under another sun

Feeling very cheery this morning, and reminded of my childhood Sunday mornings in Guernsey, as Lorraine and I dropped in on Pat and Maureen as they were getting their dinner ready. Like going off with my granddad Dave on his rounds of dropping in on family. P and M in good form, Maureen forthright about needing a new chair and pulling appalling faces when telling Lorraine and I how much she hated the current one. She also told me about going to Bingo the other day, and how she and Pat had won their first game first go. I told Pat I'd seen a seal up at splash point earlier in the year. He said he'd seen two through his binoculars yesterday.  A saunter back along the seafront with Lorraine, which was looking grey and lovely.  A bite to eat, and I prepared for the interview I am going to do on Tuesday, which took quite a bit of time. Also chatted to Mum and arranged to see her on Wednesday. A glorious evening of not drinking anything, after two lively nights I was very ready for ...

Up to Edgware. A beautiful warm, sunny day. Peskily missed the train I had earmarked. Then because of working to rule of railway folks, a majorly reduced train service. Had to go to Brighton, then a train to Victoria and tube to Stanmore. Arrived at 12:45 to find Mum chatting with Wynford, now out of hospital but dealing with an unpleasant   autoimmune condition. He is a lovely caring man, with a strong faith that sustains him. Mum and I had a chat, then zoomed off to The Waggon for some lunch. I had cider with Mum which was sweet and refreshing, then my usual chicken shish with decent salad and chips. Home again, and I dropped off at the garage Tescos by the roundabout to buy some bits for this evening. We had a happy hour and a half looking at old photos, although Mum a little sad when she saw photos of Betty Tostevin. There were some snaps there I did not remember.  Then some supper and a watch of MASH, but I pushed off after the first episode. Better journey back, as I had...

I found it hard to concentrate... Several Estate Agents calls adding to a general background twitchiness which wasn't conducive to my own writing, or completing my accounts. Seems there is one strong lead from the weekend for our own house, and the interested party will visit again on Wednesday. I told them to go live with the property from tomorrow, and have another open day this Saturday. Other conversations I had about Seaford properties and so on. Lorraine and I having conversations about patience and steadiness. Mercury is retrograde too, which certain astrologers slows and confuses negotiations.  Spoke to the vet. Calliope's thyroid level seems to be right now, thanks to the stuff they gave me to squirt down her throat. All being well now she won't need to be seen for three months. A chat with a cheerful Anton. And a walk late this afternoon around my usual places. Home and cooked, after sitting outside in the sunshine for a few moments. Spoke to Mum this evening, exp...

Up and working on the horror story for a bit this morning, after I had prepared three invoices. At eight o'clock the next door neighbours gardener came to mow the lawn. A tiny thing I could have done with my human powered mower in under three minutes. This job took a professional gardener half an hour's noise pollution with the world's noisiest strimmer, followed by half an hour of electric mowing. Baffling, and deafening. However, off to Brighton, and there caught a train up to meet mum in town. Reading a Thomas Ligotti story and translating something into English for Val on the train. We met in the Salisbury, and just hung out there having a couple of drinks and eating, gave her a card for Mother's day, and a couple of ciders and we shared a bowl of nachos and shot the breeze. Mum reminded me that Dave had once had a shop in St Peter Port, which I had forgotten if I ever knew it. Nice to reminisce and chat with Mum. Fond farewells after a few hours and I hopped on a...

Lorraine and I decided to get up fairly early (for us at the weekend) and go into town for breakfast. We had breakfast at Bills, and drank healthy freshly squeezed things. I had a nicely warming apple, carrot and ginger. Then we did a spot of shopping and lurked about by the sea. The afternoon was spent going to see a film, Rogue One, the Star Wars spin off at the Kommedia.  Bumped into Tanya there. This film quite entertaining and as Starwarsy as you could want, but not something that will make you think about anything once you've left the cinema. Lorraine popped off to the loo afterwards, and I found myself amid half a dozen lesbians who made me laugh talking about two of the heroes who were killed in it: "I was sad when the blind one was killed. Yeah, and his boyfriend." Everyone dies in it. That's a plot spoiler. Lorraine shocked me on the way home, by quoting dialogue from the original Star Wars film, that this spin off emerged from. Apparently she watched it m...

A happy day. Lorraine and I off to Steyning to a shop where we bought some plants, and then to another garden centre to buy more plants and compost. I don't know what is happening to me, but I find myself staring at the variegated leaf of a zonal geranium and deeply appreciating it. A misty day, with very low cloud over the downs, making them look particularly mysterious, and Lorraine and I pulled up in the car, got out and walked up a country path between two fields, one of which had horses galloping about for fun in it. The downs disappearing into the cloud were quite magical. Home and we planted lots of plants into the garden, with Lorraine doing the digging to save my thigh. Really exciting to see the bed fill up with plants. I can't believe how much I like our garden. Now it's just a wait to see what survives the onslaught of slugs, snails, foxes, Calliope, Brian and the rest of the neighbourhood cats. Lorraine cooked a lovely roast this evening. John came home w...

Chelsea buns Up with the sparrows, or considerably before the sparrows as the evil black cat that torments our cats was fighting with Brian through the cat door. It sounds as if people are crashing into the house at five in the morning. If I could ever catch that black cat I would give it a good hiding, for this is a psychocat: elusive and violent. It even went for Lorraine the other day when she was shooing it. So, up and finishing the brochure about short stature in children. Then other practical tasks to do with renting my house, taking meter readings, catching up with billing, popping into the gym and so on. Had a leisurely afternoon however and in the evening the cats and I watched a slovenly Chelsea performance where they threw away the game in the last ten minutes. I support Chelsea because of a currant bun. It is Dave, my Grandfather's fault. As a teenager, shortly before the second world war, he was working in his parent's cafe on the Esplanade in St Peter Port cafe. ...