under another sun

Sleep paralysis again last night. I am sort of conscious but half asleep and unable to move my body before I wake up properly. Disconcerting but the morning fixed everything. After L and I had breakfast we did some gardening. I manfully mowed and strimmed the lawn before it got too hot because we are in the grip of yet another heatwave.  Then after a light lunch, to the supermarket, then an opportunist doze, then I lit the charcoal for the barbecue and cooked a chicken (which turned out to be remarkably succulent, things taste different cooked over charcoal) plus burgers and sausages. Beth, James and baby Enzo with us, and fun just to hang out. Enzo adorable of course. Beth well too. Nice to have a drink and chat with James who allowed himself a couple of ciders. I forgot to take any photos because of having a small brain. In other news all four gulls have left the roof now, and it is nice to be outside without getting dogs' abuse from the pesky things. 

Lorraine off to be with Beth.  James had to travel to London for his first day in the new job. He got up with the sparrows, this morning and got there almost two hours early.   I spent all day indoors waiting for the irritating electrician. He never did showed up, and Lorraine was unable to reach him. Luckily I was writing, looking and thinking about the stuff Robin had said to me the day before.  A nice chat with Anton. He has a very bad knee, but otherwise cheery. Made him laugh telling him about the seagull on the roof that flies at me raging as soon as it sees me. Later I walked over to Squirrel's End to be with Beth and Lorraine, and held little Enzo while he was dozing happily. Lovely little chap. Beth much brighter, and sitting downstairs with Lorraine and the baby when I arrived. Then after chatting with Beth, and holding the baby, Lorraine and I zoomed off to Moon of India to get a takeaway, as Beth had really fancied something a bit spicy. Lorraine and I pushed ...

Started doing some editing this morning for the podcast. Lorraine out with Beth having coffee and  shopping. I got cheesed off with looking at the screen so went for a long walk in the cold. The sea strangely green today, despite the grey sky. Passed a car near splash point, with two old blokes eating sandwiches sat in the front seats. Standing on the bonnet were two seagulls, side by side as the men were, looking in at them and their sandwiches longingly.  Once home again, felt disinclined to do much. Watched some football on TV. A bit of a motivation bypass today, and couldn't settle to read  either. I took a nice photo of a teasel though. And two crows. Tumbleweed not pictured.

Woke up alive, which is nice. I had taken my statin the night before, and so far have experienced no ill effects. Some good writing this morning, in peace as Dan and Greg had finished yesterday, and Lorraine was out for the morning. The sudden sodden whacking of the window cleaner's extendible pole brush kept me on my toes.  I did some decent writing, still fashioning the poetry MS, and then made off to the gym for the third time this week, however after a bit of mooching about with weights I pushed a bit too hard on the cross trainer, and had to sit down after for a bit of a rest. Mooched home, and Lorraine back from seeing her personal trainer. Took a moment for a meditation, and afterwards Lorraine wrote Dwell happily in the present on our blackboard. We started to tidy up a bit, and were distracted by a metallic whacking, which we thought was the builders next door, but it turned out to be the effing evil seagull again, whacking up kibbles from the cat bowls. Rosie called arou...

Lorraine and I had a happy morning pottering about, and finalising the colour choices, as it seems decorators might be arriving soon. Now there is a chance of it actually happening, making the choices is fun, and it took a lot of discussing and using the dulux visualiser app, which is quite handy. Clearing up after the barbecue last night, and couldn't find the brush I use to clean the barbecue. Later Lorraine found it on the lawn, clearly a fox had been playing with it. Later the war against seagulls escalated badly. A seagull broke in through an open window into the kitchen. I went to step inside the house from outside, and saw through the closed door a seagull sitting on the kitchen surface, having been digging about in the cat biscuits. I opened the door, and it blundered out again. A seagull standing inside your kitchen looks much larger, and there is something quite disturbing about birds indoors -- an image I have used in a couple of my poems. Indolent this afternoon, dozing...

Up and writing fairly early this morning. Lorraine up too, to get ready to go off to her personal trainer. I wrote more of my short story, Kansas . Enjoying writing it a good deal, and it necessitation the learning of some of the history of Kansas, as well as dipping back into Lyrical Ballads by Coleridge and Wordsworth. Broke off to have a cuppa with Keith. and we discussed how the agency world is quite quiet right now, which of course suits me. Then more writing. Lorraine back, having been worked hard. She went to the shower, I meanwhile began to hear a seagull kerfuffle, and discovered two seagulls polishing off what remained of the cat food in our kitchen. These fiends I shooed out -- they left fairly reluctantly I must say. Later, when Lorraine and I were taking Calliope to the Top Cats at Patcham, they protested at their banishment by shitting on the garden furniture.    We had lunch and discussed decorators, and then did a meditation session.  And gave Calliope a ...

Friday, and Sonia came here for the first time in Months this morning. She said she had been cleaning at other clients for weeks, and generally gave the impression that Coronavirus was not too much to worry about. Nice to see her and chat, but I, a-hem, kept my distance.  Working still on the short story, which I am still polishing. Everything takes so long. In the afternoon another saunter, up the hill and then when Lorraine came home, she drove Beth off to the seafront at Hove where she was meeting some socially distanced pals, including Amy she is about to live with. We said hello, and then bumped into Lorraine's old choir pal Lesley, who was ambling along with a Brazilian pal. I remarked to Lorraine afterwards that it was nice of Lesley to show us her Brazilian.  Home and Lorraine and I had a curry, and a chilled night in watching a cop show on TV. So photos... Flowers in the hill fort. My black and white shot of the day, then a rejected black and white shot for the day, a...

Toby's birthday today, and I had a quick FaceTime with him to wish him well as he was lurking in his office, looking at school work on his screen. Otherwise I worked through my list of things, and worked more on my short story, and generally got on with getting nowhere fast.  A walk again this afternoon, of course.   Took a shot of Steven Seagull who lives a few doors down the street.   He perches on this post just a few doors down from our house every day. He gives you hostile glares as you walk past but rarely takes off. I thought I was witty naming him after the fighty actor, but it turns out that half the gulls befriended by Brightonians are called Steven too, for exactly the same reason.

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...

A beak where it wasn't wanted Met Sophie, Andros, and the bairns early this afternoon to lurk on the pier. Following tradition, Andros off for coffee and the rest of us onto the pier for several rides. A cold day. I went on the dodgems with Sophie and the kids. Sophie zooming around looking curiously traumatised by it. Christof and I went on my favourite Horror Hotel ghost ride, which was excellent, as they have made a few improvements. Enjoyed the cheesy horror tableaux that you trundle past, and was surprised by the bits of cloth that pleasingly trail over your face in the dark. Lorraine went on a ghastly whirling thing with Electra, and even managed to hold up her hands in the approved manner. After a couple of hours of this sort of thing, and watching the kids on even worse rides, we made off. Far more horrifying than the ghost train was a feathered devotee of Hitchcock pacing along the roofing eyeing us, and just as I pointed out its comical behaviour to kids, we were suddenly...