under another sun

Woke up at 3 o'clock with blasted radio adverts on my mind. Had to go downstairs, sip chamomile tea, and write it all down for an hour. Beth, and her pals Milly and Ainsley stole in quiet as cat burglars and spoke in hushed ways with their mobiles bleeping with post club messages while I worked. To bed, and nightly noises of catfights, Calliope scratching on the laundry basket and stealing Lorraine's water, next door's children crying and so on meant that I barely slept till it was 6:25am and time to drag my sorry self from bed. A smooth journey to work, and miraculously after two cups of coffee, with the middle of the night work, I was able to fulfil their insane request and swiftly wrote four good quality radio scripts in an hour. More importantly, I used The New Idea thinking to good effect. After this, and a short but frenzied burst of work in the afternoon, I was released back into the wild, my stint over. It had been very challenging, but some of the people there we...

Newts and noises A timely chat with Mike my former art director, whose grown up approach soon had me feeling grounded and less twitchy about my freelance work. Otherwise the usual: to the gym for the third day in a row (I don't seem to be much thinner, but I feel far more springy) listening to my new audio book Solar , by Ian McEwen which is typically crisp and funny. Some of my own work this afternoon. Also spoke to Craig who I am going to stay with tomorrow night and Saturday, as part of Craig's Stag weekend. Lorraine and I sauntered in Preston Park which was as busy as a Summer's night. Looking into the little circular pond by the cafe which was alive with newts. I took a fancy to a tiny one, and couldn't help thinking of it as my newt. Elsewhere even the curl of barbecue smoke, people playing tennis and football, and children running about. We sauntered enjoyably, with Lorraine admiring colourless flowers. A really nice interlude. Then back to cook a prawn based rep...

Three old friends Up to London to meet Sophie at Victoria. We ended up going to a Zizzi restaurant and chatting for hours. Sophie has been under a lot of pressure lately but her business seems to be going well. I thoughtfully added to her to-do list by giving her another CD. Lovely to see her as always. I then popped over to Chiswick to see my friend Sarah, who I'd not seen for a few years and is freelancing as a teacher, editor and various other things. We had a chat in a cafe and generally caught up in a weirdly hot and sunny in Chiswick. Getting out of the station at Turnham Green felt like stepping into a different season. Then back into town where I met Mike Court my old art director in The Salisbury. Really nice to catch up too, as I'd not seen him for well over a year in which time he has separated amicably from his wife and moved into a new flat. He is still playing lots of guitar in bands, and his oldest son is following in his father's footsteps, and is now in a b...

The day that smelled of lemons Arose weakly from my floor nest of pillows and duvets in the morning to slurp coffee, and watch Mas, as ever, assemble his vitamins and other pills into a military formation before eating them. Mum had to pop into the GPs so I vacuumed the house while they were gone. Mum lively and springing about. She's planning a series of short walks that she is going to force Mas to go on too. When I had to go, Mas drove me to Stanmore from where I travelled aromatically home to Brighton , clutching a bag of lemon scented pelargonium cuttings that Mum had given me. Talked to Mike, the cat with the hat, on the train to plan a pow-wow about branding on Monday. Then the train waited outside Brighton for 30 minutes due to a fatality at Preston Park. My bag made the carriage smell nice though. As I'd not nested well the previous night, I decided against brainwork and had a haircut instead. A nice one, it turned out, although the mirror at the back of the head s...

The cat with the hat Up late. Beautiful day, and I had breakfast with Lorraine and then we did a spot of shopping. Brighton now in festival mode and even more full of life than usual. Lorraine suggested I buy Bibles for Tomorrow's christening of Klaudia and Oskar - and this seemed a very good idea. Especially when I found a nice pink one for Klaudia and a nice green one for Oskar. I have more Buddhist leanings than anything, but I do read bits from the Bible quite regularly, and need to refer to it in my work and reading so - at the very least - I think a Bible will always be useful. This done we popped into Sejuice for some refreshing fruit cocktails and Lorraine and I wandered about enjoying the stilt wearing musicians and novelty burlesque acts, before going our separate ways. I went home and finished off a vast initiative to make the place spick and span for Anna's parents to stay and then went out into Brighton in search of my new pal Mike, who was in town again. He was bu...

Pleasantly floral In Brighton today doing business billing and chasing payments, (still can't think of that without thinking of rather good recent pop hit by Adele chasing pavements ) and avoiding confronting the stuff my accountant has sent me. Feeling much clearer mentally now thanks to Mum's big improvement - able to focus on tying down details about a new and very interesting interview piece, and talking at a conference (thanks to a Mex contact) in July. Snuffling with a cold off and on all day. Feeling paranoid that I will have given it to Mum. Things took an unexpected twist when my new friend and publisher Mike called and was in Brighton. As a sophisticated American francophile he is wrong-headedly dubious about pubs and pints. I took him to sit in the hot sun in the back of the Battle of Trafalgar and he ended up having some Harveys bitter, a splendid beer as I may have mentioned brewed locally in Lewes. He was surprised, saying "My! That's pleasantly floral,...

Time travelling A pleasant day. Really enjoying listening to The Time Traveler's Wife which is a wonderful book by Audrey Niffenegger, it is essentially a love story with a time travel element. This throws up interesting perspectives on the nature of love, attachment, and memory. But it is a real page turner, or would be if I wasn't listening to it on my iPod on the train. Wonder what would happen if you sat on the train and mimed turning pages for an hour? Only light bits and pieces to do at work again today, and went for a pleasant walk and chat with The Gnome to Putney Bridge. And was even able to think about my own writing off and on during the day. After work I found myself having a few beers (they have just got in the bad Zywiec beers that I sometimes drink with Anton). I'm very fond of this beer, despite its strength, and always enjoy the picture of the gaily prancing Polish boy on the label and think of Anton who was forced by his dad to wear that garb as a boy. F...