under another sun

Lorraine and I up, and after breakfast made a big mind map of house and garden projects. Lorraine lapped this up of course, but I forbade her to write on it because her writing is too big. Beth popped around at noon for a chat, and then in the afternoon Lorraine and I drove off to the top of Stanmer woods, where I used to walk lots, to meet Rosie and Innis. Rosie hasn't been out much as she lost her mother recently, and then followed this with a bout of shingles. I hugged her and she yelped as I had touched part of her back which was very painful. Good to see them, as it has been a while, and so nice to be in the great outdoors. Rosie very sad of course, and Innis has been extremely supportive. Lots of chatting, and then we drove off to The Bull in Ditchling, where we had a Sunday roast. Very busy there, and more like a restaurant than a pub. I had a pint of Harveys which was not particularly well kept. Innis full of book talk as usual, which is delightful for me.  Home and boofed ...

Up and Mum and I had breakfast and coffee, thus fortified, we contacted an administrative part of the US embassy with the notification of Mason's US social security ID and so on to turn off his pension. Mum, we think, will still get something from the US as his widow. Then we pottered about doing some sorting out in the kitchen. Wynford from next door popped in for a chat. At lunchtime, mum drove me to the Jolly Badger from where I walked to Mill Hill Broadway station. I watched mum zoom around the roundabout there with some elan.  Long journey home, feeling a bit braindead. No trains to Lewes, so had to go via Brighton. However the trip enlivened by discovering I had won a small pamphlet competition run by Hedgehog Press. It is a collaboration with Palo Almond -- four of her snowy images, and four poems from me in tanka style that were provoked by her work. I called it, perhaps in the spirit of calling a spade a spade, Snow . It's excellent as these little tanka poems don'...

Up early and a fast breakfast before recording with Robin, and generally having a good chat about the podcast. Beth off this morning too. Then went outside to do some gardening with Lorraine, ended up moving lots of big pebbles the previous owners had strewn on top of a flour bed an hour or so. Then a highly relaxed afternoon with Lorraine, me reading Janet Sutherland's latest book The Messenger House . Spoke to mum to confirm I am coming up tomorrow.  Lorraine and I watched Death in Paradise, the harmless fun returned for its 100th episode. Baffling why  we enjoy it so much. But the formula of Caribbean scenery, mild mannered murders, predictability, and general coziness were priceless during lockdown, and still enjoyable now. Watched match of the day this evening. Chelsea took a mauling from a mediocre Wolves team. Open mutiny in the crowd. Everything is wrong. The manager seems clueless, the new club owner has presided over a period of chaos, and the team look are playing ...

Boxing Day. A sense of relief at not having to do so much. I got up early and cleared up for an hour or so, before other people stirred. Breakfast together. Then at midday, after Beth and James had enjoyed a  hobbits second breakfast of a large Xmas scoobie snack they zoomed off to James's mum in Eastbourne. I had a much needed walk by the sea this afternoon, warm, still and calm, and the sun peeping through the pearly grey sea.  Home, and feeling a tad tired, made off to bed for a cheeky nap, and woke up two hours a bit bleary two hours later. A quiet night, eating a bit of leftover turkey, and watching movies. Including a pointless remake of the Lion King. We all enjoyed an episode of the formulaic fun of Death in Paradise, however. The day ended in a disappointing Match of the Day, with Manchester Utd staging a magnificent comeback after going down two nil. Boo. Enjoyed eating more simply today, and reinstated seedy, nutty, fruity yoghurt for breakfast, and so on. Important...

Lorraine and I up fairly early doing more in the garden. Every day more progress, and it feels like a kind of excellent therapy -- every day seeing a bit of progress.  I dug a hole and we planted the third acer, in what we call the island, and decided the other side should be rocks. And also we managed to rebuild the wooden trug we brought with us from Brighton, ready to take strawberry plants. It involved quite a lot of work, and fiddling with rusted bolts me having to employ things like WD40 and a chisel. This gardening malarky may turn me into a hairy chested man of action yet. Lorraine off to see Rebecca, one of her former colleagues, at her mother's house this afternoon. Her mother lives in Seaford and Lorraine was a kind of school mum to her, so it was a sort of mum summit.  I tried to work on poems but I seem to bring muddiness and indecision to everything, when I need the exact opposite.  Had did a bit of job admin. Having to chase information about the job I was ...

