under another sun

Needed aid from Lorraine to get up in the middle of the night as my back had seized up and I couldn't move without whimpering. I took a diazepam when I woke up, which is a muscle relaxant and helped with the spasming, and made me feel nonchalant about being unable to put my socks on.   I gingerly got out of bed, Lorraine was dealing with Chris the plumber arrived first thing and began the business of replacing the boiler and water tank. He had to leave this afternoon, however, to get emergency dental treatment.   Lorraine, who is looking a tad slimmer these days, off to her personal trainer at lunch. She returned with canes for the raspberries and food from Morrisons.  Bob phoned walking his dog saying we should go to see Carl.  Shortly after, Anton called to tell me he had begun the construction of his glider tailplane. Some of the balsa pieces are a few millimetres thin, and breakable balsa apparently.   Delighted to receive email from MSR for the first time s...

Appalling night's sleep. Woke up late but received an email from my old friend Michael Stone Richards  who is now a professor of critical theory and literature in the US. Saying he just saw a vision of Maude Gonne (the famous beauty WB Yeats had loved for years) and it had reminded him of me.  A characteristically enigmatic correspondence from MSR that made me smile and miss him. Rushing about early with the idea of going to Tunbridge Wells to meet new clients, but events conspired against this. As the ominous crow flaps, it is only in the next county of Kent, but if you try to get there by public transport you are looking at a hefty two hours each way. Sonia here this lunchtime. Explaining that this was the year of the snake and she and her partner were both monkeys, which in a strong Romanian accent was rather funny. Being a pig, I am not over fond of Chinese horoscopes. Sonia off to bask in Egypt for a holiday next week. Sent off my application for the blogger in resi...

Friday feeling End of a long week. Busy rewriting a campaign implementation guide all day, which is a photo finish between complexity and tedium. Still, I am very pleased to be working and this is helping to pay for my trip to the New World. The people I am dealing with in the agency very pleasant too. Managing to walk a little better now. Also have been putting together my site for the anthology of Guernsey. It is in a pre-beta state, but for an early squint go here . Using some of my many Guernsey photos for the site - the initial selections will be added soon, and I hope to go live with it in September, to coincide with a scoot over there, and maybe a radio interview. Received an amazing essay by an old university pal Michael Stone Richards, who is now Associate Professor of Comparative Literature, Critical Theory at a University in Detriot. The essay is about Theresa Hak Kyung Cha , a writer and artist of whom I was completely ignorant until now. MSR has a huge brain, and so I mus...

Enjoying the gym Up and at 'em today. After bits of assorted admin first thing, including a bit of billing, the off to my chiropractor for a good cracking. Then to the gym, where wild horses couldn't have stopped me leaping onto the hulklegs machine, aka cross trainer, did an impressive and sweaty 20 minutes on this then to other machines. Disappointingly, however, I seem to be putting on weight. I'm hoping the flab is turning into dense Dolph Lundgren style muscles not yet visible to the naked eye, but must be in there somewhere. I came away realising that I had actually enjoyed being in the gym. A good afternoon and evening working on Skelton Yawngrave. A note from long lost pal Michael Stone Richards in the US saying he might be over here soon. Then to bed.