under another sun

Lorraine and I up late, and after breakfast I sent off the MS of my collaboration with Palo, and Lorraine played piano. Then we dragged off the broken lawn mower to the repair cafe in Seaford. We saw Kate there who was volunteering and altering clothing. There was a bit of a queue and after we had been given a job ticket, we had two cups of tea. Plenty of folks eating there. It was then I noticed a man peering at our lawnmower. Not one of the repairers but a someone with a passion for engines. He seemed positively sad that it was broken when being so new, and told us how the lawn mower should be fixed. When the fixer came over,  our new friend offered to advise him. I was then treated to 40 minutes of his life and times with engines, and how he was excellent at fixing them, then a deep dive into the subject of garage engineers and what rogues they were, complete with half a dozen examples of how he had outsmarted roguish garage mechanics with his superior knowledge. Unbelievably, L...

After a kipper breakfast, Lorraine and I rode on the bus down to Hove Town Hall and walking back along the seafront to Brighton. A sunny day, quite warm in the sunshine. Just loving getting the sunshine on me after so much grey lately. The water was high and the pebbles seething when the waves pulled back. At the Meeting Place Cafe we stopped to have a cup of tea and two of their huge rock cakes sitting in the sun by the sea. Then we toddled back into Brighton, and ended up having a coffee before bussing home. Made a giant turkey stew from the stock I had made from the Christmas Turkey, rather excellent. Started reading The Shadow Over Innsmouth by H.P. Lovecraft. For his time, he was an innovative horror writer for the time, but his not even thinly veiled racism is vile and unacceptable. Reading while holding my nose. Lorraine and I watching  Call The Midwife tonight, L sad that the wrong uniforms are being worn by the nurses. The fathers of the babies are generally portraye...

Zooming about the house in a tidy up this morning. Lorraine then off to school to pick up a wheelbarrow, and then go to meet her pal Penny for a stroll around some gardens. This gave me the opportunity to do some thinking and planning of my own. Although this is tempting fate, I have a clear plan at the moment. This includes self-publishing the children's book as a kindle thing, having read the highly-practical Going Digital , which has transformed how I think about these things. I am also pushing on with my horror story, Nothing Compares To You. Also finished reading H.P. Lovecraft's Supernatural Horror in Literature , and read  a horror story by E. Nesbit , who wrote the Railway Children , and children's classics like The Phoenix and the Carpet, The Story of the Amulet and  Five Children and It , which I loved as a kid. Turns out she was a dab hand at a bit of horror too. Lorraine home at tea time, and we then started our big garden plan. Part of this demands digging...

Up and slaving like a dawg to get the document ready for the new agency on time. Managed it, and had  a couple of hours to spare in the afternoon. Went to the gym, but felt weirdly underpowered and sweaty, so simply stopped after twenty minutes and walked home again feeling a bit wussy.  Then started work on the French stuff.   At the end of the day, rather pleased that I can stop working for a couple of days, and really cheery that I have had work which is earmarking doubloons for the Kenny coffers. Very tired this evening. Finished reading The Dunwich Horror by H.P. Lovecraft. Went out and scored a small curry when Lorraine came home to a deep discussion with Maureen about the new wood burner she had installed today. Photos had already arrived. Tom arrived this evening to stay. Chatted to him, but both Lorraine and I in a bit of a zombie state.