under another sun

A beautiful sunny day. On with the suit and black tie and up to London to the funeral of Chris Toumazis, Sophie's father. Hideous journey. I had given myself an extra hour to get there just in case, but thanks to two train cancellations and a hefty delay on the third train I still contrived to be late. Got really stressed by this. Eventually leaped out of a taxi outside the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and St Michael buildings five minutes late, and a random man asked me if I wanted the church and pointed to an open door. I burst through this only to discover I was by the side of the the altar and looking at the scene of a crowded church, clouds of incense, and the singing of priests presided over by Archbishop Gregorios of Thyateria and Great Britain, who knew Sophie's dad well.  Slunk self-consciously to the back feeling like an idiot. A Greek Orthodox service, with some beautiful singing from one of the priests, and presided over by the Archbishop. Almost all of it in Gre...

A right royal lunchtime Up early, turning on my phone having turned it off mid-quiz last night, and discovered a text from Jane, who is over in Blighty working as a Camilla lookalike. Took the opportunity to zip up to the Poetry Cafe on the edge of Covent Garden to meet her this lunchtime. We sloped into The Salisbury a favourite haunt of mine when in town. There we had a large glass of wine and some pub grub. Enjoyed hearing about a remarkable turn of events which has seen Jane on national news, BBC in Guernsey (both TV and radio) a new book, not to mention a gazillion images, and a new book by Alison Jackson Kate and Wills Up the Aisle: A Right Royal Fairy Tale . Apparently the lookalikes refer to each other as the character they are portraying, rather like actors do. She quit a long standing education role in Guernsey last month, and has been super busy ever since. Also found time to discuss her own wedding plans, an event which is a mere two and a half weeks away. Saw Jane onto he...

Cave of forgotten dreams Saturday, sloped home after a nice breakfast to potter about before Lorraine left for another huge rehearsal session for the un.sung show the Hullaballoo Quire are doing. I contented myself with a bit of work on my Guernsey story, and an hour or so mucking about on my guitar. In the evening met Lorraine for a cheeky beer in the Basketmakers, where we bumped into Matt. Then on to the Duke of York to watch Cave of Forgotten Dreams by Werner Herzog. Wonderful film, and perfectly timed as I'm still reading The Mind in the Cave by David Lewis Williams. I wonder if Herzog was aware of the Lewis-Williams book. Take a look at a typically beautiful clip here . The 3D worked really well too, giving you a sense of wandering through the Chauvet Cave in southern France, which is not open to the public. They had to squeeze through some dire little holes to get there, so it was great to claustrophobia of course. Annoyingly sitting in the balcony in the Duke of York was ...

Rebalancing The dipping scales gradually returning to balance today. Another disturbed night but definitely feeling perkier and less coldy than for some time. Got up and finished the branding work I was doing for the new agency, and then spent quite a while on admin, billing, chasing purchase order numbers and so on. True to form the agency I worked at for seven years are showing few signs of paying without weeks of wrangling: I am not going to work with them again. Then off to the gym, where I bore up surprisingly well. Felt great to be out of the house. Later I went out again in the overcast night for a walk along the seafront with the lights of Brighton cheerily behind, looking out at a dark sea and listening to the waves crunching into the pebbly shore. Also picked up The Mind in the Cave again. A fascinating look at paleolithic man. Interesting to think that Neanderthals and homo sapiens rubbed along next to each other in Europe for thousands of years. David Lewis-Williams sugges...