under another sun

So a lovely breakfast in La Barbarie and then a bit of a toddle around the parish, all very overcast however. I popped into the graveyard to say hello to my grandparents, and into the supermarket to buy Richard a bottle of wine for his birthday. And myself a bottle of coke, aka the black doctor, as I was feeling the need for sugar or liquid or something.  On the way back to the hotel, we paused to say hello to La Gran'mère, as is only right and proper. Back to the hotel, where we met Richard and Jane for lunch. A very cheery time, and lovely to see the pair of them.  Richard looking as twinkly eyed as ever, and Jane regal. Lots to catch up on. They always seem to be having adventures, but also have had a very testing time after their home was flooded from above -- they had to move out for months, and now there is more work due upstairs. Still they were both in fine form, and busy being creative as ever.  Afterwards a bit of flaking out for Lorraine and I, enjoying a quiet...

All up early, to have breakfast with Beth and John before they left. The island still foggy, but luckily everyone got away okay. Sam and Jade left later on, and we had a chance to walk with them on the cliffs again, and have a bite to eat at lunch. Jade's Auntie Lynne kindly came to drive them off to the airport in the afternoon. I mooched off to do a spot of shopping in St Martin's, and said hello while I was there to La Gran'mère, It felt quiet with everyone having flown the coop, luckily we had plans, and were picked up by Richard at seven and taken back to have one of Jane's delicious suppers. As we drove through town, we saw the woman who is in the Guernsey film, being photographed between the Town Church and the pub opposite. Lots to discuss with Jane and Richard. Their travels, and not to mention the publications of Guernsey Legends , and Stone Witness since we last saw each other. Great to see them, and hear how Jane's book launch was going. I also lea...

Up to strap on the nosebag this morning. Full Guernsey breakfasts all round, which was splendid. Then sitting about in the garden for a while. The day absolutely gorgeous. Hot and sunny. After a while I left Lorraine happily doing some embroidery and walked up the road and bought some flowers from Brouards and went to the graveyard. Noticed that Gwen and Dave's gravestone needs the lettering repainting. I also mooched about, and noticed the ranks of graves advancing. One recent addition was Peter Hamon, who was my grandfather's brother in law. I almost met my own demise there to, stepping off the sward into the path of a reversing stonemason's van. For some reason I thought this was quite funny. Then I paid my respects to the Gran'mere who wore a crown of flowers for the occasion. I walked past my old school and saw a young black boy in a push chair, and experienced an irrationally strong sense of identification with him. Back to the hotel, and joined Lorraine in th...

Up early and galloping through my French stuff, and sent it off to Paris and had a quick chat with mes amis there and did some more. I like working this way, and my colleagues always seem so pleased with things I send them. A quick walk into town at lunchtime and then back to work. Happy just to be spending the evening in Lorraine and Beth watched watched The Great British Bake Off. Listened to the JKT show on Radio Guernsey just before bedtime, and heard Richard reading a poem about La Gran'mère  for national poetry day. It was a fine poem. With my poems on the same subject, she is fast becoming the most written about menhir I know. Good to hear JKT, Richard and Jane again on the airwaves. Calliope in a moment of protest today, as I worked.

Gathered for our Full Guernsey Breakfasts this morning. Some of us, feeling wan and hungover, but a huge breakfast did a lot to help his. Then all off down to Moulin Huet, where the beach was empty and beautiful. The sea must have been rough lately as there was little sand, and rock structures under the sand were revealed. To Lorraine and my satisfaction, the others falling under its spell right away.  Beth and John scrambling up rocks and into caves, and Sam and Jade leaping towards the sea in a way that made me think of E.H. Shepard drawings for Winnie the Pooh. Jade re-emerging later with bright pink feet having zoomed into the water. Beth proud to have scaled some big rocks with John. I kept an eye on the turning tide having visions of them stranded there. I must be getting old. After some time here, we walked back into St Martins to La Gran'mère du Chimquière. However there were two vans parked by it, and states workmen there packing up. Luckily the much missed Croix Guerin ...

