under another sun

Lorraine and I up late, and after breakfast I sent off the MS of my collaboration with Palo, and Lorraine played piano. Then we dragged off the broken lawn mower to the repair cafe in Seaford. We saw Kate there who was volunteering and altering clothing. There was a bit of a queue and after we had been given a job ticket, we had two cups of tea. Plenty of folks eating there. It was then I noticed a man peering at our lawnmower. Not one of the repairers but a someone with a passion for engines. He seemed positively sad that it was broken when being so new, and told us how the lawn mower should be fixed. When the fixer came over,  our new friend offered to advise him. I was then treated to 40 minutes of his life and times with engines, and how he was excellent at fixing them, then a deep dive into the subject of garage engineers and what rogues they were, complete with half a dozen examples of how he had outsmarted roguish garage mechanics with his superior knowledge. Unbelievably, L...

Hosing it down this morning. A filthy day. Many of the trains weren't running thanks to industrial action, including those I take to get to Mum, so I called her first thing and rearranged a visit to next Wednesday.  A suprise visit from Matt, who had come to Seaford to see his grandfather, and get his wee boy William to meet him. Lorraine cooks us some soup. William was delightful, and extremely well behaved. Great to see Matty boy again, last glimpsed on Chiswick High Road in the summer. Good to have a catch up on some gossip, but also to see Matt being such an exemplary dad. All heartwarming.  Then later in the afternoon, Lorraine and I set off to Brighton by car, to catch the train to Victoria. Arrived in good time, bought a snack from M&S and caught the tube to Embankment and walked up through the festive throngs to the London Coliseum  St Martin's Lane, where we saw Max Richter lead the performance of his piece Voices, based on the Universal Declaration of Human ...