under another sun

Beth and James returned at midday having got up at the crack of dawn in Wales, after what was a brilliant wedding. Lorraine bathing Enzo in the bath this morning. A very splashy business indeed. Enzo had been clearly missing Beth and James, and perhaps because we were talking about them, he kept looking at the door. They crept in just as Enzo was waking from a late morning snooze, he burst into tears with happiness, and Beth picked him up crying too. A lovely reunion. Soon they drove off to be home. The house suddenly quieter.  Lorraine much improved today so all well.  Called the Tobster and spoke to him and Mike, and Toby came here in late afternoon. Roast Chicken, and salad, and the World Cup Final. A bizarre game with Spain utterly dominant, and Argentina resisting and defending and playing their dirty game. Spain won in extra time, which was pleasing. The Argentinians then began physically attacking some of the Spanish players. Very poor behaviour. A long drawn out game, ...

Saturday morning, and Lorraine had the spewy bug, but rallied magnificently to take care of Enzo. Obviously Toby hadn't bargained for staying in a plague house. Luckily we have outside furniture so he and I sat outside for breakfast and a long conversation in the garden. Lorraine calling for a bit of  help when needed, and came outside to give Enzo lunch.   I sat with Enzo outside for a bit, while Tobs was indoors. He just sat with me happily looking at the seagulls and a butterfly and the trees and sky with rapt attention. I think we can learn a lot from babies. In the afternoon Toby sensibly opted to see Mike and Zina, and I walked him to the bus stop early in the afternoon.The bus got stuck at Newhaven, and he texted yearning for Japanese levels of efficiency.  Lorraine shattered this afternoon. I took the baby boy for a long walk by the sea, me humming The Happy Song , by Imogen Heap to him. But he was perfectly happy, and wriggling with excitement looking at everythi...

Morning at home with Enzo, being rather adorable. Beth and James off to North Wales for Amy Freeman's wedding. Then off to Morrisons just after lunch to do some shopping. Toby called to say he was just leaving Lewes. Lorraine completed the shopping, I got my drugs, and then met Tobs in Steamworks. We had a half, and came home and Toby got to meet Enzo and say howdy to Lorraine.  Sadly Meatball, Romy and Toby's long-lived cat had to be put down today, which they were sad about. It seems a lifetime ago when I first met her, having let myself into Toby and Romy's place while they were at work, she cautiously came over, after several attempts, and bit me in a welcoming way.   Toby and I made off to the Boot. No rebooters there, as all involved elsewhere tonight, but this was actually fine as we had a chance to talk, and a bite to eat, before mooching off to The Cinq Ports for another pint. Like a time warp in there with people going to a jukebox type of wall mounted machine and...

Enzo here this morning, and Lorraine looked after him all day. We had him on Thursday night as Beth and James had developed the spews in the morning. I made off to Hampstead. Bought a ticket at Seaford Station, and realised I'd left my phone at home, so missed the train. Otherwise a smooth journey, and met Mum and Toby at Hampstead station. We sloped down to The White Bear for some lunch. I wanted a photograph, but they both flinched like vampires. A cheery lunch, and great to see the Tobster of course. Toby had a pie, and mum had pea and lovage soup, this time sans the 'weeds', the pea shoots that were added last time. Mum was talking earlier about the man she calls the Parson. Sure enough he came and sat near us. Unfortunately Mum did not count this as a sighting, as he wore some kind of Hawaiian shirt, instead of a dog collar. His cowboyish hat on the table beside him gave it away. I had to return early, however, as I needed to get to The Walrus in Brighton, to host Tess...

