under another sun

Time to come home today. A quiet morning, then we all made off to the local café where we had some fairly excellent breakfasts, ranging from vegan to my own, which included peppery breakfast haggis as part of the Scottish Breakfast mix. Then fond farewells with Sam, who may or may not come down to Brighton next week, and jumped in a cab with Jade to take us to Waverley station. Jade leaped out at the University, and we were in good time for our train. A fairly unremarkable journey home, although the weather was spectacular and sunny, and Scotland looked lovely as Edinburgh slipped away. An ant line of people climbing up the steep hill of Arthur's seat outside the city. Edinburgh definitely a place I could live. I finished The Conspiracy Against the Human Race , by Thomas Ligotti on the train. Lorraine listening to her Buddhism audiobook. A annoying elderly couple on the train we sat opposite, who tutted when we sat opposite them on our reserved seats. At King's Cross zoom...

A rather beautiful walk although the weather not too lovely, alongside the Leith chatting lots. We went to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, which I liked, being a manageable size. Enjoyed a couple of paintings by  Gwen John  very much. We went from there to a wee basement bar called the Antiquary, where we played several hands of  euchre, and half watched Wolves versus Watford. Turns out that Jade comes from a family of Wolves fans, and her aunt and cousin were at the FA cup semifinal game at Wembley. When we arrived, Wolves were two nil up and all was well. We left after extra time, with Watford having prevailed. The Antiquary opposite a shop called Mr Purves, which made me smile. Then off to a curry house for a Nepalese curry, which I hungrily devoured as we had not eaten much. Then home where we simply watched some of the first season of Fleabag, as Sam had not seen it. A sensibly earlyish night. Below Lorraine and Jade, general loveliness and Jade...

Some communication with new agency, and Val called me from Paris to ask if I have any availability too. This all good news. Two lots of work now speeding towards me. This is great as people will generally pay you for it. Feeling a tiny bit like a money magnet again. Worked for several hours on my story. However, today something of an interlude. I read a book about plotting called, Take off your pants! Outline Your Books for Faster, Better Writing , by Libbie Hawker, which was about plotting and not flying by the seat of your pants. It was short but practical, and I gleaned a couple of useful things to help me with the current horror writing project. Background babble of Brexit chaos this week. It is a festival of headless chickens. Went for a walk before the rain started today. Saw the aftermath of the blown down tree nearby. Adrenaline pumping stuff round here I can tell you. Spoke to Mum today, and Mason getting new hearing aids which are apparently very good. When Lorraine...

Lorraine working at home this morning. Me too, but with little accomplishment I phoned home this morning, and had a ten minute chat with Mason, who sounded better than I've heard him for a while. Sonia here today, so kissed her Merry Christmas and made off into town to do Christmas shopping, and found things remarkably easy to find. Feeling calm and balanced. Even the shops seeming fine and not over-frenzied. There seems plenty of time this week, and simply coming home when the process grew onerous. Bought a few pressies for folks and picked up some stuff from the post office using Lorraine's driving license. Walked home. Lorraine finally finishing work for the year. Quite a moment, and to celebrate we  polished off a bottle of wine, and watched  Fleabag . A lovely little series, with its roots firmly in theatre.

A house day, Lorraine and I doing things like washing the fridge, carrying things about and hoovering and washing floors, and making the front room Christmassy. Spoke to Anton and Mum this morning. As the day wore on I felt increasingly cold and magnetised by the sofa. By bedtime Lorraine sniffing too. Watched the final episode of Humans tonight, good TV. Lorraine and I also watched the first two episodes of Fleabag. I've heard and read people raving about this, and finally got around to looking at it. It is a cult hit that first appeared on BBC 3. A blacker than black comedy, with lots of direct to camera stuff. Very dark and despairing, but brilliantly written. Very impressed. There is great TV on at the moment, but you have to know where to look. Lorraine looked at some of the presents she received at school. My favourite, by some distance, was some quite realistic, handmade 'Reindeer droppings'.  On the flip side of the label was written '100% organic'. We...