under another sun

Friday the 13th. Up early a glance at Kansas before making breakfast and Lorraine and I moved things from a to b now that the carpets have been laid. The house smells of weird new carpets.   I called Mum, and she was unwell. A bit later Wynford phoned me saying he'd seen her and I resolved to go up tomorrow. We went on  quick trip to the Long Man brewery and bought Steve the sensible present of some beer, and a beer glass, for his belated birthday. Then I walked by the sea listening to more of the Three Body Problem . Home and Lorraine and I did a bit more of the a to b business.   To the Boot this evening and met assorted cheery rebooters there. Andy, just returned from cycling in Vietnam for ten days, Adele and Patrick, Steve happy to be back from Leicester and enjoying having done some invigilation work: a cookery exam, with the children doing all kinds of exotic nosh. Also Chris and Julie. Not seen Chris since Christmas Eve when we were in the Boot with Mum. Tonight L...

Snoozed in this morning after a lively night. Called mum a couple of times as she is unwell with the horrid sore throat cough bug. Lorraine seeing Dawn after she went to her personal trainer.  One of my poems, called Gardening with my Wife accepted this morning by  Channel Magazine . They are based in Ireland and so they pay, due to Ireland being a civilised country that values culture. It's a short poem, and one of the few that mentions Lorraine. Like many other writers, what gets me writing is what's unresolved or in some way troubling, so Lorraine rarely makes the cut. Out for a walk this afternoon. The business of replacing all the pebbles on the beach going on slowly. At the Seaford end of the bay, the sand is still visible. I'm not sure I quite understand the process, but the pebbles defend the beach and absorb the power of the waves. The little beauties keep chaos at bay. Somewhat rainy towards the end of my walk but I wasn't utterly drenched. Otherwise I was li...

Sunny, pleasant day. Lorraine and I sorting a few bits out around the house. Beth and Enzo popping in. Lorraine went to see Pat and Maureen at tea time for a game of bingo, which I cooked at home. Pat given more claps when he came into the room, which is lovely.  We have lots of tiny black fungus flies in the house from flowerpots. Having researched it, we are going to buy some nematodes to put in the pots, which eat the larvae. Chatting to Mum we discussed the new problem of giant, mutated nematodes slithering out of the pots at night. Like trying not to picture a pink elephant, trying to ignore the wretched Live Canon pamphlet competition keeps being on my mind. Results are announced on Monday, but as I heard nothing today, I've obviously not got it as winners are usually tipped off in advance. I find being continuously shortlisted galling. A simple yes or no takes up less mental bandwidth. As ever it is the hope that kills you. Went for a couple of walks. I downloaded The Three ...