under another sun

Simply manacled to my desk and writing stuff to do with ecologically sound coatings. Happy to be working, but my brain a bit sluggish and I made heavy going of it. Monday passed fairly unlamentedly. All at Kenny towers to bed early. Lorraine and I hearing an unclassifiable shrieking in the back garden, which we told each other was foxes. Quite a good backdrop to the Thomas Ligotti horror horror story I was reading though.

Up shortly after Lorraine this morning, and on with the day picking up the threads from a couple of weeks ago. I also went for a brisk walk for about an hour or so. Being back in Guernsey has reminded me of the outside world. In fact in the afternoon I took my laptop outside and sat under the lilac tree, still managing to get reception from the wifi. Lots of stuff going on in a garden if you simply sit quietly for long enough. The cats sitting either side of my feet. Then an interesting stand off. Brian went onto a wall right next to me, and on the other side of it was a small fox. Brian stared it down in a surprising show of toughness. Not that I did much, and I found myself a bit devoid of inspiration and in need of a down day. Beth off this afternoon teaching, an when she returned we sat about in the garden noticing stuff like an enormous green beetle, a ball of tiny yellow spiders and so on not to mention the various flowers, plants etc. Lorraine home and all three of us in a k...

Found myself writing a poem about Gothic Foxes and the Brontës this morning. Then off to get a chatty haircut. Home and rather flailing about not knowing what to get on with next. Have got myself into an impasse when there is lots to be done, but everything seems to block everything else and I end up achieving little. Rather cross and frustrated with myself for this. I did however connect with Ian, a distant relative, who is researching the family tree and has been in touch with Mum. Looking again at family information Mum had given me on CDs a while back. Rather liked this passport photo of my Grandfather Alex when he was a young man in India.

Lorraine and Beth off to Basingstoke, and I had a day of doing what I wanted, so quietly wrote and rehearsed for next week and had a chat with Mum, and sat about in the garden reading. Not feeling particularly energetic nor sociable, but happy enough and pleased to see Lorraine when she got home from the long round trip. As we were getting ready I looked out of my study and saw the fox next door splaying her legs with nine cubs feeding and cavorting and charging about her and the garden. They are incredibly sweet things, but I could really damage our garden. Enjoyed going out this evening to the Shahi for a cheeky curry with Lorraine. We'd not been there for a while, and it was relaxing and fun to strap on the nosebag there. We were commenting on how it is a good idea to live further away as at least you have the opportunity to burn up some post-curry calories walking up Beaky Villas afterwards. Home to Match of the Day. All well. Below the fox next door among a melee of cu...

Up fairly early, with Lorraine shouting up that the foxes next door were visible. Peered down and snapped them from my study window. The cubs are very different in size. Lorraine working at home today, and we had some lunch in the garden. As it was a girl's night, I made myself scarce this evening taking a long walk in the smog. For the air quality is terrible today, Very High pollution apparently with still air and smog drifting across the channel from France apparently mixed with Saharan dust, and joining forces with our own pollutions. Went down to the sea, and took a stroll on the pier, with the lowering sun reminding me of Charn , the red city in The Magician's Nephew. It was good to have a stroll and to roll the thoughts I'd been having on my work on a notch. Popped into The Cricketers for a quick pint, and thinking about our wedding party we had there a year and a half ago. Then I paused by The Colonade for another quick pint, for the sole reason I'd not been...

Basket cases Awake annoyingly early this morning. Seagulls were stamping about on Lorraine's roof, and dropping things which may have been stones or small skulls onto the tiles, and walking smearily on the Velux windows. Brian and Basil the cats taking a dim view of this. Beth was going to use Lorraine's house for a big rehearsal today, so we sloped off back to my place for breakfast. I then was possessed by a housecleaning bug, and spent two hours vacuuming under beds, deep cleaning the bathroom and so on. Lorraine who is absolutely exhausted, slept on the gold sofa. In the afternoon we met Matt and John in The Basketmakers for some beers. I was drinking refreshing summer ale. Amid general banter, Matt moaning again about the war between seagulls and foxes going on near his home which generates a maelstrom of fox screams and gull yarps. Despite these trials he has finished composing the music for Found, and will upload it soon. From here Lorraine had some cheap Chinese food, f...