So what a difference a day makes. Hot night, but I was up and ready to make a difference. Set aside everything in search of a quick win. This was found in the shape of the short story Defenders of Guernsey I wrote for the Guernsey Literary Festival, which I am going to get kindle ready as an experiment, rather than have it languish on my hard drive, I began to fix a few of the problems and typos, and make a few slight rewrites, to republish it in a new kindle edition. Felt good to be tackling the Guernsey Goat again. This is also prompted by Amanda's new game which is in development, and was partly inspired by the story. So why not? Good news, the pitch I'd worked on concerning the fate of balkan dogs, was won with my creative work. This was a bit of a boost as the last three things I have worked on have all resulted in won pitches. My lovely French clients phoned from Paris and I have two new briefs to work on for next week. Also received a card from Richard bearing a like...

Cloudy and spitting with rain this morning. Lorraine and I outside however, Lorraine determinedly sitting on the sun lounger under the clouds. Obviously as this was a holiday, I was contacted about work from my French clients and about the pitch. Had a stroll around St Martins, calling in on La Gran'mère to say hello, and miraculously seeing her without the obligatory white van parked in front was a pleasure. Then ambled about and walking down the lane opposite the corner of Les Douvres and finding new little pathways. Back to La Barbarie, where we then arranged to meet Richard at Icart. The Icart outdoor cafe becoming increasingly Alice in Wonderland with the owner being as chatty and personable as ever, and his gardens already strange with tall echiums, now with twisty paths and nooks to sit in. Here we met Richard, leaving Holly in the van, and drank a coffee and Lorraine and I  ate a slice of Guernsey gâche. Very good to see Richard again, and discuss wide ranging subjects su...

Final morning in Guernsey. After breakfast we went to Brouards to buy some flowers to put on my Grandparents' grave. This done, and a certain amount of looking at other graves and thinking of the people Mum and I knew in them, we went down to St Martin's church to say hello to La Gran'mère and pop into the Church for a brief mooch about. From there we walked to Icart Point, and sat on the bench and looked at the cloud patches on the turquoise water and felt rather sad to be leaving all this beauty. Collected by a cab from La Barbarie and off to the airport. Little to report here, a pleasant enough flight with clear views from my window over Alderney and the French coast. We flew over Brighton too. Fond farewells with Mum at Gatwick train station. Lorraine and I speeding home with a cheery taxi driver from the station. Beth and John at home, but I had to go upstairs and start work taking a brief on the freelance work I am going to be doing over the next few weeks. Th...

A good day, up early and working on the book. Broke off to go to the gym, and while still feeling a bit leaden, it was good to go. Listening to Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood as an audiobook as I trundled and rowed. An interesting diversion into speculative fiction, but perhaps not quite as well realised as I found The Handmaid's Tale . Received a package from Richard, with two parish magazines from Guernsey, Les Tortévalais, and The Townie. Plus a stamp with La Gran'mère du Chimquière . In the evening off to the Grand Central pub where the Nightingale social group had another evening for dramatic types. I felt uncharacteristically shy, faced with lots of theatrical types. Luckily the man called Kick who ran the event introduced me to a few people, including the man who ran the Nightingale, a woman trying to put on a show about Edith Sitwell and running into problems with the Sitwell estate, two recent graduates who were passionate about theatre and others. So I had an e...

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...

Up just before six today, to the welcome news that Obama had been re-elected in the US presidential election. Lorraine dropped me and my case at Brighton station, before driving off to work. Felt sad she wasn’t coming with me. Luckily, a completely uneventful journey followed, as I was feeling curiously stressed. The morning was misty, but the twin-engined prop climbed up into the blue and I had a smooth ride to Guernsey above a blanket of low-altitude cloud that covered the channel. Nice local cab driver, in whose cab I managed to drop my wallet giving me a dodgy few seconds of pocket patting before it was recovered standing outside La Barbarie. I had arrived early, but they checked me in anyway, and I was given the keys to the apartment. Arrived at La Croix Guerin café, ready for a large breakfast, smearing the buttercup yellow Guernsey butter on my toast and gulping my first cup of tea of the day. These hungrily engulfed, I set off for a walk. First, I paid my respects to L...