under another sun

Lorraine off to school, and I started work right away too. First time for a while when I have been able to truly focus on my own work, and I have a huge cloud of things to be done. But I decided to simply do them one by one. Wrote to Richard. Then started read through the Telltale Anthology. Looking at the poems Sarah assembled, some poems I thought weak when we discussed them in December, seemed the strongest this time around. A reminder that submitting work is often just about finding the right reader at the right time. In short, luck. I went for a walk midday, listening to the last of The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien, which has made me laugh out loud several times. It is one of the best novels I have read, and it sits in my mind somewhere between Samuel Beckett and Dante, but with added hilarity, written in a fluent high style and full of absurdities. I clearly remember being first recommended this book when I was 21. It has taken me till now to do so. It is a masterpiece...

A few bits of work this morning, finalising the last bits of things, and did my last bit of billing for the year. Felt as if I had wrapped up the year. I hope so. Walked to Hove this afternoon, to have a session with Helen on the Centaur project. Listening to more of  The Third Policeman  as I walked. She had written an interesting new section to go with the last lot of words I have sent her. We drank coffee and ate the lebkuchen I had taken around, and discussed the overall progress. She thinks the opera will be finished next year, so we have to think about trying to raise some interest in it. For me it has been an interesting learning experience whatever happens. I met her youngest son and his girlfriend today too. Nice people. Walked home. Lorraine's work party today, but I gratefully stayed indoors tonight. Bought some fish and chips from which Lorraine fashioned a chip butty before she drove off.  I was very grateful for a quiet night in with the cats on the sofa...

Up early and another day of working at home, dangling in vain all day for feedback for the work I did yesterday. However I simply got on with other things, such as writing a post on my other blog and went for a long walk in the afternoon. A cold, clear day. I was listening to an audiobook of The Third Policeman, and it was making me laugh aloud. It is a brilliantly intelligent and crazy book, and could only have been written in Ireland. I started it many years ago, but didn't get on with it for some reason. I am so pleased I found my way back to it. A lovely walk, in woods for a bit, then down the roads to Preston Park, where I had a cup of coffee in the cafe, and then walked home in the cold and long winter shadows, even though it was only three PM. Spoke to Sonia, who is going away on holiday again next week. Once I'd done everything, I called Mum for a FaceTime chat. Then I nipped out in the cold and ordered a curry from around the corner. Lorraine arrived home when I was ...

Up early and working hard all day at my cat-plagued desk. Big decisions on the book. Decided one of the sections was all wrong and have cut it, and have now to replace it. Beth and John leaving for London at noon. A good day's work, and I spoke to Mum on FaceTime and heard too from my old school friend Mark who I've not seen for a few years. Lorraine out singing with the Hullaballoos tonight, and I walked her to the venue and then mooched past the Pavilion down to the sea, and looked at the moon on its back. A comparatively calm night, the pier closed and lightless, the tide out and lines of white-tipped waves coming in from the sea. A few stars visible when you escaped the immediate light pollution. Good to have an hour's walk after being at my desk all day. Home, and wrote something for Claudius about the Shakespeare Trio, listened to a 15 minute Radio 4 thing about failure before Lorraine returned. Anne Enright was talking about how Flann O'Brien had his manuscri...