under another sun

Up early again. Lorraine received a call from Maureen saying that Patrick's catheter had come out and so on, so she went round, called the catheter nurse and so on. Patrick behaving a little bit erratically, which Lorraine and I thought might be due to a bladder infection, which the nurse also thought. I talked to Luke who is doing a grand job repointing. The great clouds of dust part of the job is done, he is also putting in a little gutter too to prevent water gathering.  I went off to the station. Train cancelled but I caught the next one, after taking the opportunity to walk around the Salts for 25 minutes to up my paces. Then to Lewes where I met Messrs. Hartley and Hoibak in the Lansdowne arms, and then we made off to Chaula's for a buffet Indian lunch. Fairly good value, and decent food. Then we went on a little bit of a Lewes pub crawl, going to the Gardener's Arms, then off to the Snowdrop Inn (named after the Lewes Avalanche ) and back to the John Harvey tavern. C...

Slept heavily after yesterday's massage. Another day on tenterhooks. Beth being induced and so on. Lorraine and I spent the day thinking she was going to go into labour at any moment. I can't really imagine what it will be like for Beth and James.  After doing some writing this morning, rather a good morning where I am having a few ahah moments. Pottered off the gym for a bit today, but having twinged my lower back earlier in the week I took it fairly easy on the cross trainer.  Very hot day and we are in a heatwave.  In the afternoon some work in the garage, and I built another of the metal shelving units. Only one more to go now. Pouring with sweat doing it. Then to meet Messrs H and H in the Evening Star. Telling them about the imminent birth. Lots of sagacious fatherly advice and a rather too graphic description of cutting the umbilical cord with a tiny pair of scissors from Peter.  We went to Fatto a Mano for a cheeky pizza, and went to the Green Dragon, a Brigh...

Writing well this morning, and the satisfaction of feeling I am making real progress. This not at all hampered by Jack the electrician coming and doing some work in the spare room, There will be light over Lorraine's desk when the decorating is done. Nice chat with Anton this morning too.  Pat and Maureen took refuge here as their new carpet was being laid in their bedroom and hallway.  In the evening I made off to the Evening Star in Brighton, where I met up with Mark and Peter, first time this year. A really enjoyable evening. After a couple of drinks we ended up in Casa Don Carlos where we had tapas and shared a good bottle of red wine, then to the Bath Arms for an absolute bloody final. Brighton quiet and lifeless, despite it being a rainy Wednesday night in February. Things never quite recovered after Covid. Discussed with Mark the poem he had written, took a good book recommendation from Peter about the Burgess Shale, something I have been interested in for some time. Ar...

To the medical centre to get a shingles jab at 8:25. The woman said 'sorry' as the needle slid in. When I stood up I felt momentarily light headed. This alarmed her to the extent that she gave me a small bottle of sparkling water from her own bag, rather than risk leaving the room to get a glass. After a hypochondriacal self-check, I had a bit of water, and felt soon felt fine. Making a drama out of nothing as usual. Breakfast with Lorraine, then did some recording with Robin, mainly festive banter. I had to break off a couple of times as Brian was walking about the house several times miaowing with the catnip mouse in his mouth. As he is deaf this gets very loud indeed. His behaviour hasn't really changed since Calliope died. Hard to know if it has even registered, as Brian, though handsome is not the smartest of beings.  Attempted to pick up the threads of doing some writing on the Kenniad. I made a few tweaks, but couldn't get into a flow state. Went into town and bo...

Slept in a bit later than usual, and then had breakfast with Lorraine before preparing myself for the interview with Ruth Padel. Lorraine playing a Bob Dylan song downstairs on the piano before I started recording. Interesting conversation with her, but slightly tricky, lots of extraneous noises, and a car alarm going off, which meant she had to re-record and move into another room and so on. Pleased to have got it recorded. Fingers crossed it will sound okay in the edit.  In the afternoon, Lorraine and I steeled ourselves, and tackled the spare room. It has a wall spanning built in cupboard, which we emptied and began to dissemble. We made a decent start on it. Then I made off to meet Peter and Mark in The Evening Star. Despite Peter telling us his sister in law had died suddenly recently, we had a cheery night. He seems very phlegmatic and philosophical about such things, probably due to his Police work.   We strapped on a nosebag at the Lucky Star at the bottom of Trafalga...

