under another sun

Tax: doing books as methodically as possible. Made more complicated of course by last year's Natwestisögur screwing up my business bank accounts. Looking at spreadsheets and tracing payments etc. There is something weird in and unloved corner of my brain that enjoys the tidiness of a spreadsheet. But nothing like Beth who positively loves them. Plumbing: a the dripping towel rail. Young Luke the plumber came around again, said we'd have to replace the valve but he could stop it dripping before tomorrows house viewings. He went away and it commenced dripping again. Much wrangling with the business, but Luke came back and replaced valve and stopped the dripping. Expensive. Estate agents: conversations off and on during the day. Otherwise tidying for the great viewing onslaught tomorrow. I trained to Seaford and met Lorraine at the station, and we saw two houses late this afternoon. The second one was very nice and ticked all our boxes and we were quite excited about it, discussin...

Unutterably lovely to actually wake up at home with no necessity to zoom off anywhere. My first day at home for three weeks, and it was great. Spent the morning tidying away clothes, and chatting to Lorraine. Brian had a massive fight with another cat while we were in the garden, luckily no vet's bills were incurred (for us at least). I have also been wrapped up in myself, but Rosie has been in hospital, and Dawn's dad died when we were in Sicily, her mother had passed last year. Close friends are struggling with challenges, but I feel very fortunate today, if a bit shattered. A cheery young plumber came this morning and checked our boiler and also installed a tap in the garden, this was exciting because we can easily water our garden, and I can deploy the water pressure cleaner on the decking. Both were impossible to do earlier with any ease. Spoke to Mum, who is concerned about Felix, who has an injured foot which has had stitches in it. He is now wearing an Elizabethan...

A gorgeous mild springlike day. Sprang out of bed early as Russ Shed, a plumber came to look at our ensuite bathroom which is need of help. We both liked him, and he seemed thorough and knowledgeable. A porridge breakfast after he went, and we found ourselves weeding the front garden before we zoomed off to Burgess Hill and Hateful Heath to look at bathroom furniture and tiles. A Japanese style toilet in one of them. After this, we hung curtains and lampshades from yesterday. Varieties of house business. In the evening Beth and John came around. Lorraine cooked a giant chicken and leek pie as a special request, and we had a really nice evening in, eating pie and playing endless games of cards. John and Lorraine won the euchre, and Beth and I were very encouraging and pleased for them. Then Uno at some length, while listening to music and drinking various drinks. A really cheery night, till they caught the last bus home and we sloped happily off to bed. Below a sign in the tile sho...

A cheery and efficient plumber arrived very quickly after being contacted, and I got him to cap the taps, so we can have the water on in the house. Drippee! The replacement of the taps will be  eye-wateringly expensive. To get to the taps, which were put in the wrong place, you have to smash all the tiles and take the bath out. The previous owner was a right old bodger. Luckily we only use that bath for showering, so not having taps at the moment is fine. The whole bathroom needs to be reimagined by someone very clever. Otherwise, I spoke to Mum. And got on with my work, I am fixing a particularly difficult bit at the moment. Beth arrived with a heavy cold and feeling ill in the late afternoon. Lorraine working late to prepare for a school inspection tomorrow. I cooked, and fed the womenfolk with roast chicken. This seemed to help. Meanwhile in Brighton  a lively anti-Trump protest. I felt I should have been there, but felt needed on the home front.

A bit of a drip Awake at 5 in First Matie's flat in Chiswick, and had a million ideas running through my head. Such as what would be in an anthology of literature about Guernsey, or exactly how much was my outstanding billing, or why exactly am I working in bloody Glamoursmith again. Did some sums in bed, and then felt rather awake. Up early and after saying farewell to First Matie sloped off to Gunnersbury station, which of course feels very familiar to me as I once lived about two hundred yards from where Katie now lives. Into work at 8am, and was the first to arrive. Worked on bits and pieces during the morning: on MS and psoriasis. Had a chatty lunch with Betsy in a cafe called Plum, which is nearby and unsmilingly staffed. A bit slow and brain dead in the afternoon. I had to make my excuses to leave early to get back to Brighton in time to let the plumber in. When he did not appear, I called him only to be told that the booking was for next Wednesday, which was not my underst...

Stormy weather Back to work. A dark, wet morning, which turned into an extremely windy one, with 77 mile an hour winds at Heathrow, and 10 people being killed across the country. On the train listening to Tolkien to blot out a feeling of being quite dismally down. But this passed quite quickly once I'd reached work. Got an email from Sarah saying Florida was gripped by a London fog, while we had one of their hurricanes. Between meetings, the Gnome and I spent the day looking down at the wind blowing so hard that spray was picked up from the river surface and whipped about. Trees were blown down nearby and roads were closed off. From our vantage point, the Gnome and me watched some new fencing being blown down on the building site nearby. I took a walk outside for a while and it was really buffeting, and almost difficult sometimes to stay on your feet. Chatted with the FB who had flown in from New York this morning. He said the last fifteen minutes of the flight was a bit lively. Wi...