under another sun

Up early expecting an empty black house, but Gillian surprised me. Her flight had been cancelled in the middle of the night and bumped till the next morning. Another goodbye to Gillian, who I'd really enjoyed meeting again. Still she had to travel to Copenhagen today, so Toby drove her there and back with Romy.  Lorraine and I drove up to Hvide Sande, and had a look many shops although bought nothing other than a wee pressie for baby Enzo. I was tempted for myself by a teeshirt with a seagull version of The Scream by Edvard Munch. Then we went to look at the people fishing on the harbour walls in the water that links the Rinkøbing Fjord to the North Sea, then to the nearby Akvarium and fishing museum. Many tanks of drab looking North Sea fish, but I was happy. Then north to the next town where there was a more upmarket food store called Meny, where we bought a chicken and some provisions. Home again, and after a spot of a late and sausagey lunch I went for a walk over the dune, and...

Lorraine and I now yearly ticket holders for the aquarium. As the yearly pass cost only £5 more than a single ticket, it seemed a bargain. I have visions of myself going there and sitting about off season. We hopped on the bus and went there in good time today. I loved mooching about looking at the tanks of course, and Lorraine enjoyed herself too. There is a little cafe at the end of the Victorian arcade of tanks. The aquarium opened in 1872 and claims to be the oldest operating aquarium in the world. It has apparently the UK's largest collection of sharks and rays. Very happy to visit this  knowing that I will be able to return any time I feel like it. Home again, and did Sunday things. Cooked some roast pork which was very nice. It was part of the collection of meats that Lorraine had bought before Christmas. We watched Call the midwife too, which is something of a Sunday ritual. I have grown to like this programme, which has a good heart which is a nice thing to be reminde...

Up at seven and soon slouching towards London to be paid. A strange day at Tavistock Square, as they had no work for me, despite me having been booked. I had been told that the week would be intermittent, but wasn't expecting there to be nothing to do on the first day. As a consequence they asked me not to come in tomorrow. While waiting for a brief, I sat about surfing. It also gave me the opportunity to ask April, fresh back from the US, to sign the exchange of deed stuff which I then posted at lunchtime. I also had email with the incompetent leasing agents. Only a few more days of this hateful property-based soul-sucking and I will be free. The Buddha was right. Nice to chat to a few folks at work,  including Matty boy and Pat. Received some congrats and a kiss from Yaiza, who had seen wedding photos on Facebook. Also chatted to Mum, busy redecorating the house, as I mooched about the dripping Squares at lunchtime. Feeling tired, I was pleased to be able to leave work ten mi...

Antsy this morning, feeling the need to be doing things. It was a beautiful clear day, and L and I drove off to see Angie and Patrick, former neighbours of Lorraine, in their new house in Hove. They are extending their new detached house and adding a garden office. They live upstairs in comfort, while the the ground floor has been gutted and forested by poles keeping the top floor in place. It is what Angie called a project, and Patrick completely untroubled by having builders milling about underneath him and calling on him for decisions as he worked. Then to the station to buy a ticket to London, to Sainsbury's to buy food, then to the garden centre for me to buy aquatic plants for the fish tanks then home. Worked downstairs carrying buckets or water about. Emptied the smaller tank completely, and transferred fish into the big tank. Brian, who is much recovered, is a big fish fancier and helped me catch the fish in the tank by batting the glass as I caught them. Removing the tan...

Fish biz: buying some bottom feeders peppered corys and one albino bronze cory. The guy in the fish show said that you have to bag corydoras species separately as they release a noxious chemical into the water if they become distressed. Coming home with bags of fish is an excitement I've had since I was about ten and had my first aquarium. I think the entire fish kingdom is happy at the slower attrition rate since my first days. My current angel fish for example are about four years old now. I've always been fascinated by the otherness of fish, as if they swim in your own subconscious as you watch them. Otherwise Lorraine and I had an enjoyable day of sprawling, snoozing and doing minor chores.

Porlocked Woke up at 3:00am to the sound of a small tractor. Downstairs I found a leaves had choked the pump and filter system of my aquarium, having taken the filter apart and repaired matters I found myself staring bleakly at the ceiling for a couple of hours. A dusting of snow on the rooftops first thing, and then it snowed off and on all day without settling, unlike most of the country. The jetstream running west to east over the Atlantic has kinked northwards, and so is dragging Arctic air down to temperate climes bringing the earliest snow I can remember. I got down to reworking the Doppelganger libretto building on what I'd started after conversations with Matt, which took most of the day. We're trying out the idea of adding more voices into it. Porlocked twice by two sales people from a mobile phone company. The first time having torn myself away from my desk I found they had walked off, the second time one said once I'd opened my door. "Are you okay?" whi...

