under another sun

Up then with a song on my lips to head off for London again. Actually I was feeling oddly sweaty which, given the robust health I have been in in the last few months, is typical. A busy day at work, mostly trying to figure out what needed doing, and being given lots to do at the end of the day. Had a cheeky drink with First Matie on the way back to the station, for it is her birthday tomorrow and she needed to be bought a cider. Home late and then out immediately to a pub called Circus Circus where Beth's pal Laura was having her 21st birthday party. It was a jungle-themed party so there were people dressed as bananas or lions or in pith helmets and so on. Amy and Beth were dressed as parrots, which explained the tell-tale feathers I discovered on walking through the front door. Lorraine and I went in civvies, so felt badly under-dressed. Glenda and Richard were there too, and we had a few noisy beers with them. Was feeling a bit tired, but managed a protracted cavort. The ba...

Zonk out Diet gradually returning to normal, with quorn sausages this morning to start. Pat and Maureen driven off to the station at noon. I am rocking a Donnegal Tweed cap at the moment, and Pat has given me a few insightful cap-wearer's hints such as to leave your cap in your coat pocket when you're visiting someone. Fond farewells. Then off to see The Gandeys, nice to see Richard and Glenda, and of course young Mark. An undertow of awkward there given that Mark and Beth have broken up. Mark wanted to show me something on his computer and his screensaver was of him and his new girlfriend for example. Beth conducting herself with poise. Nevertheless good to see them, before we zoomed off to a nearby shopping centre to struggle in the crowds in the sales. I could find nothing to buy. Home, and Lorraine's old pals Sue and John popped in. They were down from the Cotswolds seeing various people in Brighton. A nice chat with them. After they left a greatly zonk out, eating salm...

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...

Sofa and steampunk Subdued morning, due to enthusiastic imbibing the night before. Lorraine and I boofed onto the gold sofa watching the TV. Lorraine who had been working incredibly hard all week, sleeping again for some time. Eventually we unpeeled ourselves in the middle of the afternoon and walked into town, to meet Betty, Mark and Richard and Glenda in a pub called The Mesmerist . I realised I'd heard of this as Tarik from the Marlborough Theatre hosts some kind of a Steampunk event there, and there was a distinctly steampunk pictures on the wall, one of an elephant-like steampunk gasmask. A cheery afternoon interlude. I really like Mark's Ma and Pa. Richard wearing one of his trademark Hawaiian-style shirts. Today's one was patterned by breakfast designs, like forked sausages, eggs and bottles of sauce, and was loud enough to interfere with a television if he stood too close to it. Mark drinking a pint of cider that was naturally cloudy and smelled and tasted like some...

Paddle Round the Pier Slept the sleep of the just. Woke up to a cheery message from Matt who must have been up half the night buzzing. Lay in bed with Lorraine feeling very happy and relieved that the recording of the CD seems to have gone well. Later Matt forwarded me an email from Simon "Sounds great! Hi Matt I thoroughly enjoyed yesterday's session, and checking the recordings back whilst backing up data today wanted to let you know that it all sounds very good indeed." Beautifully sunny day, and after Lorraine and I had breakfasted (and I had re-hydrated) we sauntered down to the Hove Lawns by the sea, for the " Paddle Round the Pier " event. This is an event where people paddle around the remains of the old pier. As is usual in Brighton, this has grown rapidly into a massive event, and there were hundreds of tents, funfair rides and, from Beth and Mark, performances for Goldman's stage school (poignant because this is their last week of attendance). We ...

Cider in the country Up early this morning and wrote a new poem in about two minutes, and it is good. Experience tells you of course, that you have to let these things settle for a while. But I have never written a poem so fast. It is called Predator and left me feeling on a bit of a high during the day. In the late afternoon off to Beth's pal Kayleigh's 21st birthday party, swerving by Mark's place to collect him and Richard and Glenda. Off into the countryside, driving along narrow roads with dozens of rabbits in the verges. Pleasant garden party with a barbecue, lots of nice people with singing interludes from Mark, who wrote a song for Kayleigh with a hangover this very morning, and other performances from Betty, Amy, Jo and others. All rather good fun. I mainly drank cider with Richard and Glenda and other guests, and waxed exceedingly loquatious until shepherded into the car by Lorraine. Richard and Glenda singing Strangers in the Night in the back as the entirely s...

An angtröm of interest If you peer down the world's most powerful electron microscope in the USA's Department of Energy's National Center for Electron Microscopy at the Lawrence Berkeley National Library you might just be able to locate the interest I have in The British Royal Family. So instead of gawping like a peasant at the wedding I was writing Defenders of Guernsey till mid afternoon, but as I ate some species of noodle at lunch I did watch them kissing on the balcony of Buckingham Palace. Jane Mosse (now Fleming of course) was there too cleverly disguised as Camilla and I particularly enjoyed seeing the Lancaster, Hurricane and Spitfire fly over a rather lovely looking London. Only a churl would wish them anything but happiness as individuals. Anton and Anna's street involved in a large party, requiring them all to wear hats, so Anton dropped by to borrow my straw. Matt also dropped in later once I'd finished work and we discussed our harmonious business, be...

Shake a tailfeather Pressing on with Skelton Yawngrave today with all the energy of a limp rag. I have, however, a good feeling about the changes I am making. Island Ink arrived from Guernsey, which had my short interview, the text of which can be found in my daywork blog . After work off to meet Matt for a quick catch up in the Basketmakers. Plenty to discuss as usual. He is pressing on with the doppelganger music, and we are definitely staging This concert will fall in love with you again around Valentine's day. We'd be mad not to. Then I was collected by Lorraine and we went to Capers Cafe where Beth and Mark, plus their pals Kayleigh and Amy were putting on a show of Motown songs. The audience was family and friends - Mark's family, Richard and Glenda, and Mark's brother David were of course the first to be up dancing. Cath and Dawn were also there, and we had a snack and some wine and the whole thing turned out to be a very good laugh. They all sang well, but Bet...

Beads and bearded ladies I like looking at beads of water on plant leaves or on duck's backs. The idea of work is like that for me at the moment, liable to slide away the second I think about it. It is with mixed feelings then I have accepted a random commission from an outfit in Shepherd's Bush. The good thing is that I can do it from home and it will be complete before my holiday. Went to the gym today. My arm was a bit sore, especially a tendon in the crook of my right arm. After exercise, listening to A Passage to India while I did so, it loosened it all up. In the evening however it seized up painfully again. Just loving my rereading of A Passage to India . The masterstroke of pivoting the novel about a half understood moment of confusion is extraordinarily successful. In the evening off to see Beth and Mark run through the show they are taking to Disneyland Paris. Chatted to Richard and Glenda, Mark's parents before an exhausting-looking twenty minutes of highly chor...

Labouring Weekend spent finally packing Lorraine up. On Saturday, L and I moved three car loads full of bricks and paving slabs from her garden into mine, to replace my rotten decking. Exhausting carrying them up a flight of stairs and along the Twitten. Proper labouring work, like I used to do when I was a young Marxist poet. Noticed the first daffodil in my front garden. Some years they have come out in January. Pat and Maureen arrived in the afternoon, and we spent our time packing up at Lorraine's house. Late in the evening we went off to Glenda's 70s party in a pub in Worthing. I was dressed in shabbyish work clothes and everyone else in fancy dress. Alarmingly, Richard, young Mark's dad who was wearing a false afro and big flares and a tank top, and holding two bacardi and cokes, threatened to take me out for a real drink as I left. Maureen making Lorraine and I laugh walking back to the car explaining that she liked to keep up with the world by reading the signs on ...