under another sun

Today I had arranged to meet Matty Boy for lunch in Chiswick after a scoot to the dentist. Great to see him, looking suave and shaven headed. Things going well with his agency, but mainly we shot the breeze about our many mutual pals, and houses too. He is moving East to the countryside soon, to be in a beautiful old house with grounds big enough for a horse to run in. Matt particularly pleased that it had an outside bar. Also saw Isy for a chat briefly as Matt had to zoom back to the office. Met young master William Walter Hunt who, although I am no expert in these things, looked to be a baby of distinction and excellence. We repaired to another pub after popping briefly back into the office. For more of the same, then fond farewells with Matt. It did my heart good to see him. Then I tubed over to London Bridge station to head home, but got off at London Bridge and went to Borough Market where I met Keith in meatspace for the first time in years, having a drink with Fitz and Maurizio....

A good night's sleep and feeling less feverish. More than happy just to be able to slump, and recover from the bug and hang out with Lorraine. The friend of mine who died was Glen, and he died in Greece. I texted Matt Had to break the news to him, he was shopping in Leeds. He was shocked of course. His impulse is to do something to celebrate him, and I agree. Richard has gone to Kavala along with another of Glen's friends to get things sorted out. I don't think writing about this any more is appropriate just now. Lying on the sofa watching some Scandinavian cop show with Lorraine, before going to bed feeling safe and happy makes me realise yet again just how lucky I am.

Up late, after breakfast in bed. Lurking in the garden discussing our next steps. Lorraine went to a Bolney W.I. meeting this lunch time. I did little and when Lorraine came home again, we went off to The Brighton Tavern, and met Matt there with Reuben and John Hood and others. Matt and Reuben are moving to Yorkshire. Lovely to chat to Matt who I have not seen much of for some time. Usual chatty throng at the Tavern, with Lorraine finding herself attached to a nice and rather drunk man called Alec who kept telling her how wonderful she was. John left soon after we arrived. Also met Tim, a very talented poet and pianist, who arrived with a baritone horn for Matt. Much hugging of Matt and we were very sad to see him go, although it was great to see him so excited about moving into a new house, which he has bought. Felt like the end of an era for me, although Matt and I have not worked together for several years now, working with him on This concert will fall in love with you and other ...

To Sainsburys and the Japanese mini market this morning, with Lorraine, before John and Sue arrived having driven down from the Cotswolds. After restorative cups of tea, off into Brighton, mooching about in the lanes, the ladies disappearing into various shops while John and I stood about chatting outside. After a while, we went into the Basketmakers and we managed to get a table. It became a bit crowded and shouty in our corner.  We met Matt there, who sat with us for a bit, after he left the seat nearby was occupied with a very loud Yorkshireman, with one of those penetrating voices. Stepping out of the pub was something of a relief. We had an ice cream and a saunter down by the sea, where it was suddenly quite sunny and pleasant. Peering up at the i360. Walked along, and then cut up into Hove where we grabbed a cab to the Preston Park Tavern, for a quick drink. Home, and we sat chatting for a few hours evening, till it was time for everyone to creep off to bed. Below a low-...

Writing about sepsis, taking a briefing at 8:30 in the morning from Matt, and working on it the best part of the day on it. I also spoke to mum, and am planning to to up to London soon. Had to tell Matt I wouldn't be coming to his Birthday party, where all my pals would be meeting, because I had not told Lorraine about it, and she had asked Sue and John down from the Cotswolds this weekend. All completely my fault, and I felt like a chump as I made my excuses. Sepsis done (with no bad blood), and after a brief call with Val in Paris (all happy with my work luckily) off to the shops. I bought some smalls from M&S. Used shocking language as instructed by the title of the menswear department (arf) and we went on a hunt for a US flag that Beth is going to use in a show. I needed a haircut, but pitched up at the hairdresser five minutes after closing. Stacey, who often does my hair, legged out and said he'd do it anyway which was kind of him. His partner is a dog walker but...

