under another sun

Both feeling brighter. Lorraine and I worked in the garden for a couple of hours, sweeping the patio of leaves, and doing things to the fish pond, like cutting back the irises, which were crowding out the fish, cleaning the filter and cutting back lots of the overgrowing elodea and so on. A trip to the supermarket, buying our stuff plus Pat and Maureen's in two trolleys. I walked the bags into Pat and Maureen's place, and Pat walked me back to the lifts, which was nice. Spoke to Mum, who had met Robert in the Waggon and Horses, and ate roast lamb which she found disgusting. I am going to meet her in Hampstead next week. Lorraine cooked a gorgeous lentil and chicken curry tonight. I tidied my study a bit. Chelsea beat Newcastle, meaning Match of the Day was all watchable. Chelsea's Cole Palmer is currently the best player in the league. An astonishing talent, and Chelsea are building the team around him and look fantastic. He is a joy to watch. Another episode of The Bear. F...

Rain most of the day, and just as we were dropping off, distant thunder in the channel. I worked all day, doing the penultimate edit on my new story What's Inside . But by the end of the day I ended up doubting it, because it is written in the second person, which is highly unusual. I think this adds weirdness to what is trying to be a horror story. I think it works, but I'm not convinced an editor would be prepared to give it a punt. Perhaps this is a legacy of having done all that advertising work. I am writing the story as if it were happening to the reader. Lorraine off to her personal trainer and seeing Penny. Matt the pond man came around and installed an additional plug for the pond to power the UV light in the filter. Standing with him in the rain for a bit. The pond seems clearer, and the fish seem happier too. Went for a walk along the seafront, but it was raining enthusiastically. I suddenly felt very anxious too. Luckily I understand myself much better these days.  ...

Still feeling draggy, and unwell. Lorraine far from perky too. The day's excitement came when Matt the pond man came around and installed a pond filter and now the little waterfall works again. He also removed lots of water weed and left only a portion of the waterlilies. The fish seem much happier however as they have more elbow room. Unusual fish we have. But then after he left the water was washing over the side, which we discovered when he left so we had to turn it off the flow again almost as soon as he left. Our plan to build raise the level of the leaky bit with silicone and stones. Otherwise a bit of reading, dipping into Sketch of the Past , by Virginia Wolf and The Intelligence of Flowers by Maurice Maeterlinck. Proof read my latest horror story. Had a sleep. Watched football, including a diverting clash between Georgia and Turkey, and moaned a bit about not feeling right. My wife is a saint.