under another sun

Got on with work from my French client this morning, after fiddling with some poems. The job fairly easy as I had broken the back of it yesterday afternoon. My French clients seemed pleased with the result, responding with an email that said 'You are Perfect!' which made me smile. Good to have a bit of work, as the big job that was supposed to start today has been bumped for a day. A man from Porlock interlude when a surly and deeply annoying man unexpectedly arrived to install smart meters. Lorraine had got halfway through filling in the form online and changed her mind at the weekend, but they came anyway. He kicked off by asking me to keep an eye on his car, as if I had nothing better to do. I gave him a permit. When made any enquiry, such as why is the house full of gas smell, he replied mostly non verbally or in two or three words. Then he went and sat outside in his car with the front door open for 20 minutes. When I went out and asked the stupid meter man if we were don...

A good day for me -- just a couple of bits of admin and a quick query from mes amis in Paris. Otherwise much of the day was a pause -- a caesura if I am being pretentious and why not? --  where I could think about about poetry for I have the bones of a new collection. It's the hope that kills you. This followed by an untroubled afternoon walk listening to Klara and the Sun . I also attended a zoom reading by my Antony Mair at lunchtime, with Paul Terence Carney and Nancy Hynes. Robin in the zoom crowd. I like Antony and his poems very much and they are full of his own experience and very accomplished. I enjoyed some of Paul's work too. I was unfortunately in the wrong headspace for Nancy. Zoom readings are good because they are so easy to attend, but it is not like attending a real reading.  Spoke to Anton today. Lorraine home early (for her) from school, and I called Mum, and then we had our usual reward of a Friday night curry and a couple of beers, followed by a watch of T...

Up very early to get on with the last of the job I've been working on with Keith this week, after a few comments came in from one of the team in France. Everyone based in France I work with is really nice. After a focused few hours we were done, thank goodness and I could get on arranging some interviews for the podcast. One will be with one of the editors of a Norton anthology of Native Nations Poetry, which will be interesting. A soul restoring walk this afternoon, listening to Klara and the Sun .  A chat with Anton at lunchtime. In the afternoon after my walk, I watched two more episodes of The Terror  which the Tobster told me about and I really like but is not to Lorraine's taste.   Lorraine had a better day today although this has been a very hard week for her. I cooked a salmon stir fry and we watched Masterchef and the last episode of season 4 of The Wire which is great. Below an image from The Terror, and an adorned tree encountered on my walk. Makes me think pe...