A misty morning. Only the roofs of houses one row behind us visible, with the rest of the valley below in mist.  Lorraine had a day off today, to regroup from having worked through the last few weekends. She is a bit shattered, but enjoyed catching up on some phone calls and relaxing and according to her fit bit, her body battery was in at 70% mid afternoon. This must be good, and better than normal, although I am not sure what it means.  An article in the Guardian about Death In Paradise. It seems that Lorraine and I are not the only ones to be  liking its undemanding fluff last year.   Really good to see Charlotte on my screen, and record an interview about her poetry this morning. She writes so honestly and illuminatingly about anxiety. Because she is a mate, we both wanted to avoid cliquey backslapping stuff, so I think we did a good job.  Later Lorraine and had a plague-dodging walk around Blaker's Park and through local streets. A grey old day. In the...

Wide awake at five today, and as soon as L was getting up, keenly checking the news from Washington. Astonishing to hear unrepentant Trumpists without shame or regrets. This morning, Biden's victory has been rubber stamped by the senate, although there were still shameful Republicans calling the result into question. Meanwhile the orange devil has belatedly been silenced by social media platforms at least for a short while.  This led to a couple of podcast shenanigans, with Robin understandably wanting to remove a tiny bit when we were laughing about Trump's will-he won't-he business. Otherwise the episode is listenable here . Mario is a profound guy these days and his interview is genuinely interesting.  Feeling edgy this morning. Not helped by news about covid surging, democracy teetering, I took myself off for an early walk which helped. Lorraine battling off to school again first thing.  When you do a similar walk often, it is amazing how everything looks different ev...

Another gruelling day for Lorraine, having to set parent's expectations, home to emergency zoom meetings in the evening too. Huge amounts to deal with, and anxious parents to be spoken to. It seems to me that she has responsibility for the wellbeing of the school, and much of the community too. She is doing brilliantly, but already feels exhausted having worked through a highly stressful weekend. A much better night's sleep. Got to my desk to find still-warm cat spew under my chair. Had another recording session with Robin which was much better today, and we had a good laugh doing it. Spent hours editing the podcast. Interrupted only by a long walk, Calliope coughing up a fur ball on my desk and chats with Mum who is still doing fine. I told her I was looking forward to someone sticking a large needle into her and Mas soon.  Meanwhile Anton who had a heart check up today he was slightly dreading, which lead to unprecedented behaviour of him eating couscous and veggies, and shun...

So the morning further polishing Diabolus in Musica , which has now reached 6.5k words, which is long for me. The more I polish it, however, the better it gets. This in contrast to the three or four poems I am working on which refuse to fall into place.  Robin and I did a bit of recording on the pre-Christmas podcast. I like how Nick, giving Robin a cup of tea, takes in his stride the sight of his wife at her desk, talking into a microphone with a blanket on her head. Later I made off to the post office, where I joined the masked ration queued for an half an hour in the street. This done, I was just setting off on a walk, when a seagull precision bombed the area of concern with guano. Having not even a tissue in my pocket, I had to slope home right away to shower. Luckily the offering was only on my head and in my hair, and not my clothes. Talk now of tightening still further the Christmas rules, in the light of a new surge. For some reason, the figures for Sussex are very low. The...

A telephone conversation this evening with a doctor about my testicles as one of which had been giving me a bit of gyp. The doctor arranged for me to see a, um, hands on doctor tomorrow.  Otherwise same old same old. A walk while now listening to lectures about Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, and worked on my short story, which is one of those things that always seems about to be finished. This evening I cooked a highly unorthodox fish and butternut squash curry, but more by luck than judgement it turned out oddly okay -- Lorraine, having worked late, ate it while watching  Death in Paradise .

Lorraine and I up early, Lorraine off to work. And me prepping for a chat and recording with Robin about the podcast. Nice to chat with her, and have a bit of a laugh while recording things. Then spent time editing the four interviews I have done so far. After a beans on toast lunch, an afternoon stroll up to the Hillfort and beyond. Walking back through the woods, school kids in gangs larking about, and the nearby playground for little kids crammed with older ones. There is zero social distancing in this age group -- nor among the younger one's mums chatting in groups on the streets. The return to schools, the government encouraging people back to work in offices, and the universities going back shortly are all factors that will strap a jet pack onto the already rapidly escalating figures. I find this situation quite nightmarish -- as if you could see the tsunami rushing in off the sea, but everyone else seems to be ignoring it. But then most people aren't hysterical hypocho...

Another cat battle in the night, and a poor night's sleep for Lorraine and I. I was a little tired today, but worked fairly efficiently this morning. Waited all day for an amazon delivery of more copies of the book, turned out this was the final solitary copy, which was easily slid through the door, which was funny. Tired and antsy this evening, although I cooked a fairly decent chickpea curry. Spoke to Mum, who had been trying to sort out her car, and even entertaining the idea of a new one. Ben being extremely helpful as usual. Found myself enjoying an episode of Death in Paradise. I'm not sure what this means.