under another sun

Little to report… #1 hobby is still paranoia. However this is abating. Doomy feelings off and on recur, and funny how this makes you notice things like a few groceries costing £6.66. Boiler stopped working at the beginning of the week and had to wait 4 days for it to be fixed. This forced me to shower after swimming and at work and wash up with boiled kettles of water. Needless to say kettle stopped working after a few days too under the extra strain. Unbelievable how infuriating this was, and how frustrated it is easy to become over how people are prepared to lie to you about when they are coming to fix the dratted thing. Talked to a woman about mortgages this week for an hour and a half. This made my head explode. But at least I am becoming clearer on the subject. Otherwise house stuff seems to be progressing as far as I can tell. Went out several times with various friends during the week. Met Katie, Gavin, Sarah and Fraser in the White Cross in Richmond. Had a nice beer...

Went out with Paul and Matty Boy on Thursday night where Paul made public the fact of his immanent fatherhood. Naturally we needed several beers to discuss this. He also is in touch with my ex-girlfriend and said he’d also seen her mother, who was a very nice woman. A kindred spirit in fact. He’d told me this on the phone when I was in Germany, and it has been niggling me somewhat. My ex-girlfriend has been, quite understandably, avoiding me somewhat in the last few months. After some thought I sent her a note suggesting we meet up. I’ve not seen her for about six months, and not spoken to her for about two. What I wanted to do was to say goodbye, as we don’t seem at all to be able to follow our plan of remaining friends, and I will be moving from London soon. This was rebuffed. I was made to feel like some kind of stalker for even suggesting this. I resolved to not contact her ever again, and found myself acting out something from a novel I’d written (which did not see the light of...

Beautiful walk into work today. 15 of my 30 minute walk is by the river, and it was fresh and sunny this morning. Just a touch of autumn in the air this morning. Work was fairly galling. One of the worst bits of agency life is raging politics, and I feel that I am falling foul of it. Felt somewhat sorry for myself today again. I despise myself when I am like this -- a misery. However I went for another swim after work which made me feel a good deal better. My lovely landlady, who lives in Ireland, phoned me with the option of being able to stay in the flat for an extra month. This is great news as it simplifies my move at a stroke. Brilliant.

Good news today, my offer has been accepted for the house in Brighton. Very happy about this, but this time I'm not counting my chickens. And this evening I have been brooding about organising the move, packing, storage, utilities, mortgage etc. etc. all over again. It will be great to be able to call somewhere my home soon. Got a surveyor lined up this evening which is good. The one I used before is on holiday. Mercifully, work was quiet and uneventful. A friend's partner had a masectomy yesterday, which put my restless feelings in perspective. Woke up early this morning and was reading Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals for what seems like the hundredth time. It's such a lovely, escapist book. I went to Corfu a couple of times and still there are glimpses of Durrell's idyll among the tourist hellspots. Another day shunning drink in pennance for my immersion in the Munich beer lake. Still restless this evening, and went for an evening walk which...

So... Had a splendid time in Munich. Went down to Brighton on Thursday morning, met Anna Anton, Christian, Jane and Brian. Anna's parents were there too, on duty to look after baby Klauds. Drank Champaign and shortly climbed into the stretch limo that Anna had organised to take us to Gatwick. The flight to Munich took something like an hour and a half. We took the train from the airport into the city centre where we stayed in a hotel called Hotel Germania . Once arrived we sped out into the city. It was beautifully clean and the centre was extremely attractive. Had an evening meal in the Rathaus . This was the first of the sausages and beer. The Rathaus is the town hall, and we ate inside a beautiful courtyard. After many beers Brian got talking to a German woman who was somewhat worse for wear. Brian, who explained who the two couples were and then for reasons best known to himself introduced me as a cross dresser known as Annabel. This something of a surprise to me, perhaps...

Felt full of manly vigour today. Had some blood taken first thing then went to work feeling fine. Saw a fox dead in the gutter on Fulham Palace Road this morning. In the afternoon went for a meeting in the Cotswolds to see my charity client. Nice meeting. Stopped after in the lovely town of Burford, beautiful old stone fronted buildings. Sat on the sloping main street with Mike, Emma and Penny and 14 wasps. The other three flapping wildly at them, Mike succeeding in batting one incredibly hard with a teaspoon so that it flew like a bullet at a screaming Emma. Another dived into Penny's coffee and she dragged it out and squashed it. We noticed a bulging bottle suspended over the front of the shop with a slop of poison in the bottom, and full of dead or dying wasps. Felt like I was witnessing a wasp holocaust. But managed to force down two scones with strawberry jam butter and cream. Negotiations proceed with the property I put the offer in on. At an impasse tonight, but ...