Lorraine went early to pick up Beth and Enzo from hospital. Turns out there is a spewing bug going around the nursery, but the hospital properly checked him out because of his head bump. Lorraine stayed with Enzo and Beth, whose day off it was. But slid off to get an eyelash tint at lunchtime, she's never had one of those before. Another scorcher of course, it goes without saying.  Lorraine came back home before going back to see Beth and Enzo, she dropped me off at the gym, and I did another sweaty workout.  In the evening, England v Argentina in the semifinal of the World Cup. England were overwhelmed after taking a lead, and it ended up losing 2-1. Lots of politics, and the Malvinas playing a huge part. Argentina deserved to win, despite playing like thugs in the first half. I had not expected England to beat Argentina, but still felt a bit disappointed. Bah. 

Recording with Robin this morning, nice to see her, virtually at least. She is about to lead her own Steps class, starting tomorrow night, and is fully booked. I find this deeply impressive, but she's always had that streak in her. Then, having found an appropriate folder, having just given up looking for it, I sauntered off to the post office to send off my manuscript. One Day Forever is about examining memory and was inevitably focused on the past and time and so on.  I want to turn a page. My next project to be more forward looking and perhaps a bit lighter. Nature abhors a vacuum, and half formed ideas are nudging forwards for attention. It's actually quite exciting. If only it weren't so energy-snappingly hot I'd bloody get on with it.  Popped into the photo shop, and sent pictures from my phone to a printer in the shop to be collected later in the week, via a screen in the shop with QR codes and so on.  Lorraine busy and took Maureen out to a hospital appointment...

My full collection is done. I reverted to an earlier title, One Day Forever . Today I read through the thing for the 1000th time, making a few last minute tweaks before printing it. It is a good collection. It is an examination of how memory, with is often unreliable and prone to confabulations, affects and sometimes undermines who we think we are, its tone is serious but there are one or two laughs. It's in five sections: Origin Stories, Gordon Road, The Moth Display, Interlude with Mirrors, and One Day Forever. I wrote a covering letter for it and as the place I first intend to send it demands hard copies, printed everting up. All I need now is a binder. I literally had dozens of these but threw them all out a couple of years ago, in an anti hoarding putsch. The result is in the lap of the gods, but when it comes to the poetry part, I know have done my best. Lorraine the luxury of a pottery day today. She was working really hard on a pot which she thought not good enough at the e...

A cooler night. A relaxed day, not able to do too much due to the heatwave. Sitting companionably outside with Lorraine, before I went off to the air conditioned gym early in the afternoon. I seem to be losing a bit of weight and toning up, but the gut is making a magnificent last stand, and if anything has become even more prominent as the rest of be gets back into shape. Sigh.  Late afternoon L and I drove off to Squirrel's End, and had dinner in the garden with Beth, James and Enzo and Micky the cat under the gazebo, which is still standing despite the wind, in their lovely garden. Nice summery salads and chicken, washed down with, for me, a cold lager. Enzo splashing delightedly in his little pool. All well. Getting the little boy off to sleep is a bit challenging however, and the answer seems to be take him for a drive, which Beth and James did after we'd left. 

A phone call at 3:30am and Lorraine had to drive to Stratheden Court. There was no point me going too, but then I couldn't sleep, so I was up till when Lorraine got home an hour later.  Another heatwave scorcher, though the air was slightly cooler this afternoon and at night. An omen of the coming catastrophe. Feeling powerless to change anything is the disease of the age. In W.B.Yeats's lines 'The best lack all conviction, while the worst / are full of passionate intensity'. Still, mustn't grumble, eh? Otherwise a perfectly nice day for us, after we got up late. Heat lethargy and disrupted sleep meant we didn't do much. Breakfast, and sitting outside in the shade and breeze. I tried to do some writing, but I find it very hard to concentrate for very long. Mum and Toby went to Hampstead today, though the train line to Hampstead wasn't working for some reason. Probably to do with the heat. They are busy next week till Thursday, so I will go up, and I will ret...

