under another sun

So another good sleep, though punctuated with nightmares again. I seem to be going through a season of them, as the brain does its nightly archiving. Lorraine working from home today, and I was too, courtesy of my lovely French clients, doing a smidgeon of work on antimicrobial resistance. I was also going into town to meet Alex, a very interesting person I met through Glen 'Fingers' Capra. However instead of arriving at 11:30 I set off at 11:30 and so was half an hour late, just missing her. I hate this sort of thing as it pains me to be late by even a few minutes. Luckily she accepted my apology, and we are to meet tomorrow. As I burst into the Marwood, the sound system was playing, appropriately, 'She's Gone' by Hall and Oates. Had a coffee there anyway, and then bought some vittles and returned home, all by foot so, there and back, I had a good walk at least. Home and a bit more French work, and published a summation of the Edinburgh stuff on my other site. ...

Calliope insistent that I get up to feed her. Bit more of a working day today. The temperature had plummeted today and it was cloudy and rainy. Lorraine had to drive into school for a bit this morning, and had a stressful time chasing vital school stuff that hadn't been delivered. I had a much more gentle ease back into work, doing a few odds and sods. I had a lunchtime haircut, and then mooched up to Anton's place to hang out for a bit. He is recovering excellently from his MI. Luckily he did almost no discernible damage, and is actually in very good shape. After a coffee we sauntered out into the rain, and found a pub, The Good Companions, to sit in and have an allowable small glass of wine and play a game of chess, Anton's newest craze. Turns out we are both very bad at chess but it was good fun to be fingering the bishops in a pub, which was empty enough for us not to attract attention. En passant, Anton explained en passant to me, which he had just discovered on Wik...

Another scorcher today, and the night before had been muggy and still. I had a particularly bad night's sleep again, full of nightmares. Lorraine, Beth and I set off early, walking down to Preston Park. From here we trained up to London to ambush Pat and Maureen at St Pancras. They were travelling to Dawlish in Devon and we all jumped into a taxi and went to Paddington station. The reason for the ambush was that it was Pat's 84th birthday, and also was the day before Pat and Maureen's sixtieth wedding anniversary. They had a message from the Queen they were going to open on the 31st in Dawlish. We found our way to The Dickens Tavern, known as London's longest pub. It was fairly empty because we got in before twelve, and had coffee and soda and lime, Maureen and Pat had a small drink. The Spanish (I think) barmaid, who only had us to look after was very kind, and we had a meal there too, and the barmaid and her manager came out with a piece of cake with a candle in it....

Slept deeply and I woke feeling restored, and energetic, springing downstairs to feed the cats and return to bed armed with large cups of tea. After we'd dragged ourselves out of bed, we set about tackling aromatic laundry from our cases and taking hot showers. Weirdly for an August bank holiday, it was gloriously sunny and hot. In the afternoon Lorraine and I walked over the hill to Hove. A longer, hotter and sweatier walk than we'd anticipated. We found Beth and John basking on the beach. John, brilliant man that he is, produced two cans of cold lager. It was an absolutely glorious afternoon. Beth and John soon in the water, and having no swimmies, Lorraine and I paddled about a bit. The water was very warm at the surface. After this we found ourselves in The Giggling Squid in Hove, strapping on a Thai nosebag. Really nice food, and a cheery evening. Then after saying farewell to John, and the rest of us took a cab home. Below a shot into the sun with my phone; Beth car...

I have set my face against camping ever since an unspeakable family camping holiday in Devon in 1976. Our tent was very pleasant, for a tent. After we lurched into bed we found the airbed was slightly on a slope, and after a few hours of sliding off the airbed onto our heads Lorraine had the brainwave that it might be a better idea to have our pillows at the other end. This, plus the effects of a good deal of alcohol, a cold night and all the sliding meant I barely slept at all. We did have a strangely romantic walk to the toilets through the dew sodden grass in the early morning light with the landscape looking beautiful at six in the morning. Despite a distinct absence of bounce (which turned out to be a widespread phenomenon among co-revellers) Lorraine and I enjoyed the day very much. Down to the barn again, where restorative buns full of bacon sausages and eggs, and mugs of tea and a good deal of talking. A lull in the middle of the day, Lorraine slept and I had a lovely chat wi...