A long pre-hibernation sleep last night. Today the last day of September, and a grizzly morning with lashings of rain. Lorraine and I stayed in bed till 10:30am, unheard of for me on a Monday morning.  Up and did some decent writing with what was left of the morning. Addressed yesterday's sudden bout of vertigo by reinstating the Brandt-Daroff exercises, I've done before. They work by loosening crystals in your ears, and you have to hold your head at 45 degrees in thirty second bouts. Felt floaty and lurchy for a time afterwards -- to be expected -- but it settled down.  At tea time, I hopped on a train to Lewes to meet Messers Hoibak and Hartley in The Lewes Arms. Crept up the hill and explained with some pathos that I was still feeling a bit post-covidy, which turned into a recurring joke through the evening. We sat for a bit putting the world to rights in the Lewes Arms, a deeply excellent pub unchanged Mark says since he's lived in the area. I've been there over a c...

Up early and slowly organising my thoughts into a new longer poem, and reading a bit more Freud. I have almost finished The Uncanny , the Penguin collection of his essays and I have really enjoyed it.   Pat and Maureen and Lorraine went back to the place they are buying, and also had a chat with the property manager. Then, being the ideal daughter, Lorraine organising everything so that in the afternoon, we were able to zoom off to Brighton. I nipped out of the car and dropped off the legal documents for Pat and Maureen's move at the solicitor's office (we are using Healeys again in the Old Stein so it is Jess's daughter Kate helping us again). Really enjoyed Lorraine and I just having a drive together and a chat, and look at the sunshine on the south coast. Just one last push to get Pat and Maureen here in Seaford, which they are both looking forward to immensely. Home again, and I picked up the threads of the writing I was doing and spoke to Mum who seemed fairly perky. T...

Lorraine off to Ashford this morning, after going to Rhyme Time. I spent time working on the What's Inside story, having regained faith in it. A nice note from Diana at Mariscat Press about the sampler publication some of my poems are in, which will be published early Autumn. This afternoon I spent two hours talking with Charlotte and the other Understorians Marilyn, Emma and Linda. Soon after I'd begun this little group a few months ago, I learned that Marilyn, who I'd just met, will be published in the same Mariscat sampler.   I mooched into Brighton this evening to meet Mark and Peter in the Basketmakers. Sat there eating wasabi peanuts and shooting the breeze for quite some time. The England and Netherlands semifinal besieging other pubs, but not in Baskets. Mark and Peter both shared zero interest in the footie. Off for a decentish pizza at Franco Manca.  Could tell by the roar we could hear in pizzeria that England had won. Home on the train with Mark, and then home....

Sent Robin the episode this morning, and she returned it with a few tweaks, uploaded and so on, and a relief to get this one uploaded. In the evening off to Brighton. Reading The Hatred of Poetry by Ben Learner on the train. So far it's a meh from me.  To the Evening Star, where I met Mark and Peter, the Messrs H&H.  They were kind about Mason and Mum, and generally we put the world to rights over some enjoyable quaffs. I gave them each a copy of Snow . A cheeky pizza in Fatto a Mano in the North Laine, and after one in the Eagle, ended up in the Basketmakers. It hasn't changed, but though I keep expecting to recognise people in there, I didn't. A fine night. And nice to be meeting up with old school friends so regularly. Just missed the Seaford train, so hopped on a bus instead, drinking a much needed litre of water. 

