under another sun

Lorraine found out about tea time that Sam and Beth's grandmother Glenice had died today. She had been very close to Glenice, who been a head teacher, and had been really encouraging of Lorraine when she switched careers to teaching. But Lorraine had been feeling sad for the last few days knowing that her end was coming. I met Glenice a few times. Her kindness and intelligence were obvious, and I liked her immediately. She a quiet but strong Christian faith. Beth and Lorraine have often said she is a wise owl.  I was up not long after seven, to jot down a few bits for the last section of the Kenniad. After breakfast Lorraine and I got the bull by the horns, and went into the garage, to do a bit of sorting and moving in preparation for a tumble dryer which hopefully will be delivered next week. I had a very lazy afternoon. I began reading The Golem by Gustav Meyrink, which is atmospheric and interesting, ate some delicious celeriac and bean soup lorraine made, and slept for an hour...

Finishing off the job this morning, chatting with Keith and having to tweak a mind map. Lorraine and Sam drove off to Basingstoke to see Glenice.   Anton and Bob's birthdays today. Off into town this afternoon to do some shopping, including a speciality booze shop where I bought a bottle of Linie Aquavit for Anton. A message to Bob and a promise of a meet up. Running about in a bit of a frenzy in town.  My background stress levels are absurdly high, with all this house uncertainty. However, our buyers are coming around this weekend so it will be good to see the whites of their eyes. In the early evening I sauntered around to Anton's place, and hung out with Anton and Oskar, who had been to Reading Festival and had a lively time and he was telling me about the music he liked. I impressed him a little saying I had met  Aitch  - who is a big hero these days - which surprised him.  Lorraine arrived, and Klaudia and Anne filtered downstairs too. A cheery evening. Kla...

Sam off today with Beth and James to see Glenice, Lorraine and I had a spontaneous kind of day. A spot of writing, as Lorraine ran her Star Dew Valley farm, then we wandered into town in the afternoon where I bought, after trying lots of shoes that didn't spark joy, a pair of winter shoes, from Schuh. A nice young guy helping us, I tried on a pair of Doc Martens, but it reminded me of kind of people who used to wear them in the 70s. I bought a clean, simple pair of brown shoes at a decent price. Picked up a pair of Sam's expensive boots from a cobbler at the bottom of the Laines, which were as good as new.    Lorraine and I made our way down to the Bottom's Rest and had a beer there, and were joined by Innis and Rosie, and we had some food. A cheery interlude of much chat. On the way home we were waiting for a bus (but ended up catching a taxi) Lorraine had been absentmindedly stroking my arm. A man appeared and asked how long we had been married, and said it was lovely to ...

A weird feeling as if I had pins and needles in my back in the middle of the night. I woke up and realised that rain was falling onto me through the Velux window. A call from Natwest Bank this morning, finalising the problem that had started in April. All good now I hope.  Fond farewells to the Creates bed and breakfast, with a big cooked breakfast this morning. Packing our millions of things, then Lorraine walked off to the long stay car park and drove the car to the short term carpark behind us. While I was waiting an old lady engaged me in quite a lengthy chat asking me if I had liked Monmouth. Also chatted to the owners of Creates, who are friendly. Car packed, we did a last bit of Monmouth shopping, and Lorraine nipped into he sewing shop to buy some bits, and happened happily on some bra extenders. Homeward bound then. Down the beautiful Wye Valley road, past Tintern Abbey and out to Chepstow and over the Severn Bridge, which is quite long and made Lorraine's stomach go over,...

Woke up early, and alone, apart from cats. Up and off to Preston Park. A nightmarish journey to Hampton followed. My train was cancelled, then the next one delayed, and standing room only. At Clapham Junction the train to Hampton was cancelled, waited half an hour and so was the next one. A railway employee explained that the trains often simply skip Clapham Junction. Caught a train to Kingston, and then caught a bus. Sitting on the bottom deck I misjudged where I was and leapt out, already half an hour late, and found I had a mile to walk. Seething and wretchedly late by the time I arrived at the agency. It had taken three hours door to door. Once in the agency, all was perfectly pleasant. Nice to see the French Bloke, and Keith, Perky and others. The FB telling me that he had bought himself a plasma cutter recently. Made me laugh that he and I live in such utterly different worlds. A saunter to the bakery with Keith at lunch, and worked happily till it was time to slip off. His ...

As forewarned the work that was supposed to start today did not. However I pressed on with the horror story. Then went to the gym in the afternoon. Listened to my final and rather disturbing Robert Aickman story, Into the Wood, about a sanatorium for insomniacs set in the Swedish forest. I have now read four volumes of his short stories. I admire his writing a great deal. Lorraine and Beth off to Basingstoke to see Glenice. Big day as Beth drove a hire car with them both in it back and forth. I had the evening to myself, and started watching Chelsea versus Manchester United. After United scored two goals, I stopped watching. The current Chelsea manager, Sarri, is wedded to a system dubbed Sarri ball, and he has a very clear way he wants his team to play. This means he is playing Chelsea's best players out of their natural positions, and they hate him for it. He needs to go. Weirdly I received no text from Anton. Recoiling from the horror of seeing Chelsea being thrashed, I r...

The chest infection I brought home still making me feel a bit rough. Still a lucky day as I had nowhere to go and nothing arduous to do. Instead Glenice, Heather and Maria came to visit down from Baskingstoke. Glenice is Beth's grandmother, Heather Beth's aunt and Lorraine's former sister in law, and Maria is Lorraine's niece. Lorraine and Beth happily cooking chickens and delicious potato spinach and goats cheese flans. I enjoyed hanging out chatting to Glenice again and to Heather, who I'd only met once before and really liked. Glenice is a stalwart at her church, and I told her about working with the religious charity and was interested to hear her opinions on them. Maria, who particularly adores Beth, is living an increasingly independent life away from home which she seems to be enjoying a great deal. Maria has a extravert and funny personality and talked to me several times too. Occasionally when things get hard to express Maria will look into a reflecti...