under another sun

A happy day. Lorraine up with the larks and off to her hairdresser. I did a bit of this, and then a bit of that, and then jumped on a bus and went off into town to meet my lovely and splendidly coiffured wife. Today was a day of trouser buying. I bought several pairs. I seem to buy trousers in batches, and my trousers were all coming to an undignified end. Looked somewhat paunchy in the changing room mirrors. After an orgy of trouser buying, off to Gars, where my Lorraine bought me lunch to celebrate my birthday. Good to sit down and chopstick down some Singapore noodles. I always enjoy Gars. Home not long after this, and a quiet snooze on the gold sofa before Dawn came, and we three surged out into a taxi. This took us to The Bottom's Rest, which is a fine pub tucked away in Hove where Rosie had booked a section of the pub for us to celebrate our birthdays. Bottom being the midsummer night's dream character, and not just a place to rest your posterior. Rosie had ordered a ...

Sent off my novel to an agent specialising in children's books today, selected mainly on gut feel and intuition. This felt like a significant moment. Having spent much of the day sorting it out, and asking Lorraine to read through everything before I emailed it off. I will also send it to a publisher, and once this is done there is nothing more to be done for the time being. I would love to work with an agent though. Despite my attempts not to build my hopes up, I have a weird optimism about this story. In the evening, Lorraine and I had a cheery date night in Brighton as a date and celebration of sending the story off. To The Cricketers, which is a pub she and I used to have a Friday night drink in when we were dating. Then across the road to Gars Chinese restaurant, where we shared a Chef's feast and a couple of Asahi Japanese beers to wash it down with. Generous portions, and we did some serious chopstick work. Our fellow diners not of the most restful sort. A table o...

Back to my daily routine today, this morning spent picking up the threads of what I'm up to, while Lorraine was working from home. I stole out to bask on the patio with a cup of tea, chatting to Betty and playing with the cats. Beth has been preparing for her dinosaur audition tomorrow up in London for the last few days, which at one point involved lying on the floor pulling dinosaur faces. Lorraine and Beth off to see Maureen and Pat this afternoon, as today is my favourite mother-in-law's birthday. I went to Hove to see Helen who now has now a complete first draft of one section of the opera, and has been working fluently. We listened to this, and discussed certain sections at length. Then we agreed the overall structure for the rest of the piece which was quite a large step forward. Walked home, got changed and then collected Klaudia to redeem her 'Golden Weasel' birthday magic ticket. We walked down to Gars restaurant and ate some excellent Chinese food as this ...

Gee Wisley Off to Wisley, the Royal Horticultural Society garden today, about an hour's drive from Brighton. It's still inescapably winter, and it was dripping and rainy. However there were signs everywhere enticing us to the butterfly hot house, where they house their tropical collection. A small notice informed us that the Butterflies were few at the moment, but those that were there, were being photographed like celebs. More fascinating was a chrysalis incubation case, where rows of chrysalis grouped in the different colours of their species were hanging down like coats on a rail, from greyish and leaflike to metallic golden. A couple of black and white Tree Nymph butterflies had recently emerged and gradually inflating their wings. It made me think of a library. Then out and about walking in the grounds. Lots of big trees, Lorraine hugged a pine, but didn't like it as much as much as a broad leafed tree. Lorraine got me fired up to transform my own back yard. My tree is...