Raining most of the day. Up early, a fast breakfast, and made a flask of coffee and headed off to Seaford Station. By chance, met Dutch Mike on the platform, and we chatted all the way up to Gatwick, where he got off to fly home to Haarlem.   From Elstree station, and a stroll in the thankfully light rain to The Waggon and Horses. Mum and Mas already there, but the pub empty, and the cooker not working in the kitchen for a while. Mason wanted nibbles and we were given a plate of olives and those big mild pickled chillies, unusual foods to wash down with a Guinness. However normal service was resumed, and we ate some cooked food (grilled Halloumi and falafel for me). The pub also filled up lots towards the end. The man with two dogs arrived, and I thanked him for phoning Barnet about the parking spot outside her house. He advised me to keep an eye out for the parking fines they had accrued erroneously. Mum and Mas in fairly good spirits, and I left them there and made my way back to...

Lorraine had arranged for a supermarket delivery to come this morning between 7 and 9. So up before the sparrows. However, when she checked it, the delivery was going to be made to our old address in Brighton. Lorraine having to make lots of phone calls, where she was assured she could drive to Hove and collect the order this afternoon. This a 40 minute drive. She drove off, and she'd been told a load of bollocks on the helpline, and so had to do the whole shop from scratch. Basically sorting this out took hours and was very frustrating considering the whole idea of a delivery was to save time. Meanwhile, I did the stuff for my client and sent it off to France around lunchtime.  Broke off so that Robin and I could re-record a conversation where on playback the channels recorded two Robins instead of both of us. Late feedback from the client, who tryingly true to form, wanted to make changes. Means I am going to have to do it tomorrow morning, which left me feeling a tad irritated. ...

Back steadily improving and I am able to get dressed in the morning without Lorraine having to put my socks on and so on. Trying on shirts again instead of teeshirts, and very noticeable now that my shirts are all loose. This zoe change of diet thing is really helping me get trimmer, even when I am creeping around the house like Igor. Lorraine out this morning, and went to see Beth and James. I did a recording session with Robin, and had a little prep to do beforehand. It's great to have such a good poetry ally. In the afternoon, I zoomed to Brighton, reading Charlotte's brilliant new pamphlet Cargo, on the train, and bought a card to give to  Lorraine tomorrow. Nice to be out in the world again, if a tad gingerly. Then met up with my school friends Peter and Mark in The Nelson on Trafalgar Street. Drank lots, popped into a tapas place for some tapas, and then repaired to the Great Eastern. I first met those two in September 1971, which is rather a long time ago. Mark and Peter...

Lorraine off to Ashford this morning, and I zoomed to Brighton for 12 to get my hair cut by Stacy, to undo the great Seaford hair debacle of a few weeks ago. I confessed my infidelity and promised it would never happen again. Then I mooched back up to the station where I met my old schoolmate Peter Hoibak. Spent the afternoon having a few beers and catching up on the last forty something years. He joined the Police at eighteen and a half, and stayed a policeman until he retired. I found him a lovely man, kind and generous in his ways, and with a hinterland of lots of reading. He loved being a policeman, and wanted to remain a constable, so as not to burden himself with paperwork when he loved the hands on stuff. We had a cheeky in the Nelson on Trafalgar Street, and then repaired to the Basketmakers for a couple of hours which was in one of its rare quiet phases. We will certainly meet again. Trained home and went to the pharmacy to collect my drugs -- all except for the new ones they ...

Sunny at first, with the bloody seagull tapping on the kitchen door again. I leant out of the window and photographed it doing so. But the big thing today was... Rain. Rain at last falling on Seaford this afternoon, and fairly heavily too. We had a garden morning, potting up tomatoes, chilies and so on.  Lorraine drove some cardboard off to the nearby recycling, and I floated about in the back garden for a few minutes just soaking up (ahem) the experience of rain. Petrichor, I learned recently, is the word for the pleasant smell that accompanies the first rain after long heat. And there was a sense of the garden sighing with relief. The fish pond, which had been making me feel anxious because its level was so low, despite sneaking buckets of water into it, was replenished by a good amount too.  Was contacted by an old school friend today, Peter Hoibak, out of the blue for the first time in over forty years -- via his wife's linked in account. A pleasant surprise. I guess we ar...