under another sun

So an unexpected day at home as mum was not well with a sudden onset of cystitis. So instead Lorraine and I spent it cheerily doing small things to the house, although this business necessitated bending my thumbnail back and it filling with blood while on a ladder. Other than that I emerged unscathed and we got quite a bit done. Although at one point I had to step aside and let Lorraine and Beth heft something due to my back. Rather unmanning to watch the womenfolk hard at work.  Luckily, however, my back pain has retreated enough for me to sleep, which is rapidly improving life. The constant pain and minimal sleep I've had since the beginning of the year are not a winning combination. My flying start to the year has been rescheduled for February. Lorraine and I then took a turn about the park looking at plants and smelling the first flowers.Home after our walk, pausing at Choice Cuts to buy two little feta and spinach pies (weirdly mixed with minty peas however, which was in eve...

A thanksgiving Today in Edgware, and the now-traditional thanksgiving meal cooked by Mason. As well as Lorraine and I, Mum and Mase had invited Ben and Poppy, and Robert and Tanya. We all sat by the fire shooting the breeze and eating pistachio nuts. Good to see Mum looking much improved and back to her usual self again. Her latest craze is Spotify, and wants to put Spotify on her Blackberry for some reason. Mason cornering Lorraine to talk about his wheelings and dealings. Robert, who edits an investor's publication called Trendwatch, is a passionate advocate of the view that the hysteria around global warming is bunk. Interesting to hear this side of the argument made coherently, as a professional watcher of trends he thinks the global warming bubble has burst. Tanya talking to Mum about wool and vivid colours. Ben radiating bon homie as usual. Poppy however was not herself and slipped off home, luckily just across the road. But the rest of us strapped on the nosebags and had a ...