under another sun

Lorraine and I spent all day running about preparing for our party. Lorraine cooking huge amounts of sausage rolls, cheese straws and other snackable delights.  Toby called shortly before the party started from Washington.  About 40 people showed up. I had the image of bags of aquarium fish all being emptied into the same tank. Luckily everyone got on.  Beth and James and Julie and her new bf Andy, there were poets, Charlotte, SJB, Robin and Nick and Jeremy and Alexandra. Book group folks and all our new Seaford pals Steve, and several of his friends, Brian and Yvonne and Patrick and Adele and Delores, who told us she had wonderful time after struggling with bereavements lately. Peter Hoibak representing old school pals, came with his excellent wife Julie that Lorraine and I took to immediately. Old pals Dawn, and Paul, Jess and Andrew. Even Brian and Calliope spent time being friendly people cats. I have been feeling a bit stressed lately, and felt stressed by the party ...

Morning of tidying up and hoovering. Delores came around for some lunch and a lunchtime glass of wine. She melted away in the afternoon as we were all going to the same party tonight at Kate and Andrew's house, which is near Blatchington Pond.  Kate is part of the reading group and she and Lorraine get on well, and on arrival Kate gave us each a written question to ask people, as there were lots of people who didn't know each other. Odd, and as I didn't have my glasses. But it proved a good icebreaker -- although I already knew the hosts and Adele and Patrick and Delores. Lots of nice folks there, and spoke to most of them. Enjoyed lurking in the garden despite the coolness, and saw some bats flitting about overhead. Apparently a night for the Perseids, but didn't see any. The first time I'd had a chance to chat to Andrew despite meeting him a few times in a group of people. And swapped numbers with a musician called Steve who is moving to Lewes. Had a really good t...

A quiet day. Lorraine up and off to the hairdresser, Beth to work. I mooched into town and then back again. Feeling really under the weather, so worried that I would be limp ragging it.  Dawn came around then we got ready for the party. My party in fact! We three bundled into a cab with Lorraine looking fab in a new dress and fresh haircut, Dawn and a big bag of helium balloons. Got to the venue at Grand central and while others sorted things out I stood about twitching. First Matie and Ian came first, armed with a present. Amazingly they had bought it quite randomly, but it turned out to be a book of Marianne North paintings. When I lived in Kew I went to this gallery many times, and loved the pictures in it. My musician pals Richard, Nick and Silvana arrived early and got their gear set up as Jazztastique, with Steve sitting in with them. Claudius came too but sadly sans flute. Beth arrived looking splendid in a kind of cape affair, with Innis and Rosie. Anton there of cou...

Kenny Towers abuzz with activity this morning, Beth off teach and Lorraine and I falling asleep again, then realising I was hideously late for Lewes. Lorraine kindly drove me there then did some shopping for tonight's beano and then went to do her pilates session. I went to the Town Hall in Lewes to attend the Frogmore Poetry/Needlewriters/Telltale stand in the societies fair for an hour.  I wandered about a bit and fell into conversation with the Vikings, a pleasant couple who were fully dressed in dark ages gear and I was invited to heft a variety of weapons including a spikeless mace, a sword and a shield. Their main business is battle re-enactment, and 'competitive' battles, which seems to be a bit like rugby with axes.  To the stand where I met Jeremy from Frogmore, and spent an hour with Charlotte Gann, who is a fantastic poet and had been kind enough to review The Nightwork for Frogmore. For all kinds of reasons the chat I had with Charlotte about poetry was one...

Lorraine's birthday is next weekend, but we will be in Northumberland. So today we had a party which kicked off officially at 8:00pm but by 5:30 we were having our now traditional pre-party party with early arrivals, an old friend of Lorraine’s called Lesley who is a headteacher. Plus Sarah and Matt and their children, then Betty's pals started to arrive, and First Matie showed up and the party effortlessly moved from pre-party to the first hour of the party, which of course was the quietest. Sam looking incredibly dapper. Di and Adrian arrived with some grandchildren, one of whom introduced various sweets and peanuts into one of the fishtanks, but these were fished out with no harm done. I felt sorry for the kids, who looked very guilty afterwards. Anton and Brian, Wayne, Matt and John, Dawn and Denise, Richard and Glenda, Richard and Maria Grazia, Steve Cartwright and many more. A very pleasant and affectionate night, with Beth breaking into song, and Cath producing a...