Up early and working on a film script for the charity, then off to London to meet the Matt and the folks from the agency in the Duke of Sussex  in Chiswick. Sat along from the actor who played Mr Norrell in the recent BBC Series Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. I also had to fend off an offer for work over Christmas as I went. The pub's big back room which now is used as a restaurant area, and it was full of tables with a big office party on it. Ours was smaller. A good meal (duck for me) and cheery company.  I couldn't help thinking of Bob, also known as Mad Dog who gained this nickname in this pub in the days of yore, when it was a pool room, and he was charging about it with a pool cue champed in his teeth. A pleasant meal, then off to another quieter pub to have a quick drink with Matt, with Jo and Dave before I answered the call of the seagull and headed south. Also phoned up the doctor's surgery. The tests were back and all were clear, as I'd come to expect. T...

Monday. Emailed Val in Paris to send my best wishes. Nobody at their office hurt, thankfully, although their office is close to where the trouble was. Started by working on my poems. Then quickly morphing into doing accounts, after seeing Andrew on Friday. Rain and ghastliness outside for most of the day and night. Anton drove around to collect my waterproof over trousers to wear while on a walking break next week.  He zoomed in and looked at our new music player, and liked it. Not too surprising as he was the one who recommended it. Then outside to go for a quick spin in his new BMW which has a retractable roof and heated seats with little hot blowy things that puff on the back of your neck. Drove around in the cool day, with electronically warmed buns. Back for a teleconference, and to arrange to see Brad later in the week to work with him on the DRTV edit in Canterbury. Rest of the day spent untidying my office, doing accounts and so on. In the evening, after Beth had cook...

Lorraine and I having an incredibly lazy start to the day. Sat in bed writing poetry, and we read the Paper on our screens. But I did drag myself off to buy some bread for our breakfast. After breakfast, though, Lorraine and I simply went back to bed again and fell asleep till it was afternoon like the worst sort of teenagers. In the afternoon Lorraine and I mooched about doing a spot of shopping for me.  I bought myself a dark blue shirt, and looked at trousers and shoes but nothing inspired me. I had a coffee with Lorraine, who then waited for Beth to finish work in town, and they did some extra shopping. I simply came home and listened to some music, and played my guitar for the first time in ages and felt rather mellow. In the evening off to see Matt in the new flat he has with Reuben. Nice to see them in a pleasant flat with a garden near the groovily named Vogue Gyratory . A few drinks and a spot of beef curry with the boys, and listening to music and chatting. I like Reu...

Nothing but the wild rain again. Feeling damp spirited first thing and conscious of my chesty cold which seems to be trying to stage a palace coup (croup?) and returning. Lorraine and I walked to the post office in the few minutes it wasn't raining. I took the bus to see Janet and Ken this afternoon in the rain, and being fed delicious little pistachio balls and hearing some excellent news: Janet's oncologist told her to go away and come back in a year for a checkup. Ken seeming brighter too, and they'd enjoyed a visit yesterday from their previously tumultuous granddaughter, who is now a model of thoughtfulness. What a difference a year makes. Listening to The Golden Apples of the Sun as an audiobook on the day's travels. I've not read these Ray Bradbury short stories for decades. He is a master of the craft. Home to the cheering news that I have a poem accepted for a magazine called Under the Radar. What is good about this is that it is a new poem. It'...

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...

Lorraine off today for physiotherapy on her back, and then in the afternoon some pilates one-to-one session, from a teacher that Tasha had recommended to her. Lorraine says the pilates person said that her problems were all down to her feet, and that they needed regular massaging. By me. While Lorraine was out I hobbled down to the viaduct and picked up a nice piece of pale blue glass we had created by Stephanie the glassmaker.  It is a pale blue curved piece with bobbles and streaks and is rather beautiful and we have put it on the ledge of a high window on our staircase so the light can shine through in the afternoon. Hobbled back up the hill and sat in the garden, reading and writing a new poem, in a style which is a bit of a departure for me. Then had a long sleep on the sofa for I was feeling weirdly tired and my foot was a bit hurty. Off nevertheless into town to meet Matt in the Basketmakers, where I heroically shunned beer. Matt in pretty good form, mad for working on...