Very hot. Enervated by the heat, and not up to much. Wished Romy a happy birthday. I did stuff about the house and garden first thing. Carrying compost and moving the withered potatoes out of the sun. Then as Robin had sent me some useful feedback on my full poetry collection, I um-ed and ah-ed about this for a while. The working title for a while has been Did This Happen? and I've been increasingly disliking it. Robin agrees it doesn't do it justice. So I am putting it into the airlock and opening the space doors on it.  Into the studio this afternoon. Lorraine pottering about. Me experimenting with things. Had a bit of a funny turn sitting by the window, when my eyes suddenly had double vision. Drank lots of water and everything came quickly back into focus. Naturally I thought the worst, but Lorraine was on hand to radiate calm. It was very hot in there. Drank lots of water afterwards and felt right as rain. Rebooting tonight, we spoke to Adele and Patrick, Guy, Debbie and R...

Spoke to the Tobster and Mum. Toby having arrived first thing this morning, and now facing the double whammy of jet lag and monstrous heat. Looking forward to seeing him soon. A day with the baby boy for us. Lorraine is so brilliant with him. Seeing him drinking out of a pint glass today was a new one. To the gym again this afternoon. It's cooler there than outside. Enjoyed it. Otherwise politics amusing for a change. Farage in some populist stunt has resigned his MP's seat at Clacton on Sea, home to a depressing number of swivel eyed bigots.  He is forcing a bye election, in the expectation of being re-elected, thus in his mind anyway making the allegations about money and sleaze go away. Seeing through this nonsense, the other major parties declined to put up a candidate, except the independent Count Binface. Your current choice in Clacton is between a massive racist hypocrite or a rubbish bin. Let's hope he sends Farrage to the dustbin of history. Below a Count Binface p...

L and I up early, as Sylwia had to be early today. After breakfast L went off to do Rhymetime and see Pat and Maureen, and I manacled myself to the desk and finally finished my edit of the Will Harris interview. Then the gym and home to talk to Lorraine, and do a bit of idling, it being too hot to do much. Spoke to Mum, who had Ben around. Lorraine and I wandered down to the greenhouse, really noticeable after not looking for a couple of days, how everything is burgeoning. Below a nice snap I took of one of the gulls through the roof light this morning. 

Up to Edgware today, the next heatwave building ominously now. An easy journey, managing to use my laptop a couple of times, and met Mum early at Hampstead. She thought she was going to be late, as when she stood up to get off the train, the doors only opened for a few seconds before they pushed off to the Belsize Park. Luckily she got off there and came back. We flitted down Flask walk, seeking shadows, and made it turning the corner by the school, up to The White Bear. Mum had a pea and lovage soup and I had a fancy fish finger type sandwich and a couple of pints of cold lager. We were saying the next time we go there we have to meet the Tobster too, whose arrival later this week is keenly awaited. We parted fairly early, and I was able to get home for 5:30 which was nice. Had some grub and after watching the interesting end of the Argentina Egypt game, with Argentina coming back from two down to win 3-2 in the last fifteen minutes. Then I went for a cooling saunter by the sea, as Lo...

Unprecedented scenes this morning, with Lorraine and I watching TV over breakfast: highlights of England's unexpected victory over Mexico at the Azteca Stadium. I felt sorry for the Mexicans, having met many nice ones on a trip to Mexico deep in the last century. A couple of hours editing this morning, almost finished editing the interview now. I notice hesitancy is contagious, and Will and I were setting each other off. No problem, as it all comes out in the edit. I liked him. At lunch off to Brighton by bus to get a haircut. Stacy in what Innis calls monkey mind mode, asking questions but barely listening to the answers. He never takes a holiday, and looked shattered. About to board a 12 back to Seaford, when a speedy 12x came on the bus stop board as being just three minutes away. Waited for the 12x which, being a phantom bus, never appeared. A long wait, reminding myself of my lifelong commuting credo: a bus or train that's actually here is better than a possible one. The g...

