under another sun

First day of May, and Lorraine and I up early, and heading north to The Waggon and Horses at Elstree to meet Mum and Mas for 12 noon. It would be for me my third day in a row of going to sit outside a pub.  Tanya and Robert came too, and we had drinks and food and it was all rather jolly if a bit nippy, with moments of rain.   Luckily the head chef who is veryfriendly with Mum and Mas, organised an outside heater to be put near Mas who wasn't wearing enough clothes. Tanya very kindly put her snood on his head, and also her gillet on his lap to keep him warm. She said she wasn't cold herself, but Lorraine said she was shivering at the end.  Lovely to see Mum and Mas, and Tanya and Robert too. Mas said he had been in touch with his son Brad, who is now a Trump supporter, which leads to a lively exchange of ideas. Robert scorning global warming in the cold, and saying Brexit will be good for the UK economy and that covid was no worse than flu in numbers now. He had been to h...

Rather hungover this morning. That last pint in the Hobgoblin was surplus to requirements. Lorraine brought me a cup of tea and porridge in bed. I then had a hobbit's second breakfast a couple of hours later with Pat, Maureen and Betty. Later Mum and Mas, Tanya and Robert arrived, having driven down in Robert's amazing electric car. Went to the Preston Park Tavern for a late lunch. I sensibly drank soda, and had a chicken burger. Front-loaded the day with food, as I didn't eat before the show. Then home again, and all the visitors chatted, while I slunk away to find a bit of solitude and focus. I tried a brief power nap, but the second I closed my eyes I was phoned up by the Brighton Argus, who are sending a reviewer on Thursday. Tonight they sent a photographer, who took shots with a long telephoto lens on a silent camera. Beth and I taxied down to the venue, and outside we bumped into David Morgan also known as 'Swifty' when we were at University and Amanda ...

Scooting about this morning in preparation for Mum and Mas and Robert and Tanya coming down. Really good to see everyone, and get to show Mum around the house, which she declared a good house. She brought a pot of fuchsia with her, a cutting from a cutting from my grandparent's garden in Guernsey. And also to give Mum a Mother's day card. Calliope took to Robert straight away and covered him in hair and picked his jumper. Tanya worried that Calliope would lick her, and advancing a theory that cats kiss rats so Robert shouldn't kiss Calliope, because that would be like kissing a rat and he is her husband. Not that he was of course, because that would be bizarre. Tanya is retiring this month, after receiving a message from the fates by having a strange car accident where her car suddenly zoomed forward from stationary and ended up deep in someone's front garden. Lorraine and Beth cooked up a roast and Beth made a bread and butter pudding from hot cross buns, with marm...

Jaguar-faced Mum Up this morning chatting with Mum, and taking photos of her with her masks. One of which sparkled a bit to replicate fireflies. Then a hasty toast breakfast before Lorraine, Mum and I hoofed up the hill to Janet's house where Mum was making an exhibition of herself. Hung out chatting to Ken and Janet, Huss and some other exhibitors for some time, and Lorraine and I were just making good our escape when Robert, Tanya and Mason pulled up in the car outside. Lorraine jumped in and guided them to a parking spot, and Mason came back with me. Lots more chatting, and soon joined again by the rest. Mason had been dreaming about the burgers in The Sussex Yeoman round the corner from me, so we left Mum to do her stint and hang out with her artist brethren, and Lorraine, Mase Robert and Tanya made off and ate Yeoman burgers. These like meaty cannonballs, which were great but left you wanting nothing much for the rest of the day. Robert very sad about his sister, who has cance...

Satnav Saturday Lorraine up early this morning to drive Betty and Mark off to catch their coach taking them to the Royal Albert Hall where they were performing an excerpt from Chess . Lorraine returned bearing teas and coaxed your favourite blogger from bed in time to drive up to London, partially guided by the new satnav I bought Lorraine. This all well and good, but took us twice from the main motorway up sliproads only to return us the motorway we'd been just left a few minutes earlier. Lorraine already quite clear that the satnav she calls Gabby Gita is not the boss of her. Arrived at Mum and Mason's, and before long we piled into their car and heading off to St Albans where we met Tanya and Robert in their usual Thai restaurant. Nice meal and then walking back through the street market and Mase and Lorraine scoring large bags of vegetables. I like St Albans and its Roman roots. Kidnapped mum and drove her and a good deal of her artwork back to Brighton, her struggling subd...

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 ...

Of gin and vitamins Up early this morning, Sam called around and we drove off to Lorraine's house to pick up Beth and Mark and then she drove us to Basingstoke. Sustained munching of Harribo sweets, and leg numbing of the young 'uns squeezed in the back. They were all off to a family party, while I was dropped off at Basingstoke station -which I associate with some of my grimmer days at IBM -and was shortly collected by Shaila. Shaila's home was already decorated with two Christmas trees. Soon, however, Shaila was letting me try lots of things she has foraged from the nearby fields. So, with an excellent home rolled sushi lunch, we had a nip of sloe gin. (Shaila has a degree in biochemistry so explained her decision to make this gin was medical, as it is good against colds.) Also a lovely elderberry cordial, honey with rosehips, and a pinch of nettle seeds. Later we ambled into local fields where she has been working with the local wildlife trust sowing meadow wildflowers. ...

Dragon's Dream Ate my own bodyweight today: a large breakfast in a local pub, then back home for a big Thanksgiving feed cooked by Mase. Tanya and Robert mum and Mason's pals came around too, and we had a fun afternoon despite Tanya talking about boiling frogs in socks in the Philippines. Socks? Yes hessian socks. Then Lorraine started talking about the uses of leeches and maggots in medicine, which put me right off my turkey for several seconds. Lorraine and I went home, and we were greeted ecstatically by Calliope, who had clearly given me up for dead after staying away last night. And after Lorraine left, the kitten superglued herself to me for the rest of the evening. Over the kitten's head read Dragon's Dream , the new book by Roger Dean . He famously did the Yes covers I poured over as a teenager, but he has also had fascinating approaches to interior design, and architecture which are still way ahead of their time. In the seventies Dean had a book called Views , ...