Amazon works my nerve Despite Calliope's manic attempts to get me out of bed by attacking my feet, I managed to snooze in till 8.00am this morning. Fantastic, offering praise to my barbarous deities that it wasn't a London day. I busied myself with practicalities. A hair cut, thankfully not by walrus-face, combined with a lengthy discussion about the nature and habits of kittens. Startlingly, a conversation not initiated by me. Then a remarkably sweaty session on the hulk legs machine in the gym, and then home to do a smidge of French work, and various admin. An Amazon page has already appeared for A Guernsey Double . Not sure how, but anyway as comments are already appearing on it, I have created an amazon vendors account. Linking the page to this account is proving problematic, but will result in an amazon window for the book, which is a good thought. As I set up the account, I marvelled at how much content there is, which to read thoroughly would literally take five days. Ho...
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Arundel Off to Arundel today for a general mooch about. Lorraine looking at it as a possible location for her to live. But she decided against it, despite it being a very beautiful place. Into the St Nicholas Church and the Catholic Cathedral where I lit a candle, thinking of Sprinkles and our visit there. After we wandered about town a little before finding Martin, who had been painting in his studio for a quick chat in the Eagle pub near an open fire. The fire a tad warmer than the welcome. The temperatured dropping, we returned to Brighton, where we bought a takeaway curry for supper. I spoke to Matt, who is now on variation seven, and has recruited a new violinist for our concert. Below noticed one of the Romantic Poets series the Guardian published this week in a bin. A great idea but they were printed on such uselessly thin stock that it didn't work. Poems are to keep. Inside Arundel Cathedral, in the grounds of St Nicholas church.
The Mammoth Odd beach like sensation in bed. Gradually worked out that now that there's a thaw, Calliope is trotting grit into my sheets. All day I have had this image in my head of a mammoth in a glacier. The mammoth stands for progress and my joie de vivre which is resolutely sealed away. It's the January Blues. I hate January. January is scum. The media is full of finger-wagging. An article on the BBC: a sedentary life spent staring at screens will kill you. As this is pretty much all I have done over the last few weeks, and I am morbidly obese, I decided to have a day of moving to stave off an abrupt demise. Had a longish walk by the sea, in nose-pinching cold. The pier almost deserted. A keen wind biting through the rides and stalls, and hardy men mending things out of sight with power tools. The merry-go-round horses stored in a pile under canvas sheets, and above them half a dozen silent seagulls stationary in the sky. Then to my new cafe to work. As I walked in the two...
A happy Monday Aimee and Princess Lakshmi hit Brighton today, popping into the Twitten. Lively ladies both, and I had a splendid day with them. A brief tour of places of interest: looking at famous graffiti by Banksy, Madhatters, threading through the Laines, Pavilion, etc. which Aimee really enjoyed. Then sitting under a parasol in the hot sun near the doughnut sculpture on the seafront drinking cold beer and picking at antipasti, and having a protracted gossip about romances and jobs and other good stuff while looking over at the pier. From there off to the Cricketers where we were joined by Romy, who is Aimee's cousin. Romy has just graduated with a degree in anthropology and, interestingly, spent much of her studenthood living in a treehouse. Returned to the Twitten, to rendezvous with Aimee's taxi which was taking her to the airport and back to Dubai, where she is currently the second or third most important person, and doing some very high profile work to do with the oil ...
A sustainable life Productive Monday. Up early, and did a telephone interview at 10, where I spoke to Brighton's splendidly-named sustainable development guru Thurstan Crockett, about the forthcoming festival and what's going on in Brighton. Pleased to learn that Brighton won Forum for the Future award last year for its sustainability initiatives. I cleverly (but somewhat tangentially) steered the conversation onto gulls, and explained my theory that there were two tribes in Brighton: The People and The Gulls. He wanted to go on record that gulls were much maligned. Hmm. I thought. Tell that to the one that got its thieving beak into Electra's noodles the other week. As Thurstan had worked as a journalist it made the interview very easy and I'd blasted the article out by noon. Really interesting guy. Then focused on my Pamphlet project, now called i love you. I have reworked it, completed the proposal and other bits and there was nothing more to do with it other than se...
Two weeks' holiday here we come Last day at work today, and all was well. The ideas that I have been sweating over for the last few days were accepted by the client. The day was tranquil and cheery - and I was able to leave work early, pausing only to goad the Gnome and others about my two weeks off. Got home at 5:30. Spent the evening getting my ducks in a row for Sprinkles' visit. Amazing how long tidying up can take. And once you scrape the surface how many other areas of chaos are to be found. I need servants.
Memories are made of this Sometimes the simplest-seeming briefs are the ones that sap your soul. I worked on the train this morning, and after an hour I thought I had cracked it. But got into the agency and the Gnome pointed out that I'd got the product name slightly wrong, which meant I had to start again. Going through a phase of making silly mistakes like this. Perhaps a couple of weeks off showing Sprinkles the delights of England will be the refresher my brain needs. In the office slogged against the clock till lunchtime with the Gnome and then we went for a pleasant walk upriver into Chiswick, stopping in the Black Lion for a few minutes where we glugged some sparkling mineral water and cranberry juice. After work, I met First Matie and Matty on the terrace of the Riverside Studios, as it is still unseasonably hot. We ate and had a quick drink, with First Matie and Matty drinking the infamous pink wine. We three, the FB and others all took part in the infamous Summer of Pink ...
Freecycling the recycler Work a bit of a slog today, but tubed into Soho this evening to meet up with the old Dell crowd. (We all used to work on the Dell account in times gone by, and it was so hideous that it forged long friendships). We met briefly in the crowded Crown and Two, and then we repaired as usual to the Delhi Brasserie to strap on the nosebag. We sat as we usually do in a small mirrored back room. A good evening full of gossip. Paula is now deputy MD of her agency, Marcella has been promoted to account director, and best news of all is that Ash and Phil have got engaged - so there will be a marriage to celebrate in the Dell posse. Meanwhile James told us about a terrible night in a cinema. He has a phobia about blood and gore. He was watching a movie with his girlfriend, and started to feel wussy when the film got bloody. He went outside to the toilet still feeling horrible and fainted. He came to, having fallen heavily into the tiled wall, in a pool of his own blood. He...
Zooming about Up early and gave into a craving for melted cheese and coffee, then pottered about before speaking to the lovely Sprinkles at five o'clock in the Florida morning. It was raining there, and blazing here in soggy old England. Then Anna called and said she would come with me to buy a television. I zipped up the hill, and saw Klaudia drifting about in her purple dress (purple is her favourite colour which is why A&A's garden is bedecked with purple flowers) and sparkling pink shoes, and I held baby Oskar for a bit. He is such a tranquil thing. As we left, Anton called after us asking Anna to check that I had my wallet, and to make sure I hadn't dropped it. It will be some time before Anton gets tired of the losing things business after yesterday's microphone incident. Anna, a saintly woman, is the best person I know to go shopping with. As I learnt a couple of years ago, after sacking Anton as my personal clothes shopper, Anna proceeds with decisiveness an...