under another sun

An day when things came to me, though I was simply sitting in my office with the cats barging in and out of the room. An offer of some freelance work with my pals in Tavistock Square, which I happily agreed to for the next couple of weeks, what with the Kenny coffers being in a state of déshabillé. Heard from Bob, walking his dog in snowy Salisbury. His dog doesn't understand about vehicles and wants to run under them all the time. I've never felt like that on a walk with Bob. Sent some first words off to Helen for our Centaur project. Excellent to work with someone with infectious enthusiasm. Was also contacted by Sue Rose a poet I saw reading with Tammy and Rhona, and we swapped a poem. She sent me her poem A Guided Tour , which reminded me of one of mine, A n Adumbration of the Light Age . A Guided Tour is gorgeous, very different to mine, but shares that looking back on a past time from the future conceit. Having slipped away from the reading feeling rather trapped nerv...

Up to Edgware today in the car to see Mum and Mas, armed with the Christmas present for Mas that we left behind last time we were up there, and some planted bulbs from Miss Mole's Flower Emporium for Mum. Sleety rain on the way, but we made it in good time listening to the Mayo & Kermode film podcast. We scooped up Mum and Mas and Lorraine drove us to Radlett and we ended up at the Va Penserio Italian restaurant and sat at a round table with red lights, looking out on a chilly street, an old Roman road. A pleasant Italian meal. Perhaps it was because it was the Roman ghosts scowling down on them. Back to Mum's with Mason talking about a beach that he went to when he was a child in California which was strewn with gemstones. We had tea and sat by the fire for a bit, but with an eye to the lowering sky Lorraine and I made off early back to Brighton. Luckily we drove home with no trouble, or inclement weather and found Beth at home on the sofa. Another episode of Spiral to...

Sans list, not so effective today at the work stuff. However, I did manage to get my first invoice of the year out, and first as Peter Kenny The Writer Ltd . Not before time. Off to the back crackers. This , said the surprisingly robust Amy, is called the bear hug in America , proceeding to fold my arms then bounce on my chest with her fist behind my back. I think this was therapeutic reasons.  Anyway the ghastly pain of the beginning of the year has abated. After a spot of this off to The Dorset pub to meet Anton who'd consented to come to the cinema to see Wild.  Lorraine and Rosie found us there and we sauntered across the road. Quite a good movie, with Reece Witherspoon trekking the Pacific Crest Trail of America through deserts and snow and so on in search of some inner peace, or 'to put yourself in the way of beauty'. Scenic and lovely film, though not mawkish or overly sentimental. The character's mother, seen only in flashback, was played by Laura Dern who...

Lorraine working from home today, with one of her colleagues. I, semi-miraculously, finished all the things on the giant list, including sending to the marketing book off to a publisher in New York, and I began to wonder what else to do. Obviously the next thing is to write another list. Beginning to feel a little hermit like and emptied of ideas and creativity by the end of the day. Dawn came around for supper this evening, and it was good to see her, not least because she has invited me to do another day in a school with gifted and talented children. Lorraine and Dawn excitably buying plants on the internet. A nice meal, with Dawn, Betty and my lovely wife. Lorraine and I then stayed up late, watching the excellently atmospheric Wolf Hall and another shrugging Spiral. I need to get out more.

After a spot of swine health work first thing (swinewriting), continued to work through my giant list. Sending more poetry out into the world. Chuffed this evening to get an acceptance from Ink Sweat and Tears , which will appear in about ten weeks. No doubt I will be trumpeting it like the worst kind of popinjay. The editor Helen Ivory has chosen Hooked , from  A Guernsey Double as they don't mind if the work has been previously published.  Bloody cold day and the wind whistling in my study as I spoke to Mum on Face Time. Black smuts falling down the chimney into the study too. I also spoke to Janet who has been released back into the wild after her operation on Monday, and she is at home and pleased to be there. Lorraine home early and we went down to the dungeon where there is an ill fitting window frame, which we had tried to block off. Lorraine more efficient in the dungeon as she can stand up down there, whereas I have to stand with my neck at ninety degrees. Beth...

Felt very Mondayish this morning. Up and wrote a surprisingly long list of things I absolutely needed to do this week. Lorraine also working at home for the first few hours. I worked my way through the list, spending some time on advertising concepts, and having another conversation with Royal Mail who needed some persuasion to extend my so-called 'mail forwarding' for free. Cheeky sods. Took a walk up the hill, as I am still exploring the reaches of my new manor, as the sun was setting. Glimpses through the houses of a gorgeous pink and purple sunset over the Downs, the town below and the sea beyond. But cold too. After half an hour or so I turned back to the Dreamies-seeking cats. Lorraine and I making mind maps tonight about her career options. Mind maps are just a great invention. I wish I'd used them while I was at school and university. I suspect most people's brains, when faced with a problem have many simultaneous responses. If only as a student I had simply...

Up elbowing aside the early birds, to get continue work on the animal disease brief I'd started on Friday, interspersed by a teleconference with a client financial software. Interesting people.  Lorraine working from home too, and is free from tomorrow. Made time for a quick stroll in the park at lunch, but otherwise manacled to my desk. Lorraine thumbing through cookbooks is always a sight to gladden the heart, and after I was finished working, and we'd popped to the supermarket she fashioned a delicious seafood risotto, cooked with wine, stock, fennel, asparagus, parsley plus of course assorted denizens of the deep. Betty home late from London after a long rehearsal. Lorraine has started watching a new French cop show called Spiral full of tired-looking people pouting and shrugging.