under another sun

So a bit of a disrupted day... Sprang out of bed and then as Dan and Greg were coming later in the morning, and had to take the remaining pictures from the hall and rapidly clear my study. Don't deal well with sudden changes to the day, especially as I had quite a few things to sort out today.  Luckily Lorraine smoothed everything as she was working from home. Greg brought his little dog too, who he put in the garden, but was whining so piteously there that our  neighbour Caroline complained. Meanwhile had a few chats with Robin, and got Jeremy to do a recording with me on Friday. Spent what remained of the morning doing a bit of my own writing, before commencing half a day's work for my  German clients. The brothers Greg and Dan done at three, and I went for a walk then, and came back to do some more work. Was contacted at a smidge before five asking if Keith and I could work for five days starting tomorrow. Quick chat with Keith and we yessed it.  Feeling a bit str...

A poor night's sleep, lying awake feeling worried about several things at once. Listening to the news this morning did not help: warring Russians, out of control global warming. The idiocy and malevolence of humanity is astonishing.    Read this from Carole Cadwalladr  saying that this invasion was a continuation of the First Great Information War the Kremlin has been waging over facebook etc for the last eight years. You only have to look at the proven Russian interference in Brexit and the election of Trump and so on to see that. They have successfully sown bitter division among their opponents, and contributed to the almost complete erosion of truth in the world.  Up early with a story in my head, however, and I wrote down the opening 500 words so as not to forget it.  It was the Poetry Business deadline for sending in a poetry collection, but this is exactly at the wrong moment in terms of where I am with my work. I tried to fudge it but after several hours,...

Russia invaded Ukraine. I was completely wrong, and thought Putin was bluffing. Horrible business. Such a vacuum of democratic leadership he thinks nobody will do much.  On the domestic front, Lorraine and I enjoyably pottering about at home most of the day. We popped into Lidl for some shopping, and also went to speak to the people at the local storage firm called Cinch, and put down a deposit on a lockup.   I went for beer with Anton tonight. Met in The Park Crescent, a bit of a tucked away locals pub, where we had a drink on February 12th 2020, 743 days ago as Anton said, shortly before the first lockdown. A kind of reboot which felt fitting now that many of the special measures taken by the government have now been lifted. It even, to the delight of Anton, had an Avengers themed pinball machine, with the heroic pricing of a quid a game.  Lots to chat about. Headed from there to the Joker where we ate a really sloppily cheesy chicken burger, and then made off to the Fr...

Valentine's day. I got a card from my lovely. Annoyingly, I was only able to find the card I had bought for Lorraine two weeks ago, shortly after she had left for work.  Reading Poetry Nation Review and The Rialto to talk about on the podcast first thing, then Robin and met for an hour or so to record. Also a good chat about poetry. Listened to these later in the day after Robin had done some editing.  At clippers barbers I noticed, as Stacy took infinite pains on invisible hairs, a little plastic Speedy Gonzales on his bench. I didn't ask him about it, but enjoyed my private speculations. A bagful of wool on the floor after he was done. Walked back through Preston Park. The lightest of rain that dusted the area of concern also produced a fleeting but complete rainbow. A bit of freelance lined up for tomorrow. Good for the coffers, but not making my soul sing. My left knee is a bit swollen. No idea why, came on a few days ago. Reminding me of the feeling it had before I had my...