under another sun

A free day. Rainy but nice. Rain dodged in the garden this morning. And spent time in the garage, organising things and beginning the project to clear it out and store things properly. We ordered some racks and so on for the garage to bring efficiency and order to the chaos. Dog's abuse from the gull on the roof, who dives at me especially and shrieks at me from the moment I walk out into the garden. The gull also had a go at Brian, yarping horribly at him, and flying at him.   In the evening we rain dodged down to Gino's just around the corner. I had booked tickets for us at the Duke of York's cinema, but luckily Lorraine had discovered that I'd actually booked it for tomorrow instead like a numpty. A lovely pizza and salad at Gino's however. And it felt fun for just the two of us to be going out.  Below, Lorraine is the poster girl for volunteering locally.  Andrew contacted me the other day, saying that my wife was all over the internet. Also bees in a purple pop...

Preparing for our trip to Scotland, lots of jobs done by Lorraine especially. Feeling okay, apart from my heavy cold. I popped out to the shops and got flour from the shops, and nosed about, and queued for Lorraine's prescription, which was not in yet. Into Gallery Uno, where I had a chat with two artists who were manning the shop. Palo and my Snow pamphlets stored there at floor level which is not ideal, but at least they are there. On the way home, spoke to a neighbour Jenny, and talk quickly turned to how to remove cat excrement and pee from carpets. Pee conversations seem inescapable at the moment. Had a nice chat with Mum, and Lorraine talked to Pat and Maureen recovering from the nasty stomach bug they probably got from Lorraine.  I saw I am on the shortlist for a pamphlet competition, but have decided not try not get excitable about it as I have been down this road many times before. It's hard not to have the odd gleam of optimism though. I also spent a couple of hours ...

Up early and rushing to get the podcast out, plus questions to mail off to the publisher of a poet I am interviewing next Monday. This took up much of the day, apart from an hour or so I spent with Lorraine in the back garden clearing the garage and moving things out of the glasshouse prior to us cleaning it out. A man arrived after lunch to install new piece of double glazing with a hole in it so that we can use the catflap again, as living with a litter tray indoors has worn thin. I caddishly left Lorraine to sort this out while I worked. Got the latest episode out, featuring an interview I did with an old friend Tammy Yoseloff who I knew from the 80s. Robin and my stuff afterwards took a lot of editing too, and I sent it off to Robin who did a brilliant job hacking a few more mins out of it.  A great relief to get the episode up, and also to have sorted out questions and mailed them for next Monday.  Spoke to Anton, and I am going to see him this Saturday to drink coffee, a...