under another sun

The extra day of the year. Lorraine and I up late today, but managed to drive off to the Book Nook, where she picked up a box of children's books, and then we went down to the sea. It was deliciously rough, and looked wonderful with the lowish winter sun.  We stopped off afterwards for a cup of coffee and toasted sandwich in the Flowerpot Cafe, before heading home. Soon out again, however, off to St Annes Wells where there was a memorial evening held for Glen. Quite a few folks Lorraine and I knew there. Richard, Claudius, Adam Bushell, and Ellie Blackshaw who played on This Concert Will Fall In Love With You with Glen. Ellie also played at  Lorraine and my wedding. Good to see Maria Grazia too, and I spoke for some time with the composer Barry Mills. Such  a nice man. A humanist conducted the serious part of the evening, and she did a splendid job of it, weaving together various accounts of Glen. His daughters and first wife were there too, and it was very sad and t...

Our wedding day started as usual with the cats plaguing us resentfully for breakfast. A bit of bleary tea sipping as an excited Beth bounded in, and shortly after the flower lady delivered the bouquets. Beth out to collect more gypsophilia as well as arancini and egghogs from the reassuringly middle class Arkwrights. Sam making coffee, and Lorraine and I cooking a large breakfast for everyone, figuring we'd be too nervous for food later. Then Dawn arrived to take Lorraine, Beth and I in her wee green car, which we loaded with boxes of flowers, candles, table placings, iPod, etc. as well as the wedding cake that the lovely Dawn had made us, and drove off to the Cricketers. People were paid, tables were sprinkled, gypsophilia and white roses arranged, and emergency repairs done to the cake which had shifted slightly in the car. Then all back home. Sam and Jade had left, and then all the ladies went off to Paul the uber-hairdresser  armed with sparkling wine. While they were ...

Luckily, after last night's revelry Lorraine did not have to leave at the crack of dawn today. Once up, another great morning's work for me. Later in the morning I went off to the gym and had another challenging workout. I am so happy that after months of antibiotics and illness that I can push myself and feel okay. Enjoyed seeing a fatter man than me in the changing room, and became fascinated by a young Chinese man who was looking at himself in several mirrors like a complete Narcissus. Eventually he left as I was finishing getting dressed and so on. Five minutes later I found he had become transfixed again by the mirror by the door into the gym. Left wondering if he had a mirror at home. People do a lot of gazing at themselves in the gym. In the weight area the walls are mirrored and people watch themselves lifting the weights all the time, and when I lifted some weedy weights I found that I did it too. To Starbucks, just down the road from the gym for a non-ideologicall...

If the cap fits Really enjoyable day. A leisurely start with Lorraine followed by intensive tidying up of our study area. It feels amazingly good to have it all sorted. Then a session in the afternoon of Christmas shopping. We accidentally found ourselves in Mad Hatters buying hats. Lorraine bought a lovely grey hat, which is slightly 1920s-ish to my eyes, but she looks fab in it. I tried various hats on, but nothing was grabbing my attention till I tried on a cap. I have always assumed caps wouldn't suit me but I found I was rocking a Irish wool cap, and so Lorraine and I walked out of the shop sporting hats. It was a clear and cold day, and it was good to have a warm head, especially the part of my head rendered vulnerable by The Area of Concern. Thus clad, we did a good amount of Christmas shopping and at no point did I feel like stabbing anyone. Sensibly repaired to The Basketmakers at the end of the day, where it was really nice to sit and chat to my lovely Lorraine. Bumped i...

Photos and poems Big steps forward with A Guernsey Double , Richard and I are close to agreeing a cover. I took myself out to the magic cafe in the afternoon and worryingly found about five things that needed to be fixed in the poems. The perspective of not looking at them properly for a couple of weeks. But I am comforted by WH Auden who said something to the effect that he never finished a poem, only abandoned it. Also popped in to see Adrian Turner's photos in an exhibition in Kensington Gardens in the laines. His seascape photos look fantastic at a larger scale. Lorraine came by this evening, and we occupied the gold sofa and did nothing, which was almost perfect as I am feeling under the weather. Below some shots by Jane Wrin of This Concert will fall in love with you Matt conducting, Glen on piano, Adam on vibraphone, Ellie on violin, me, and Tom on marimba. Lorraine third from the left singing.