife breakfast in bed as it was her birthday and give her a crowd pleasing jewellery-based present.  After Lorraine left I put the finishing touches to a whimsical short story I have written this week called A man walks into the bar which I think I am quite pleased with. Then I got myself ready to attend Catherine and Tanya's wedding this morning. They were calling it an upgrade, as they were already civil partners. I decided to leave early to ensure I would get there, but foolishly believed the times shown at the bus stop and made it into town by the skin of my teeth. I was lucky enough to be among a select group of their pals in the Regency room, including old friends Tim, Guy, and Wayne. The weather was a little overcast and dull, but it was an extremely cheery occasion, and my face ached from smiling afterwards. Of course when it is two women getting married, only possible since March 2014 in the UK. That my friends, obv...

Lorraine up early and made porridge and tea for us, which I ate in bed. Then I found Giannis in the kitchen, and made toast and scrambled eggs, taking the opportunity to have a Hobbit's second breakfast with him. I made myself a tea and after the water had quickly reboiled I found that I was pouring a dilute instant coffee over my teabag, which was a bit of a surprise, but we laughed about it. Glen came around again, and another quick chat with him before he and Giannis set off into Brighton. Glen incredibly busy trying to get a whole slew of stuff sorted over here. To work, and after a few hours, I decided I needed to stop going around in circles and cut myself a bit of slack. At lunchtime I broke off to see Eleni and Glen perform a lunchtime concert in the Unitarian Church. Said hello to Giannis again and Sakis and Rita, Eleni's mum and dad. Glen and Eleni did a lovely job,  Eleni truly is a fantastic singer. I wrote about their performance here . Home again to round ...

Lorraine's birthday. Big kiss and cuddle for L this morning, and up early to feed the rampaging cats and make tea, before Lorraine after opening various cards and pressies made off to work.  I spent the morning slightly disappointingly wading through a backlog of email and admin. Come lunchtime I felt a bit jaded, having had a terrible night's sleep. Had tom yum soup for lunch, and while slurping it down watched a TV documentary about rockpools made my Richard Fortey who wrote a book about Trilobites I had rather enjoyed. Off into the outside world, walking down London Road, which was being its usual conduit of all that's wretched, before strolling about in the North Laine. Also into Churchill Square to buy a species of Nerf blaster gun for Oskar, while talking to Anton on the phone. Also bought Lorriane a present connected to her new craze of embroidery. Lorraine got home in good time and we made off into Brighton again, she signed on to another season with Hullabal...

Spent a lovely day with Toby and Romy, drifting about in Brighton in the persistent July rain, kept thinking of  "Sitting in an English Garden waiting for the sun/ If the sun don't come, you get a tan/From standing in the English rain." as the Beatles sang. We popped into The Marwood Cafe for coffee. Had a good talk in there, among all the eclectic art and weird stuff. A little later into The Mock Turtle for a snack, where I had one of their bespoke Welsh Rarebits. Weather really quite astonishing, more like November than July, and the clad for summer Romy and Toby recoiling somewhat, hair whipping about their faces, as we got to the seaside in the howling rain-filled gale. However great to hang out and shoot the breeze while nosing happily in shops. We popped into the Blue Dog gallery, and saw some of Mum's work and have a chat with the woman working there, talking about business generally, which is quiet. Nobody wants to put their hands in their pockets.  De...