Off in the afternoon by bus into town. Sprang onto the bus, which proceeded ten metres along the road before breaking down. Eventually into town where I went with Lorraine into C&H fabrics for fabric, including the stuffing for a draft-excluding snake. Then into M&S and another shop with a ridiculous name and an incredibly bored looking man selling coffees to look at bras. Luckily after this kind of thing, there was the Basketmakers to look forward to where we met Matt and Irish Tom and Bryn for a cheeky few beers and a bite to eat. Betty also joined us after work, before shooting off to see Laura. Sitting at a nearby table was three of the barbers in the shop I go to, who greeted me cheerily. Rather good fun to be in The Baskets again, and to see Matt who had been working on an allotment all day. If it's not about allotments Matt's not interested. He was talking so much about the allotment that I found it hard to interject to tell him about my garden. We used to talk...

A steady day of working at my stuff, broken by a walk into town to pick up Lorraine's present, which was being delivered to a store today. It wasn't there, which was annoying, but at least I had a good walk. Working this afternoon in the garden, as I have discovered that my laptop seems to pick up the wifi outside, which is excellent. Off in the evening to poetry workshop, the standard there is always improving. Tess Jolly produced another outstanding poem the second in what is going to be a fabulous sequence, an interesting poem from Tony taking an enigmatic piece of graffiti with strange syntax, and creating a poem in the same way. Antony had an excellent love poem too. I took along a poem that I have been struggling with off and on for years, and Tess suggested simple a fix for it that I'm really happy about. Walking home I peered into the window of The Brighton Tavern and saw Matt was there on a quiet monday, so popped in and put the world to rights over a couple of...

Murky weather, with Calliope causing chaos indoors. She was illegally trespassing on the sink to look from the kitchen window. But she became rooted to the spot in horror as Beth started to use the juicer to make carrot juice. Something that has become a necessity when we received six large bags of carrots from the Sainsbury's delivery, instead of half a dozen carrots. Because Calliope was looking so alarmed, Lorraine grabbed her to take her away. Calliope however turned, mid-air into a flailing ball of horrified cat, and badly scratched Lorraine. Lorraine dropped the cat, who then escaped by running over the hobs of the cooker, one of which was in use and narrowly avoided. This left poor Lorraine blooded and in pain. Recovering later, Lorraine carefully repotted lots of seedlings and planted some tomato seeds. These were then placed up in the top bathroom under a velux window, in the cat's old cleaned up plastic litter tray. Before we went to bed, Calliope gratefully used ...

Valentine's day today, and Lorraine with a day off too. As well as a card to my lovely wife I also bought on impulse some Krispy Kreme heart shaped donuts. Krispy Kremes sound like something out of the Simpsons to me. We consumed these in bed, and welcomed diabetes type 2 into our lives with every bite. Unbelievably sweet things. As for Valentines day, it does feel a little irrelevant when you have married someone and dedicated the rest of your life to be with them. A card doesn't really sum all that up, however nice. A day of action in the garden. With Lorraine and I digging up a section of the lawn, and piling up the scrappy turf. The soil looks pretty good, although is chalky in places (unsurprisingly). Both felt very pleased with ourselves for this, and we were only at it for a couple of hours. The cats delightedly springing about the place as we worked. In the late afternoon Lorraine and I went into town for an overdue beer with Matt in The Brighton Tavern. Really go...

