under another sun

Kick off Up early and a light breakfast before jumping on the bus to go into town. From there walked north along the shining Belle Greve Bay till I reached the BBC buildings. Riccardo outside and we marched in shoulder to shoulder. A lovely chat with Jenny as usual and we had a good 25 minutes on the JKT show with her. She is a lovely broadcaster, and we got in a great plug for Defenders of Guernsey too. Jenny has been consistently fabulous to Richard and myself. It's great to be with Richard too, we are developing into something of double act. Into town then, and Richard and I sloped off to the hub, which was on Market Terrace, and looked great. Lots of people to chat to, and I met Gabi who edits Island Ink, for the first time. Lorraine arrived as I was mid networking fury. She and I snuck away to Dixneuf for French bistro where I consumed the French speciality fish and chips. Kick off for Richard and I, reading from A Guernsey Double in the hub. A well attended reading, and we ...

A perfect day for Vogon poetry Woke to a perfect day. This is my favourite time of year, and today, a sunny October day in Guernsey was a perfect temperature for walking for four hours. (My knee hurty and slightly swollen, but holding up). First I took myself to the graveyard to put some flowers on my Grandparent's grave. After buying some yellow carnations I discovered that the bowl in the gravestone, made out of some sort of metal, had rusted so that the bottom dropped of as I picked it up. Spent some time in the graveyard. I like graveyards, not in a ghoulish way, but they are so peaceful. I shared out some of the flowers to others I knew who are buried there. I walked down to Moulin Huet and took the cliff path. It is difficult to describe just how beautiful this was. The cliffs are reddish in patches where the bracken is turning, and the sea its usual turquoise and Prussian blue, with cloud shadows passing over, a warm sun and a cooling breeze. And as I walked my fingers becam...

No model of deportment Lorraine having stayed overnight zoomed home. She is on holiday now so is dealing with plumbers, estate agents, looking at houses etc. I meanwhile simply got down to work writing the Implementation Guide for all the Arthritis stuff I've been working on. It is all beginning to take shape, which is good. My poor client had a computer meltdown this afternoon, and this enabled me to do some of my own things slightly earlier. Refining my skeleton video pitching Skelton Yawngrave. The idea is people click onto the micro site page I am building then they have the option of having a skeleton tell them about my story. My first take was way too long, as I'm aiming for a 30 seconds "elevator pitch". I also need to record a short audio-book style excerpt (which is an idea of Anton's) to download from the site. All this necessitates a rather mad and piercing voice characterisations. Long email from Richard in Guernsey discussing our top secret remora fis...

A thieving seagull and the life of Brian Long overnight snooze at Lorraine's house. Woke up feeling a little more refreshed than I have done. Had breakfast downstairs in her kitchen. The back door opened and continually menaced by Eric the seagull, who managed to stab his thieving yellow beak a few times into Basil and Brian's catfood. Been reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society , as it is required reading for my Guernsey project. This is a book which has topped the New York Times chart. It is an epistolary novel, i.e. in letters, which makes it easy to read in short chunks. It's easy to read and pleasant enough, although the plot unfolds in a very predictable way. The smart London voices are handled well, and sound authentic for the time. It features a book group (a masterstroke, in terms of selling it) supposedly on Guernsey during the occupation, and I found it unconvincing. From a Guernsey perspective the island is not described with any reality, none...

Mute button More work on newsletters today. Then, to make sure I would be paid, sent the dozen or so meticulous and tiresome emails needed to get my hours on their system. Helping freelancers get paid is never a priority. After work I hobbled off briskly enough for a much-needed haircut, as it was becoming lobetastic. When they cut it short and spray it with water you can see my scalp these days. Got the paunchy barber who has to be one up. So when he asked me if I was going on holiday, and I said yes to Canada, he looked momentarily panicked. Mosquitoes , he said plucking inspiration from the air. Yes they have them, I said. When I get bitten I swell up, last time I was in Spain... etc. He also gave me his opinions on the Gay Pride march this weekend, which were of the I have loads of gay mates but... variety. They need to invent mute buttons for hairdressers. The symbol on the button would be of a pair of giant scissors poised around the neck of the hairdresser. Began reading The ...