under another sun

Up early and working hard all day at my cat-plagued desk. Big decisions on the book. Decided one of the sections was all wrong and have cut it, and have now to replace it. Beth and John leaving for London at noon. A good day's work, and I spoke to Mum on FaceTime and heard too from my old school friend Mark who I've not seen for a few years. Lorraine out singing with the Hullaballoos tonight, and I walked her to the venue and then mooched past the Pavilion down to the sea, and looked at the moon on its back. A comparatively calm night, the pier closed and lightless, the tide out and lines of white-tipped waves coming in from the sea. A few stars visible when you escaped the immediate light pollution. Good to have an hour's walk after being at my desk all day. Home, and wrote something for Claudius about the Shakespeare Trio, listened to a 15 minute Radio 4 thing about failure before Lorraine returned. Anne Enright was talking about how Flann O'Brien had his manuscri...

Up to London this morning, enjoying my flask of tea on the train. Like childbirth, it's easy to forget about the horror of commuting until you do it again.  I thought as the train stopped on the track for 15 minutes this morning just by Elephant and Castle this morning. Slightly late, and sluggish and tired all day. Nice to see some of the folks in Tavistock Square again. Very cold still, and crept out at lunchtime to buy a sandwich before scurrying back. In the evening straight off the train to see 'Now that's what I call a hullabaloo!' in Gloucester Road Baptist Church. Anton arrived moments before me and we sat together on a pew. A short but enjoyable concert, with a varied programme taking in Bulgarian traditional music, Dido's Lament, tunes by George Michael and Elbow, to Nana was a Suffragette by Jules Gibb, and the musical director Kirsty's setting of The Road Less Travelled by Robert Frost. I enjoyed watching Lorraine putting her heart and soul into ...