Beth and Enzo popping in this morning for a coffee and a chuckle. I went to the door, and again the little chap wriggled happily and held his arms out to me. It's impossible not to have your heart melted by this sort of thing. Beth and Enzo both in good spirits, so a lovely breakfast. A bit later, Lorraine and I set off for beautiful little village of Firle, just the other side of Lewes, to meet Dawn and Paul in The Ram for Sunday roast. They all had veggie stuff and no alcohol drink, I felt a bit like Oliver Reed having pork, and a pint of cold lager. Lovely to see Dawn of course, and I enjoyed chatting with Paul. They told us about a talk about Gaza they'd attended the night before, which had moved them lots. Also about Dawn's grandson Raffy now eight weeks old. Both he and Ellie and Russ doing well.   Having strapped on the nosebags, we went for a short walk. Paul and I were talking about all kinds of stuff, from generational trauma, to Paul telling me about the startlin...

A much-needed calm day, both feeling a bit tired. Slow breakfast, and a food shop (I always enjoy food shopping with Lorraine), Lorraine did some gardening, I went to the gym to atone for the last two evenings. Then studio. I am exploring in sketches what I am now beginning to write about. It accesses a different part of my brain -- which I should not find surprising after decades of image plus copy advertising, I don't really understand. I seem to learn the same things over and over throughout my life. I have a vague idea of doing a hybrid project, if I can get my art standard high enough. Spoke to Mum and arranged to see her in Hampstead next Tuesday. Arranged a haircut for Monday as it's all gone into clown mode. Air fried chicken tonight, with delicious beans I picked from the garden among the veg. Football tonight. An interesting game between France and Paraguay, who played with callous gamesmanship and thuggishness, and confined their beating to 1-0 because of it. France,...

Faffing about. Sent the tax things to Romy, who will kindly file them for me. This has been such a weight off my mind. Some tweaking of the new poem and wondering where it might lead me. Some more editing of the podcast, till I got bored. Laundry. Made off for the gym, but then left late, and half way there realised I didn't have my entrance card, and gave up the idea, as I'd arranged to meet Lorraine to go shopping, but she had to pick up Enzo early from nursery, and he hung out with us for a bit.   Rebooting tonight. Andrew and Kate there, which was nice. Patrick clearly bolstered by his musical trip to Ireland and playing a gig in the arts centre of his hometown, good to see Adele and Delores, and Andy, and a pal of Andy's and Kate and Andrews called Hilary. Enjoyed a few beers and my top hat not quite vertical when we all left. Below in the little wild patch of the garden, we have some teasels, which the insects love.

Good news on the Mum front... Having explored Mum's pension payment suspension problem with Chat GPT yesterday, which suggested one of the reasons for non-payment could have been her non-completion of a form which basically tells them she's still in good health. By coincidence this form arrived today, and she mum told me. she would complete and return it the same day. Once this is processed, normal service should be resumed. This is great. I'm discovering the only thing worse than bureaucracy is foreign bureaucracy.  Also this morning, I simply sat down and wrote a new poem, which I am pleased with, which is a sort of fever dream about the hatchling of a giant seagull egg. Not been writing much lately, but this felt decent.  Then a day with Enzo, who wriggled happily when he saw me, and held his arms out to be taken. It is a culture shock to see him crawling now, it's still slow but it's such a game changer already.  We went off to Drusilla's for lunch, and look...

A pinch and a punch for the start of the month. Romy has been marvellous and sent me a tax form, plus an outline letter to the California tax people to complete. This is brilliant. I also used Chat GPT to investigate mum's US widow's pension, and got lots of useful advice, although it also said we'd done all the right things so far, say what you like about AI but it is bloody useful in such circumstances. Spoke to Mum about it all. Gym again today, and pressed on with editing my long interview with Will Harris, which seems to be taking ages. Succumbed to the torture of watching England, we started to watch just after England were already one goal down to the Democratic Republic of Congo, who played really well. England ragged and as ever going through patches of appearing never to have been formally introduced to each other. But Harry Kane scored two goals late in the second half to save the day. Then went to play about in the studio with Lorraine afterwards. Lorraine happi...