under another sun

Go up hideously early this morning to go to work. Luckily Lorraine decided to get up at a similar time too, and dropped me at the station in time for the 6:44. A gorgeous morning. Got into work an hour early to do some urgent work, only for the computer I have to use not to work. It was finally fixed by a nice IT man called Dexter an hour later. Managed to get what I needed done. Presentation to a pleasant client. I was not leading this presentation, so this felt odd to me.  Slogging all day. Went out to get a sandwich at lunch, and it was like stepping out of the building into Greece. 29 C, some kind of weird bulge of heat up from Africa apparently. Scarfed a flatbread salad and tuna on my feet watching a swan bully a pair of Canada Geese, then back into a briefing. Out of the building like Usain Bolt at 5:30. However there was more devil train travel carnage at Victoria and I didn't get home till 8:45. I am beginning to understand why people voted for Mussolini. Cooked...

Up late and zoomed down to Brighton station where I met Klaudia and Anton. Klaudia and I were off to London for her golden ticket day. We caught the train, and zoomed up to Victoria discussing a wide variety of matters such as the number of murderers you walk past in a lifetime, her trip to Australia, my play and so on. At Victoria we walked off to find the Wagamama restaurant in Cardinal Place. Klaudia is a big fan of Wagamama and already had her order clear in her head before we arrived. We both had chicken katsu curry, Klaudia ordering a plate of plain noodles as a side dish. We shared some ribs, and finished off with guava and passion fruit sorbet (Klaudia) and yusu ice-cream (moi). Then to the nearby Apollo Victoria theatre to see the musical  Wicked ,  based on a 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire, called 'Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West' A different take on goings-on in Oz. It was a spectacular show, and Klaudia enjoyed it lots. Even I, not ...

A bad night's sleep. However off bright and early to work, fiddling with new poems on the train. Before rat-racing through Victoria. There is always a big slow crowd waiting to get through the ticket barriers in the morning, and there is something dehumanising about this needless funnelling.  However I have been taking a bus which gets me close to where I work, and this is rather nice. I feel like a sightseer. Work fine, and some pleasant conversations. Everyone is so young there I feel like a bit of a dinosaur, but at the same time I seem to be a dinosaur with stuff they don't know so I find myself feeling vaguely valued, which is nice. In the evening, and home to my Lorraine, I managed to get two new poems printed to send off to a poetry competition, posting deadline tomorrow, just doing this one thing for myself felt like a minor triumph. Below the usual Dantesque bottleneck at Victoria.

Up at the, for me, disconcertingly early time of 6:50am. Off to the station in the cool morning. And up to Victoria, doing some thinking about poetry on my laptop. Working on my poems on the train. Another lovely bright cool morning, and I quite enjoyed strolling through the centre of London first thing. Work was fine, on day two people deciding to talk to me and be friendly. The work I've done so far seeming to go down very well too, which makes things more relaxing. Another quick stroll through central London, passing the doors of The Salisbury without being drawn in. Home easily and early, and Lorraine had just been shopping. We ate trout and salad and new potatoes and all was well with the world. Starting a new freelance job on a three day week rather big and clever. I have however more work to do over the weekend, not only on my projects but on a pig diseases brief I have picked up. Since I have bought my new lucky green wallet I am on a baleen whale mission for a bit, to ...

Missed my train having woken especially early to get the early one. Later trains cancelled so arrived late at work yet again. Work draggy with people (not me) getting heated and the long thing I am writing having all the goalposts moved again. My eye twitching off and on infernally, making it seem like I was winking at people who don't know me from a doorknob. Bought an actual book of To the Lighthouse which I finished this morning on the train. Brilliant stuff. Left work after seven and hopped on a bus which instantly became gridlocked. After ten minutes I got off and walked back to the tube station and went to Victoria via the rattling coffins of the Victoria line. At Victoria, just missed my train, and instead caught a crowded train to Hove as the ones to Brighton were delayed.  I politely asked a woman to let me sit in the chair she was blocking. Unfortunately she was a madwoman, which I had failed to spot. She began muttering and swearing and it emerged I had offended he...