under another sun

Lorraine working from home this afternoon, feeling a bit under par,  end of termish and in need of chocolate. Good to have her at home however. Off in the evening with Anton for a drink. Anton's new philosophy is to walk such long distances between pubs so that your drink is calorie neutral. He met me at The Cleveland Arms. This is a pub that is very near to me, but the last time Anton and I went there was with Lorraine on a December 31st 2016.  It had a weird banjo-playing/Deliverance kind of atmosphere and we didn't tarry. Now three years later it feels very different. Had a nice beer there and then set off on our travels. Had a half in the Open House, and then found a pub called The Park Crescent. This was a real find, tucked away in a street I had never been in. It was raining pretty heavily as we approached it. Inside there was good beer, a pleasant atmosphere and Al's Pies. We didn't eat them, but were deeply impressed with the menu. The pies looked exemplar...

Up fairly early this morning, and then Lorraine and I walked down to The Geese to meet up with Catherine and Tanya at noon for a tasty early roast lunch. They were excellent company as usual. Catherine making a point about money which is so obvious, that money is a very emotional subject for people. And people often shun dealing with it because of its scariness, and boredom. This we followed by walked down the road to their home to have a piece of Jamaican ginger cake and admire their cats. Then a walk home again, blown uphill by the blustery wind. I spent the rest of the afternoon trying not to sleep, and reading a poor story by Thomas Ligotti, and spoke to Mum and Toby this evening. Mum's next door neighbours, the concrete dog people, increasingly eccentric. Toby all well despite it being a hard winter. I mustered my ducks in a row for going up to the agency by the river in Hampton tomorrow.

Up late and Lorraine and I off to The Geese  (full of honkies) to meet Catherine and Tanya. Lovely to see them both. I always come away feeling uplifted and mentally stimulated by seeing them. We had a good Sunday lunch in the pub, and talked for several hours. Pleased to hear that Catherine and Alex, who I introduced, are doing great things together. Catherine is now a Yurt keeper, and has run courses. Catherine how has an office, jokingly known as CPHQ. Tanya has plenty of work now as an Indexer and Editor , having embarked on her business in the last year. Tanya and I were sat by the open window, with sun on our backs, and what with that and the music, and the large lunch washed down with a couple of beers, it felt a very good place to be. Lorraine and I walked back home, then unaccountably fell into a snooze. In the evening Beth and John, all glowing after being at the beach today, came around for supper, and a game of Euchre before running off for the 5b to take them home, j...

Lorraine and I slow at crawling from bed, a token breakfast then soon we were heading to The Geese, to celebrate Catherine's birthday, with a Sunday lunch. Wayne, Guy and Tim were also there, and we had an extremely jolly meal. L & I had pork belly. A cold wind, as befits a Remembrance Sunday. And colder still when we left The Geese and headed home. Usual great chats with everyone. Such good company. Lorraine and I both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I also complimented the woman behind the bar on her amazing stag beetle tattoo, and she said she recognised me from the Shakies Head. Planning with Tanya a self-employed people's 'office party' in Brighton. Poor Lorraine had lots of work to do, I pottered about the house, did laundry, ironing etc. called Mum and generally had a bit of a sleep, as befits a Sunday afternoon after a good lunch. Doom-laden as I went to bed, as my ankle had started feeling odd, and I had forgotten to take my orc-foot pill in the morning. A...

The execrable Calliope waking me up at 5:30 again. Pesky thing. I got up to make some tea and feed it. Weighed myself, I seem to have put on weight since yesterday. The graph on my app is going completely the wrong way. Lorraine had designated today to be her day of work. I phoned Mum this morning, and then slunk off to meet Catherine and Tanya in a pub called The Geese, for Sunday lunch. It was a celebration of Tanya's birthday. Guy and Tim were there, and Wayne. A very cheery lunch, surprisingly good too. I had roast pork belly, and we all sat by a big open window with the sun coming through. Then we wandered down to the Level where there was a tent of Vegan food providers. Things like Vegan Baileys were to be had there. We'd all eaten Sunday roast so felt a bit rebellious. Great to see Catherine again, and hear how she was fresh from a triumphant Book Sprint. The idea is to lock several academics into a room together over four days and get them to produce their chapter, ...