under another sun

So now working constantly. Third day of working in London after my surprise call on Monday evening. Back with my chums in Tavistock Square. First Matie popped in on a social call (as she'd worked there for some time). Also nice to see my other friends who work here. Feeling pretty tired as I started the week feeling underpowered, and I've also had to work on some stuff for my French client at night and on the train. I will be working through the weekend. Nice to be in London though, and pausing to look at the caryatids near Euston station. I love seeing these things and have tried to write a poem about them before. And today I melted away from my desk in the afternoon and walked around Tavistock Square and looked at Gandhi for five minutes. Home and reading poems and listening to podcasts. Lorraine and Betty still doing the diets and so on. Naturally now Lorraine is working at home, I am in London. So it goes.  Falling into bed like an exhausted dog, and Lorraine reading th...

Unusually low on motivation, despite feeling there was lots to be done. I enjoyed sitting in the garden a couple of times as it warm enough to sit in a fleece and eat miso soup.  One of those tiresome days when I become convinced everything I've written or am working on seems useless. But instead of simply doing something else which I knew was the right thing, I forced myself instead to carry on fruitlessly. However I did speak to Anton who suggested I download an audiobook called The Establishment , by young leftist firebrand Owen Jones, which is an enjoyably cleansing diatribe against neo-liberal politics. In the evening I cooked a passable turkey and butternut squash curry for Lorraine and I, listening to how The Establishment have got everything sewn up and there's nothing we can do about it. A chat with lovely Katie this evening, who is holding up well after a harrowing week being with Graeme in his last days. When she got home and fell asleep she began to sleepwalk, s...

A spot of gardening today, and felt the weak sun on my face and tried to imagine being out there in the warmth. Lorraine and I look at our decking, removed an old metal child's swing frame bolted to the side of the house in the garden passage, and, with the help of Clem our next door neighbour, reattached a bit of lattice to the fence, cut back overhanging ivy, and fed our compost bin with things. Also discovered a hellebore flowering dingily in the back, almost completely obscured by the laurel bush the evil next door cat sits under.  Our first flower. Then off in the afternoon for a walk and a talk around the park, and the purchase of hot cross buns. Then home to cook roast chicken and eat it with Beth and John, who popped in briefly between band sessions. And so to bed, Lorraine having to be up hideously early. Still slowly reading Kokoro to each other.

Up, fairly slowly, Lorraine and I able to sleep reasonably well despite the Dionysian throbbing coming from the nearby nightclub. This probably due to a bit of proper air obtained on the moors yesterday. After checking out of the Cosmopolitan, we mooched about in town for a while, pausing for a cup of coffee and to buy Sam some beard clippers, for his beard is on the wild and woolly side. Then to the station, where we met First Matie, her brother Andy and Sam and Jade. From there we went to a pub called The Town Hall Tavern, where we had a good Sunday lunch washed down with pints of refreshing Timothy Taylor Yorkshire beer, one of which was the champion beer Boltmaker . Nice to meet Andy, who lives in Leeds having stayed there after studying history at the university some time ago. A relaxed and happy afternoon. A cheery roast lunch, which I followed with a nice apple crumble. Then we all surged out into the rain. I nipped back and collected the case from the hotel, and returned to...

My office vandalised by cats this morning. The kangaroo plant on the top of a bookcase had been pulled down and emptied on the floor. Getting on with stuff including turning again to Skelton Yawngrave. For this is the year of completion. Not cutting through with as much clarity as I'd like, however. Lorraine working from home this afternoon. I spoke to Janet today, and heard from Reuben too. I may be meeting up with one of his sons Jem to discuss ghosts. Ghosts are not discussed enough. The night I saw what was to my mind unambiguously a ghost I was at university studying philosophy. It has always interested me in how nobody in the philosophy common room wanted to discuss the matter at all. I went out for a much needed walk for an hour or so. Got some keys cut in the afternoon by which time the skies had cleared and sunlight poured down from a blue sky. Lovely to be walking through the park. The sun also gleaming on the half a dozen white caravans and vans of the Travellers who...

Up to Edgware today in the car to see Mum and Mas, armed with the Christmas present for Mas that we left behind last time we were up there, and some planted bulbs from Miss Mole's Flower Emporium for Mum. Sleety rain on the way, but we made it in good time listening to the Mayo & Kermode film podcast. We scooped up Mum and Mas and Lorraine drove us to Radlett and we ended up at the Va Penserio Italian restaurant and sat at a round table with red lights, looking out on a chilly street, an old Roman road. A pleasant Italian meal. Perhaps it was because it was the Roman ghosts scowling down on them. Back to Mum's with Mason talking about a beach that he went to when he was a child in California which was strewn with gemstones. We had tea and sat by the fire for a bit, but with an eye to the lowering sky Lorraine and I made off early back to Brighton. Luckily we drove home with no trouble, or inclement weather and found Beth at home on the sofa. Another episode of Spiral to...

After a spot of swine health work first thing (swinewriting), continued to work through my giant list. Sending more poetry out into the world. Chuffed this evening to get an acceptance from Ink Sweat and Tears , which will appear in about ten weeks. No doubt I will be trumpeting it like the worst kind of popinjay. The editor Helen Ivory has chosen Hooked , from  A Guernsey Double as they don't mind if the work has been previously published.  Bloody cold day and the wind whistling in my study as I spoke to Mum on Face Time. Black smuts falling down the chimney into the study too. I also spoke to Janet who has been released back into the wild after her operation on Monday, and she is at home and pleased to be there. Lorraine home early and we went down to the dungeon where there is an ill fitting window frame, which we had tried to block off. Lorraine more efficient in the dungeon as she can stand up down there, whereas I have to stand with my neck at ninety degrees. Beth...