Beth's birthday Beth's 19th birthday today, but Beth overnight had been in a time machine and was about 10 when she bounced into the bedroom at 6:30am. Soon after she bought cups of tea and her and Mark sat on the end of the bed like talking cats, until Betty's present opening ceremony began. She got a Crackberry from Lorraine, Mark got her a useful combination toy aircraft/fork and some Cath Kidston oven gloves, which matched the Cath Kidston cook's pinafore I got her. Luckily we'd bought the same colour and pattern too. The Cath Kidston shop was where I was accused of shoplifting last weekend. I found it migraine-inducingly stuffed with kitch and flowery stuff in pink and baby blue. I suspect, however, I may not be target market. Beth off to work at the stage school to be sung happy birthday to by small children, and then have a drink with her dad and lots of presents and a party with her mates in the evening. Klaudia now goes to the stage school too and took a ca...

Crib notes Off today to deepest Kent to visit Lorraine's folks Pat and Maureen in my capacity as fish consultant. After a nice cup of tea we went off to the local garden centre and fish emporium where I selected various plants and rock and bits of wood. Back home to set it up, and to be rewarded with roast beef, and roast potatoes cooked in goosefat. I like Maureen and Pat. After the aquarium business, they taught me how to play cribbage. Lorraine and her parents were able to add the scoring permutations in a flash, which made me feel slightly retarded. But I like playing cards, and crib seems a good game. I have spent countless hours hunched over hands like feet playing Euchre with my grandparents in Guernsey. My grandfather Dave, who Lorraine's dad reminds me of, was rather a good player, and played in a local Euchre league. After playing a hand badly, my Grandmother was frequently warned by Dave that if she'd done that down the club, she'd have left like a cullender....

The dulcet tones of Microsoft Anna Downloaded a handy tool today which reads out text in the voice of Microsoft Anna. This is perfect as the robot voice can read out Skelton Yawngrave in a completely dead and uninflected way, which is a perfect editing tool. Sol Stein recommends having your manuscript read out by the worst reader you can find, so you actually hear the words for what they are. I am making better progress, but not as fast as I'd like. Working like a dog trying to get the thing finished. Voted in the European elections on the way to the gym. A vast sheet of options with the repellent BNP top of the list. Considered boycotting the whole thing. British politics an absolute shambles at the moment. Labour busy imploding all day, there is now open rebellion and Brown looks rightly doomed. Even the Guardian is calling for him to quit. A Tory government is looming. God help us. Otherwise received a box of aquatic plants which are now in my aquarium, and looking rather n...

Getting it right Up with a song on my lips. It is worth doing a couple of days travelling into London to remind me of the glories of working from home. Danced past sullen commuters streaming into the station, to do a spot of food shopping before work. The last of the big website today - a few hours or so of referencing my case studies on a smorgasbord of morbidities, and making up ages for the ailing people I'd invented. I managed to do this from the comfort of my sofa and without foam leaking from my mouth, and only getting up twenty times to teach Calliope to use the newly magnetic cat flap. Finishing website stuff (although never say never etc.) was great, like the last Groundhog Day when everything goes right. In the evening, assembled a base for my aquarium. Now to decide where to situate the tank; for of course once you set it up, you have to keep it there. Then a big tidy up. Amazing how two days of being out of the house from 7am till 10pm can reduce order to despicable cha...

Flickr and fish soup Sluggish today. Sent off the French stuff this morning, and under Mex's influence tried to get to grips with Twitter and starting to upload some photos onto Flickr , including quite a few of my Japanese ones. At lunchtime I met Paul who was in Brighton doing some business with a Dentist, and he was wearing his pinstripe suit and looking slightly gangsterish. We shot the breeze over a couple of beers in the Battle of Trafalgar, where he helpfully outlined some of the principles of direct marketing, before I made my excuses and got back to work. Emergency goldfish advice for Reuben, who called this afternoon as his were going through a crisis. Especially one of them whose sole is now in heaven. I kept fish for many years so know the basics pretty well, despite my last episode of fishkeeping ending badly. Returning home to find a weird penetrating smell in the house, which I traced at last to the aquarium. The thermostat (from a very reputable dealer) had malfunct...