under another sun

Made a layer pie today, one of my mum's old recipes, where you layer onion and pork luncheon meat in a pie, then pour in beaten eggs. You bake it, and when sliced it appears in attractive strata of pork and oniony egg. It is not a thing of great sophistication, but very comforting on a cold day with baked beans and baked potato.  Fed this to an appreciative Lorraine this evening. I like to be able to cook for her in the evening. She brings me tea and breakfast in the morning quite often. It is a beautiful thing a cup of tea in the morning. Went off with Betty during the day to London road to a poundshop to buy bits of Christmassy stuff for the stage set of We Three Kings. Beth also prepared the music for the show. Not going to London, nor having any work, nor a rehearsal meant I had the luxury of a sleep this afternoon for an hour. Beth sorry to be missing the pie. Nice to speak to Matty this evening, having sent him some of my Chad poems, which he received while sitting in The...

Off to Chiswick this morning, and to my dentist Lucinda, for a check up and to moan about a twinging tooth.  Settled back in the chair, and watched the tv screen above me as Lucinda investigated. On the screen was film of a whale corpse on the deep sea bed being grazed on by hagfish which bury their heads and raspy mouths in the rotting flesh. Nice. X-rays were taken and shortly after I was shown my teeth and their roots. The troublesome tooth okay for the time being, as I could see with my own eyes on the screen. Then downstream to The Bull's Head, now calling itself 'Bull's Head' for some reason, where I met Matty boy and Stephen for lunch and a chat about 11 London. Really nice to get to know Stephen a bit better. A very amiable man, despite having broken his leg a week ago which was still giving him some pain. Like Matt he is a listener as well as a broadcaster, which is refreshing. Stephen hobbled home, and I abandoned plans to do some research in the Natural His...

Up with the sparrows again and off to North Acton. Work better, though still workin' my nerve. Lovely people though. Worked through lunch, mumbling on a Tesco value sandwich, and had to stay a bit later to write headlines. Reminding me of my old Dell account days, and of Nev my old art director drawing pictures of jerking knees in a complex reference to the client and how they were being managed. Off in the evening to The Bull's Head on Strand on the Green, which is always excellent as it was for many years my local pub. Here I met First Matie, who was looking fit and cheery, Matty boy and Isy, who is off work as a balance and hearing problem caused by an ear infection means she can't ride horses (she works in a highly rated stables)  and Craig who had recently moved house and had spent the week building IKEA  furniture. Highly enjoyed being among these friends again. Matt, Isy, Kate and I went for a Thai meal in what was a greasy spoon cafe by day. (Funny how many Thai r...

Kate and Matty in The Bull's Head Up to the smoke this afternoon, as it was another non website day. Curiously, I felt a sense of excitement about being in London. The Thames looked like liquid metal as the train rolled across the bridge to Victoria station. It was noticably colder in London than Brighton. Went for a brief walk around Victoria, rubbernecking at some new buildings, before tubing west to Chiswick. Got off at Turnham Green. And was struck by the purple sky and silhouette of chimneys on the road I used to live on before moving to Brighton. It feels good to have moved on. I really like Chiswick, and I was on some kind of pilgrimage as I wandered about old haunts. Paused to buy three books of poetry, and the Children's Writers' and Artists' yearbook 2009 . Then my feet led me down to Strand on the Green and the Bull's Head - where I met a cheerful and relaxed First Matie for a long overdue beer. The Bull's Head is my old local pub, so I am always hap...

Smirking in the smoke Up to London, to get my people fix. First stop to see Mum and Mase and collect the two sample spreads Mum has done for the children's book project, codenamed missing . She also showed me four of her paintings newly mounted and framed. They looked splendid. Then the three of us off to Stanmore to have a bite of lunch and a good chat in a pub called the Man in the Moon . Then back to pick up my portfolio and, sipping a quick cup of tea, I noticed an old cassette of music that mum had compiled which she had labelled Jazz (dismal), which made me smile somewhat, Then zoomed off to Glamoursmith to meet the French Bloke in the Riverside studios. Waiting for him, I finished a short book by Ivan Ward in the Ideas in Psychoanalysis series called Phobia . Very interesting for someone like myself, who collects phobias like other people do stamps. Funnily enough he described someone walking across Hungerford Bridge feeling phobic, something I myself have done on several ...

A Chiswick Tanuki This week is becoming rather lively. Work a bit fraught for the first couple of hours and then settled down. Innocently about my business in the afternoon when Matty called. He'd been in the River Cafe strapping on an expensive nosebag. I met him from work. He is between jobs at the moment, and has a new one starting in the new year. And there was lots to tell each other. As Matt lives next to The Bull's Head we zoomed to Chiswick and had a meal in there. However I was scalded in the mouth by some mashed potatoes which had been microwaved to the temperature of molten lava. When I mentioned this to the Hungarian waitress who Matty had been flirting with, she began to argue fiercely that they did not microwave etc. until it made me briefly very cross indeed. She came back later with an apology and some free wine, so all was well. And Matty and I had a good time chatting. We are planning a tour of Lewes boozers in the not too distant future, as Matt has a wealth ...

A Prodigal return Work hard but interesting at the moment. No time for a swim today. But after work headed off to Chiswick, where I had a splendid evening with Matty and First Matie (sporting a cloak and dagger) in the Bull's Head on Strand on the Green. This is a fine and noble establishment, and it was my local for at least ten years. Now Matty actually lives next door to it. Nostalgia gripped me at every turn, either that or some of the cheeky beers we gulped. Then we popped across the road to a nice restaurant where I ate a lamb burger, and so did Matt. Kate ate leaves. There is supposed to be a passage that passes from The Bull's Head under the river to Oliver's Island. So called because Oliver Cromwell was supposed to have dodged down the passage to escape, having been trapped by some bounders who were going to treat him in entirely Cavalier fashion. I remember talking to one of the old landlords a while ago, who said he had searched in vain for the passage. I firml...