under another sun

Lorraine starting an experiment when she doesn't work on Sundays like she has been. This made the weekend feel new and improved and more weekendish even on a Saturday morning. We set off for a drive to meet Lorraine's intrepid pal Carolyn for coffee. She is off again to Nicaragua again this week, where she has set up projects to help local people and is now pretty fluent in Spanish too.  Bureaucracy infuriating there however. She tried to ship over a box of essentials for a local school but the box has languished in customs for over half a year on a variety of bogus reasons, infuriating that its contents is simply to help Nicaraguan children. I fell asleep this afternoon, and slept heavily for an hour, and felt a good deal livelier for it afterwards, for this pesky cold never seems quite to leave you. Lorraine and I walked down the hill into town, and picked up the book, Buddhism for Busy People , she had ordered from Waterstones. Then we mooched off to Beth and John's ...

A blazing day again. Lorraine phoned her hairdresser to arrange a hair appointment, only to discover that she was due there in an hour or so. I walked to Hove Park listening to a football podcast about Arsen Wenger who is about to leave Arsenal. Outside Nandos opposite Hove Park, I met my godson Oskar for today he is celebrated his 12th birthday. He arrived in the convertible driven by Anton, with Klaudia and Anne. Anna came too, which was nice as I'd not seen her for a while. We all surged in for a 'cheeky Nandos' as eating Nandos always must be. It is hard to argue with chicken in peri-peri sauces and chips with various other bits. I enjoyed a bottomless Sprite zero calorie drink too. I apologised to Oskar for not having his present yet, but gave him a lenticular card that had a picture of the Mona Lisa on it, that when you tilted it, showed a skeleton underneath, which he liked. I liked it too. He was having a good birthday, having played football in the morning, and w...

Up early and made tea, then after doing a few chores, and noting with irritation the damage the foxes have already done to our new patio Lorraine and I went out for the day in Brighton. One of those perfect Brighton days, the centre busy and full all kinds of music from varieties of buskers. We wandered about happily doing some shopping. I popped into the second hand book store where I found a bilingual edition of selected poems by Victor Hugo, including one or two he wrote in Guernsey, one poem Open Windows: Early Morning he talks about all the sounds he can hear, including the bells of the Town church. Did some shopping, Lorraine looking in shops for fabric, and an earring tree to solve the morning problem of hard-to-find earrings. We paused for coffee at the Marwood Coffee House, more shopping, then popped into The Basketmakers for a bite to eat and a pint at five. Then at six we went to the Kommedia to see the final cut of Blade Runner on a big screen. Just fabulous: a visual ...

Up and out of bed very late having slept long and deep. Feeling chipper though, despite yesterday's adventures in booze and culture with Anton. Lorraine and I had a cull of my clothes, which is always enjoyable. I always discover that I have loads of clothes, and only wear a small percentage of them. The bonus is that I can fit in them all having lost some weight - even ones that date back many years. Although, I do feel like I have put on weight in the last 48 hours. Lorraine's OCD came out quite usefully and my wardrobe now has shirts all facing the same way, and iron discipline in my drawers, and about which clothes belong in which drawers. I quite like it. L's OCD tendencies make me feel curiously secure. Up and an austere small bowl of muesli and an orange for lunch, and then Lorraine and I went for a walk in the park for an hour or so, before scooting off to the supermarket. Poor L had some work to do, so I cooked and pottered about quietly, till this was done. A ...

Lorraine really ill in bed with flu, so we are lucky we planned a low profile Christmas. Coaxing her with porridge, paracetamol and other more appetising foods as the day wore on. Looked after her as best I could, and went shopping. Sainsbury's full of festive barbarity of the elbowing and barging variety. Survived this for a quiet evening in with Lorraine sneezing and shivering on the sofa. Chelsea won 8-0 today, which was exceptional, so Match of the Day was an unexpectedly fab.