under another sun

Aimee and the Dell posse Things clicking into place on the Skelton stuff this morning. I just like writing it, simple as that. The agency wanting me an extra day next week and my pharma client want some more on the website, I'll be working till Easter. Then I am definitely finishing my outstanding projects - no matter what torpedoes the global ecomomy courses Kennywards. Up into London this afternoon, as Aimee was over from Dubai and this seemed a splendid opportunity to see her and other Dell posse chums who were at Marcella's wedding in Westport last Autumn. Great to see everyone and have an intensive gossip. Aimee sporting her usual bracing cheerfulness, and Dubai shades. We all met in a pub around near Great Portland Street in London. Phil talking about doing some standup again. He is a very funny man indeed, and I hope he does. Paula and Marcella's agency doing well still, and they are very busy, which is great to hear. Always feel more cheery after seeing all these fo...

Blue Monday The most miserable day of the year according to psychologists . As I rushed to get ready, the cat knocked over several things in my bathroom and then fell into the (thankfully just flushed) toilet. I felt cheery enough, although of course a rainy grey Monday morning in January, aboard a creepingly delayed train to Victoria didn't exactly get the pulses racing. Surgical site infections with Betsy and Hannah today was fine, however, and I like everyone I've met at that agency so far. Watched the share prices of banks plummeting today. My understanding of these things not great, but it contributes to a sense of instability and unease. Obama is inaugurated tomorrow, which seems to be a really hopeful thing. Curses! My desktop order has been thwarted. NatWest stopped my credit card payment to Dell as a precaution, as it was an Internet deal. So I have to reorder the bloody thing. Fairly fuming over this. Ordering a Dell computer isn't such a strange transaction is it...

The back abates For the first day in ages, a cracking day on my skeleton story. Also a few tweaks to The Moth Display, which is in the final flap. Then a swim. Feeling better than I have done for a while thanks to my recent massage. My back is not hurting all the time, which means I can sleep too. Yippee. Deep tissue massage rocks. Up to London in the evening. Spoke to Mum on the train. She had just returned home after starting her chemotherapy. She was feeling a little sleepy when I spoke to her, but she said that the nursing staff couldn't have been better, and it wasn't too bad so far. Also re-reading an old anthology called New Blood on the train. Rather than dipping into magazines, I'm forcing myself to be more methodical about catching up with anyone who is anyone in the last ten years in poetry. As I did so, an inky stain on my damp manbag printed itself neatly onto my brand new trousers. Pouring steadily in London, as befits a British June. I set off to Goodge Stee...

The pig's last oink A morning full of skeletons. A sluggish head today though, and I got quickly stuck. Popped out instead to get a haircut (and an interesting discussion about life as a barber and er, skeltons) and, after having a more profitable afternoon, decided to leave early for London where I was to meet the Dell Posse. I arrived very early and enjoyed walking about and relishing London's bustle, having been cooped up bashing away on my keyboard. Chinatown looked particularly nice, decorated for New Year. I lurked about taking photos for some time. Then I made my way to the Crown and Two Chairmen in Soho where I began to read a newish collection of poetry by Esther Morgan called The Silence Living in Houses while sipping a beer. She quotes Alice Monroe's short story The Office which I've not read: "So a house is not the same for a woman. She is not someone who walks into the house, to make use of it and will walk out again. She is the house; there is no sepa...

Freecycling the recycler Work a bit of a slog today, but tubed into Soho this evening to meet up with the old Dell crowd. (We all used to work on the Dell account in times gone by, and it was so hideous that it forged long friendships). We met briefly in the crowded Crown and Two, and then we repaired as usual to the Delhi Brasserie to strap on the nosebag. We sat as we usually do in a small mirrored back room. A good evening full of gossip. Paula is now deputy MD of her agency, Marcella has been promoted to account director, and best news of all is that Ash and Phil have got engaged - so there will be a marriage to celebrate in the Dell posse. Meanwhile James told us about a terrible night in a cinema. He has a phobia about blood and gore. He was watching a movie with his girlfriend, and started to feel wussy when the film got bloody. He went outside to the toilet still feeling horrible and fainted. He came to, having fallen heavily into the tiled wall, in a pool of his own blood. He...