All action today. Getting broadband and the Royal Mail forwarding organised for our new house. The Royal Mail at least decided to charge me nothing for this as a gesture of goodwill -- having made a hash of the forwarding so far.  Also zoomed off to the bank to schedule the chaps payment to solicitor. I quite liked having hundreds of thousands in my account for a while. Also signing and returning accounts stuff to Andrew. In short, taking care of business. All this done, off to Brighton late this afternoon. I had arranged to meet Beth there for her birthday, from the train. Instead Lorraine drove us there, and came as a surprise. John with Betty too, and we all repaired to a French cafe to drink coffees and have cake (or in Lorraine and my case fig and chocolate bread and butter pudding which was fab). Betty happy to receive an iPad, which for all kinds of complex reasons we had stealthily collected from Pat and Maureen's place last weekend. Then the four of us to The Basketmak...

A mercifully slow start this morning, and Lorraine caught up on some good sleep and I brought us quorn sausage sandwiches and cups of tea in bed with the cats happily lying about with us. Off this afternoon to Brighton. Yay! To return digital TV aerial and see Interstellar , a baggy science fiction romp at the Kommedia. Sure the plot has more holes than a crochet blanket, but it was an exciting spectacle and the emotional bits had Lorraine weeping satisfactorily next to me. I enjoyed it a great deal - a bleakish escapism -- with some incredible visual sequences. The infinite library scene in the end (somebody has read their Jorge Luis Borges) rather splendid. By the time I left the cinema, the headache that I had been nursing this morning had transformed into a full on thumper, and I wanted to get home rather than to The Basketmakers to meet Matt. Lorraine went off to get the car, and I popped into Sainsbury's where Beth caught up with me and we jumped into Lorraine's getaw...

Up and working this morning on various stuff from last week that I needed to finish, billing, admin and so on. Lorraine working on her stuff too until she went shopping with Beth for her Cairo trip as an Ugly Sister. Betty also found out that she had got the job as an elf in Brighton for Christmas, about which she was delighted.  We finished at 3.00 and then off to The Shakey's Head where we met John, Anton and Matt for a Sunday lunch. And surprisingly delicious roast it was too. Lots of chatting, and good to see Matt. All having very restrained drinks, as I was still feeling very drained and worn out, and everyone else was too. Home to watch some TV and relax, and a very early night's sleep.

Woke up and Lorraine told me that the fuses had all gone downstairs. We got up and isolated the problem to the boiler, which is tripping the fuses. Another item added to The Cloud of Things That Must Be Done. Otherwise and unbelievably, doing more house related solicitor stuff, including more pleasantly taking a lunchtime stroll with Lorraine down to the solicitor's office at lunchtime to drop things off. Lorraine trying to get roofers to sort out the roof too, though nobody returns the phone calls. Spoke to Mum. Her tooth had been pulled, but Mason's surgeon at the hospital said he just needed a filling instead -- which was lucky. Poor Janet and Ken have been going through an incredibly stressful time, with Ken's 16 granddaughter who is staying with them in Brighton, running away for days on end and being spotted with unsavoury characters about town. In the evening off to see Matt, and have a quick drink in the Basketmakers, which we had not been to for months it seems...

Lorraine and I walked round the corner to get the fixings for a large breakfast with Beth and John. Feeling cheery and holidayish, as long as you don't listen to the news. After a hefty but tasty breakfast, Beth spent some time with Lorraine looking at holiday gear. Then we dropped them round the corner at Hove Station, where John will be living in a few weeks. Then to see Janet and Ken, and Hus and his daughter Reem, who is on a holiday in the UK but working in a cafe. Janet looking well. We drank tea flavoured with rose petals and had wide ranging discussions. Ken had had a heart monitor put into his chest this week, but seems to have taken this fairly philosophically. In the evening Dawn and Matt came around for supper. Lorraine copied Jane's chicken and chickpea stew cooked in wine and herbs from last week, and then peaches, strawberries and ice-cream. Delicious. Matt has an infected finger, and is on heavy strength antibiotics. Played Chiara's music to Matt who lik...