under another sun

A lovely day in Guernsey with puffy white clouds hurrying across the blue sky. After a full Guernsey breakfast, much improved ingredients this time, spent much of the day wandering happily in the parish of my childhood. Pausing to put yellow flowers on my grandparents grave, and chatting to the woman in Brouards flower shop, going into St Martins, saying hello to La Gran'mère   and telling her Lorraine and I had got married and other essentials. We went into La Bella Luce and had a cup of pleasant but pricey coffee there, listening to strangely lounge style pop classics, including a very weird one just as we were leaving of Let's Stay Together , which was our wedding song. Then down to Moulin Huet, which was at high tide. We sat on the bench overlooking the bay, watching large waves surge in and swell and whiten between the rocks.  For me this is one of the magical places in the world, and Lorraine is spellbound by it too. We spent an hour or so there, before climbing...

Moulin Huet Bused into St Peter Port this morning. A slightly unfocused visit to town, but Lorraine enjoyed seeing A Guernsey Double in a few shops. I bought some paper, and Lorraine bought the next Larsson book. As the weather was perfect, we caught a bus to La Bella Luce for a couple of glasses of beer and I had a crab and chorizo panini . Suddenly I felt that I was on holiday, and felt relaxed and cheerful. We walked down to Moulin Huet bay which was looking beautiful as usual. Once there I decided to go for a swim, and despite lacking moral fibre and cringing and screaming on entry, found it very pleasant after a while. It was sunny enough to dry off in the sun afterwards. Later spent some time lurking along the shallows. I thought I saw a puffin at one point, which I'd never seen in Guernsey. I also found one corner where the sand was emitting streams of sulphurous-smelling bubbles. Eventually Lorraine and I left the beach and stopped briefly at The Captains to wet our w...

Grave matters This morning Mum had arranged to see a relative called Roy in La Criox Guerin, a nearby cafe. I had opted out of this encounter as the conversation was mainly about the deaths, and how a distant cousin of mine had just had a double amputation. Had an email from Jane detailing her and Richard's end of the famous poetry evening. Apparently Richard bruised his ribs falling into bed, a fact which makes me feel curiously comforted. As a preparation for her meeting I went with Mum to the graveyard. Here we looked at several graves of family members, including a fresh one for Sadie, my grandfather's sister-in-law. I'd not seen Sadie for some time, but she had been kind to me as a child. Especially when my Grandmother had been summoned to England one year when I was 12 as her sister had died suddenly. My grandfather refused to cook, so I was promoted to chef and cooked for him and Toby. Sadie came around once or twice to see if I was coping, and offer advice on the fi...