under another sun

Awake at sixish, luckily went back to sleep at seven thirty, and didn't get up to make tea till nine. Got up properly some time after ten, and called Mum, who is expecting Jana today, and made a late breakfast. Calliope off at noon to get more thyroid medication from her new vet at the just opened Seafront clinic, just five minutes walk away, though Lorraine drove us. Calliope only had a chance for a few experimental howls, before we arrived. In fact we were back home inside twenty five minutes. Far less stressful than for me and Calliope driving her to and from Patcham. Her weight is good, and she seems healthy, she was relaxed in the vet's office mooching about the room, and scorning the little treats the vet gave her after he'd weighed her, listened to her heart and so on.   Home and I had a slightly galling hour of failing to put a screw into the wall. First, finding the drill in the garage, hidden in a bag under some wood. Then after selecting the right drill bit, rawl...

A pleasant day in which I worked on my new poem did a few bits of admin (including emailing the people who'd offered me work on Monday) and took myself for a long early afternoon moochabout in town, browsing happily in secondhand bookshops and popping into Waterstones where I bought a book by Umberto Eco and Jean-Claude Carrière, called ' This is not the end of the book; ' and a collection of essays called  Literature and Evil by George Bataille. After a walk by the sea I found myself in Kemptown where I stopped at a little 'cafe bistro' called Figaro's in a sidestreet. Here I ordered tea, and the man balked as if I had requested a unicorn, for it was an Italian place priding itself on its coffee. I was presented with a cup with a dirty saucer with the teabag floating in the milky water, and minutes later the worst all-day breakfast I've had this century, complete with a noxious ratburger. Thinking about it even now makes me want to retch. The charms of t...

Sock stealing Mad dreams. My fishes had all bred and I needed to find a new tank for the fry before they were eaten. Found myself on a farm full of huge stampeding cattle. Then on a tractor that tipped over breaking my leg, but nobody would believe it was broken. I then punched a belligerent man's face and woke up. Exhausting. Crumpets and coffee with Mum and Mas. I asked Mas if he had experience post traumatic stress after returning from Korea, and he said he hadn't. He'd been a US Marine sniper. He said the people he shot at appeared so small they might have been fleas. I met Jana for the first time this morning, who on holiday from the Czech Republic was coming around to go for a walk with Mum. Very pleasant and funny woman, and I was sorry I had to rush off. I decided to walk to Mill Hill because I am porcine. Typical to hit a fat peak shortly before being on stage and launching books etc. Before I left, Mum gave me a folder full of pictures of Skelton Yawngrave charact...