under another sun

Lorraine and I chatting in bed this morning, having tea and breakfast and discussing how we need to make more of the weekends again now that Lorraine is more on top of her weekends and has not worked on Sundays as standard any more. We resolved to go to the Sea Life Centre aquarium down by the pier today, and took photos of ourself so we could pick up passes. By the time we got there however, we were too late, as in January the last admittance is at 3 o'clock. Instead we went for a stroll on the pier, and were rewarded with the sight of murmurations of starlings as the sun began to slide towards setting. From there we made our way, via a brief stop at the Evening Star where some Brighton footie fans were just whetting their post match whistles after a 1-1 draw with Aston Villa. We fell into conversation with one of them briefly before we set off up the hill for an evening with Anton and Ann and (intermittently) Oskar eating Anton's excellent pizzas. Lovely time there as ...

A nice day today. Lorraine and I up fairly late, and then sauntered into town for a general mooch (and to buy each other valentine's cards). We had a snack in the wee Spanish tapas place in the lanes which was fun, and reminded us of our Spanish holiday last year. Walked down to the sea afterwards, this was grey and rough, lots of gulls flying close to the waves, and the murmuration of starlings gathering over the water too, before they settle down on the struts under the pier. Cobwebs successfully blown off we zoomed home. Read another story by Thomas Ligotti. Like his stuff very much. Then all my email accounts dropped off again, which was rather enraging. Managed to sign on to my bt email through a browser when I found a rejection note from a poetry magazine (only 5 months it took them). Both things a bit galling.   However, we watched an interesting documentary on TV about David Bowie's pre-success years. And so to bed, where Lorraine read from The Box of Delights , we ...

Bowled a bit of googley this morning. Lovely French client has had to pull the job I was working on. Somewhat disconcerted by this. The job I have starting next week is all good to go, so I will just treat the rest of the week as an opportunity to get my ducks in a row. Instead, however, I found myself tidying up the house and then going for a long walk late this afternoon which made me feel far better about everything. Anton called around this afternoon too with a birthday gift for me, two packs of amazingly beautiful playing cards, called Requiem.  He had just been to his rehabilitation exercises, and is looking very healthy indeed. Lorraine home late tonight. I cooked and we chatted. To bed reasonably early. I am reading a book about stained glass that Lorraine bought me. I am reading it out to Lorraine at night, and it sends her to sleep in about 15 seconds. Amazing. Below  starlings on a mast in Hollingbury, which were looking rather beautiful, and the gorgeous play...

Happy Monday Got up fairly early and worked on my poetry manuscript all day. Just revelling in the opportunity to do this. I feel that I have won the lottery and can at last focus on what is important to me. In terms of draining long term frustrations, this is superb. It was a good day's work too, with me making lots of progress. I took a mid afternoon walk, down to the sea, and was rewarded with a spectacular show. The wind was up, and the sea was rough. The sky was putting on a Turner-like parade of light and colour, and a huge charcoal coloured rain filled cloud came over. There was a faint rainbow, and I walked onto the pier as the starlings came down in their thousands in the whipping wind to roost under the boards. All this made me feel strangely elated. Below some sea scenes. Click them to make them bigger.