Party time So today zooming about getting ready for a large party to celebrate Betty's 20th birthday and me and Lorraine living together. Lorraine off to get an astonishingly red hair cut n' colour which everyone agreed was rather smart. Then Betty, Lorraine and I going off to buy quantities of boozes and food in supermarkets, blow up ballons, prepare food and move furniture about. Very tired all day but a shower and a stiff drink worked wonders. Max, The French Bloke and their cherubic children Tahlia, Zemirah and Elijah arrived an hour and a half early, which effectively started the party with the children zooming about. Betty upstairs glamming herself up with two of her pals, watched awe-struck by young Tahlia and Zemirah. Another pal Linda arrived somewhat before the party started already drunk and slightly chaotic. Then lots of guests, First Matie and Matty Boy, The Shakespeare Trio who gave us a bit of a tune accompanied by Steve Cartwright on banjo, Claudius, Matt and Wa...

Big fun in big top tents A quiet day, with spot of gentle shopping this afternoon supervised by Lorraine, in which we bought a small pressie for Steve and Tasha, I scored a much-needed new jacket and some shoes. Suddenly I get retail therapy. Joan sent an email containing a picture of a lovely peach and currant pie she'd made, which had us both salivating and was slightly unfair given the pie was in Canada. I like pies. Pies and Peter Kennys are friends. Off in the evening to Firle, where Natasha and Stephen had got married that afternoon to join in a rather wonderful party. It was a beautiful double peaked tent in a garden. Tasha was resplendent in a lovely wedding gown and greeted us as we walked in. Walked around the tent to find Stephen and congratulate him only to find the French Bloke and Matty Boy (who is of course Tasha's brother). The FB led us past the band but I was seized by Max and compelled to dance wildly with her for some time before I could even reach the bar. ...

Life is a bouncy castle Anna, Brian and I drove off to a nearby church hall this morning to set up for Klaudia's birthday party. The hall was a good old fashioned one, and for a minute I jumped up and stood centre stage, and remembered how much I like it there. Busyness followed. There were tables and chairs to set up, toys to be strewn about the place, balloons to hang and a bouncy castle to be inflated. Then the next couple of hours blurred by with a couple of dozen kids, (they are hard to count as they dart about in a kind of Brownian motion) and parents. Enjoyed seeing the kids bouncing around in the castle, and taking lots of photos and chatting with the mums and dads, many of whom I now know thanks to Anna and Anton. They are, by and large, a really pleasant bunch of people. But it all went wrong for a bit as a duff batch of balloons began to spontaneously burst. This absolutely traumatised Klaudia to the point where she burst into tears and screamed in horror if taken back i...

A party in Makinohara A slightly sluggish start to the day. Managed to avoid going to the onsen (baths) again, with the ladies, but I have now run out of excuses and will have to waddle forth among the petite and slim Japanese like a Sumo any day now. For some reason had an upset stomach this morning but this was fixed by a bowl of udon noodles in a delicious soupy broth. We went to Hiroko `s favourite noodle place nearby, not flashy but really tasty grub. Home again after a spot of food shopping, and as Hiroko began her preparations for a party this evening, Toby Romy and me sloped off for a walk. Warm sunny weather during the day here, unlike the very chilly nights. Came across a couple of local temples and discovered a crystal clear pond full of beautiful koi . Yet another nap, and Toby woke me up to join the gathering party. About ten of Hiroko `s friends including Mr Sizuki from last night, this time with Mrs Sizuki , and some other gents. Got talking to one very nice retired ...

Busy in London Woke up in Tufnell Park in North London. I'd stayed overnight in the home of Sophie's pal Sarah Saunders who had kindly put me up. I slept heavily after Sophie's party. Waking up I was followed downstairs by a black cat, after it had introduced itself by snaking its front paw underneath the door of the bathroom. Sarah's house reminded me a lot of Isis Court, where I'd lived in Chiswick down by the river. Even the smell was the same. Sat drinking tea, feeling pleasantly nostalgic, while being attended to closely by the amorous black cat. Enjoyed a few minutes looking out at the nice street full of December light before Sarah got up. An excellent conversation over toast and tea with Sarah. She is an old friend of Sophie's and is very interesting. Quite passionate about green issues, and has been a photographer but is now a consultant in digital image-making. A new friend. Then off out into the lovely morning. I travelled up to Edgware and had lunch ...

Sophie's party New pitch stuff ahead of schedule, which meant that today was fairly relaxed. There is lots of work to do before Christmas, however, and I have been asked to present in Bradford on Friday, while other creatives are busy laughing it up at our Christmas party. Bah. As a sort of spin off of this blog, I also have to do another agency blog soon which will be fun. In the evening I went up to Highgate to attend Andros and Sophie's party. Really enjoyable evening. Good to see Sophie being so funny and at the centre of so much affection. Lots of interesting people there, and the table was groaning with lovely food. Sophie had talked about me to some of her pals, so people were very friendly to me. Christof finds talking animal jokes funny. We were laughing at this. Bear: Can I have a pint of...... of lager please. Barman: Why the big paws? etc. I was setting off for Brighton, but Sophie insisted I stay to eat Pavlova. One of her pals called Sarah said I could stay at her...