under another sun

Up early and rushing about straightening the house for the open house day. Then nabbing Calliope and taking her to the vet, paid for more thyroid stuff and another blood test.Very pricey. She is not putting on any weight. The vet hinted at other issues.  Home and a frenzy of tidying, and then I showed the lady from the estate agent around. Sam, after quite a bit to drink last night, being extremely helpful, but he found having to rush off stressful. He went to stay with Beth for the day.  Lorraine and I went to the tip to drop off some rubbish. Also a few unsold Clameur CDs. We were quizzed about these, was it a business thing? Were we dumping commercial waste. But it was all okay thanks to Lorraine's persuasive charms.  Then back to Osborne Road to drop the car off and we went to a nearby cafe, Tilt, and we enjoyed a vegetarian brunch and looked at houses on our phones and made another appointment in Seaford. Mooched down to London Road station to catch the train, and on...

Quacks and cracks Another zombie dawn after pain kept me awake half the night. Not slept properly now for about two weeks and it is wearing me out. Off to the quacks, which I am beginning to think of as the Cheers Bar. Good news however is that my blood pressure is calming down. Then on to the chirporactor who is beginning to consider my back a personal affront, and did some advanced cracking but the pain continues. There is no escape. Otherwise, I worked hard on Skeletons and poems. Also made the surprising discovery that Calliope can fetch and return her ball toy like a dog, and is very entertaining running about with it in her mouth. Out with Anton this evening and a game of pool. After he thrashed me, we drifted off to the newly renamed West Hill pub, to happily sup a couple of Harveys and survey the new drinking den, which was rather nice, though empty. Drifted home cheerfully after talking about important matters such as Strangler's concerts and Klaudia's TV appearance wh...

Mad dog and mindgamesmanship This morning, in between working on poems and other matters, found myself scowling at the thought of money. However this Gordon Brownish glowering quickly turned into a bout of heel-clicking yippees, when an anonymous envelope poked through my letter flap turned out to be a sizable tax rebate. Skipped merrily down to the bank, inducing the bank employee to talk wistfully of a tax rebate he'd once had. Then for a swim, my first for a while and surprisingly, considering the heat of the day, not excessively busy. Breached up and down for half an hour, before returning home to a spot of light tiding, and a longish chat with Simon. Then Bob arrived hot foot from Eastbourne where he had been training people. After the old Mad dog had washed his feet in cooling water, there was some tea sipping and listening to the soothing murmury rock selection on my iPod. It was good to chat, before Bob and Claire and Millie move to Salisbury. Then off to the Caxton to pla...