under another sun

Up early, Lorraine having a nice lie in. Then breakfast, wordle, tidying up, thinking about writing, and a chat with Anton. His latest physio seems to indicate he is doing very well, but his next task is to learn how to walk normally again.  I was trying to loosen a screw in some curtain poles which, some time later Loraine and I successfully attached to the wall. In the afternoon we also put some heavy shelves up. A disgusting business, and the less said about it the better: after enormous effort, I have put them in upside down. Beth came around with Enzo for a bit, after the wee bairn had been weighed. He's making excellent progress. Beth also trying to sort out the wiper problem on her car, took it into the local Kendall's garage and was quoted an eye-watering £400.  'A little bundle of joy' is a cliche for a baby, but there's no doubt Enzo is one. A beautiful day. I did my paces under blue skies, and big fluffy white clouds, which I always want to make black and...

Enjoyed chatting with Pat and Maureen this morning, when Lorraine was off doing rhyme time. Maureen was talking about her next door neighbours, one of them she called 'nose ointment' drove with her husband to Seaford, to find out where they were moving. Laughing about 'nose ointment' all day, which apparently has cockney roots, but one I'd never heard. Why ointment ? Maureen can't wait to move to Seaford, and it's looking like they might be able to do it next week. Lorraine, being a star. Pat and Maureen lurking outside in the garden lots. I fiddled with a big new memory poem, went to the gym this afternoon and finished The Uncanny this evening. Freud's weird and wonderful essay about DaVinci I'd saved for last. Quite remarkable and well written, even if it seems to me to be a bit wrong headed at times and takes a few wild intuitive leaps, one based on the symbol of a vulture as mother, as Leonardo had a fantasy with a vulture in it, which Freud wen...

Lorraine off to do Rhyme Time in the Library, I fiddled with a poem, but felt at a bit of an impasse. Part of me wants to have one of those university reading weeks as I have an ever mounting pile of books to be read, but there is always something else that seems must be done. However today I re-read Freud's essay on The Uncanny , as well as one called Screen Memories (a seemingly-banal memory from early childhood, that the brain then uses as the basis for repressed feelings from later life). This I found very interesting, and set some cogs whirring in my head. I don't agree with all he says of course, but he is an amazing writer. Also I am arranging some interviews for the next season of the podcast. Trouble is reading begets more reading. Now I want to read The Sand Man by E.T.A. Hoffmann as Freud was glossing it. Also began reading Bluff by Danez Smith, a US poet, who I will interview. Made an absolute gaffe writing to the publisher's publicity, calling Danez him inst...

A dreadful night's sleep, mainly caused by a headache arising from a nerve pain in my back, triggered by carrying things at a particular angle. I must try to get this fixed. Woke up late this morning at a little before eight, to discover lovely Lorraine had crept in before leaving for work with a nice cuppa, which was still drinkable. Win! A bit bleary headed, made lists of things I did not particularly want to do, and felt I have a bit of a plan. A chat with Anton, another helping A short walk this afternoon. Extremely windy. Beth cheerily buzzing about in her little red car sorting everything out. Something happened to her phone today, and the screen is doomed. I am reading   The 'Uncanny' , a 1919 essay by Freud. He is easy to disagree with, and I do disagree with some of his conclusions, but fascinating nevertheless. He attributes fear about losing your eyes, for example, to a symbolic fear of castration. I don't know about other chaps, but if there was a choi...