So up at the De Trafford hotel and eating a Chef and Brewer breakfast downstairs before packing and getting ourselves sorted for the big wedding to be held at a farm near the village of Wincle, south of Macclesfield and in the edge of the peak district national park. All rather idyllic and a gorgeous drive there too. As we were early as we turned off the main road, near the farm, we squinted into the Royal Oak only to see Nicola and First Matie climbing out of a car. We parked up and had a cheery reunion over coffee and then a beer, and were joined by Lucy and Sean, other pals of Matt's. Then we then drove into what was described as the middle of nowhere and kept going through some achingly beautiful countryside and arrived at Barleyford Farm. Family friends of Matt and Isy who were getting married. The French Bloke and Craig pointing the way, both fairly refreshed already, to the barn field where we parked up and found our tent in a village of tents. Quickly changed in there, an...

So up, personally feeling slightly sadder and wiser after generous amounts of wine the night before. I had a good night’s sleep, and a welcome shower and any sadness and wisdom quickly evaporated. Cheery chats with Lesley again, and Jeremy who ducked out between teleconferences. A croissant breakfast and cups of tea in the garden, which was very nice, and then back into the car again. I'd really enjoyed our short stay, and getting to know Lesley and Jeremy better.  Then off to Alderley Edge. And our Alan Garner pilgrimage. Alan Garner is a fabulous children’s writer, whose books The Wierdstone of Brisingamen, The Moon of Gomrath, Elidor and The Owl Service , I all read as a child, as had Lorraine. The first two of his books were set around Alderley Edge, is a place that has lived in my imagination for decades. So strange to go there. We drove from Diggle through some gorgeous landscape and then down into some unlovely outskirts of Manchester. Alderly Edge itself is a village tha...

So up after Mason's carer had been. We could hear Mason and him putting the world to rights as I got up. Had toast and muesli and cups of coffee, and then fond farewells with Mum and Mas, who had an appointment with a therapist where Mason would have to explain why he hadn't been doing the exercises he was prescribed. Lorraine and I handily at the bottom of the M1 so we could start zooming north right away.  A nice day, and it felt freeing to be zooming away from the South. We were driving off to see Lorraine's old pals Lesley and Jeremy, who have moved from Essex, to a small town called Diggle, which Lesley told us had formerly been part of the west riding of Yorkshire, but was now part of Oldham, which hadn't gone down well. The last part of our journey was over purple heathered moors and high wide views, then down steep valleys into gorgeous Yorkshire towns and villages. One of these was Holmfirth, which was exceedingly pretty and was where the TV series Last of th...

So the start of another great northward journey, packing the car full of all kinds of clothes, some for another wedding and bidding farewell to Betty. Most drives from Brighton are Northwards of course, a southward drive would get rapidly a bit too briny. Lorraine and I began listening to a bit of The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner on audiobook in preparation for visiting Alderley Edge. We had both read it as children. I have read it since then too.  First stop, Edgware. Where we spent some time with Mum and Mason. At tea time Lorraine drove us off to Bushey where we celebrated Mason’s birthday in The Horse and Chains, a pleasant gastropub with good food. We had a big mixed starter, and then our own courses. Mas had a big piece of lamb, so big that we had to take some of it home in silver paper, a lamb grenade shape. Home and we drank some bubbly and chatted till the call of bed grew strong. Mum gave me a box file full containing stories and a play written by Al...

Two days of happy relaxation with Lorraine. Feeling properly relaxed at home. Interspersed with lots of gardening, and cleaning up the side of the house by the kitchen, which gave us an immense sense of achievement and progress. We drove off to the tip twice, an arachnid exodus in the car as we went. Something about dropping off bags of garden rubbish plus other bits is immensely lightening. At one point Lorraine slipped over on slimy concrete and landed heavily on her knee. Luckily she was absolutely fine. Below, at one point we came across mating bumblebees in the front garden. I was expecting the male to fall the the floor dead and spent after they had mated, but he zoomed off happily after smoking a cigarette.  

Both of us a bit sluggish and tired again, but we still managed to have fun. We had invited Anton, Anne, Klaudia and Oskar round for tea. This gave us some direction to the day, and we did a bit of gardening (mowing the little lawn, clearing away fox poo, and Lorraine putting some little garden lights into it) and tidied up the place somewhat. Also Lorraine and I went to Sainsbury's. I don't know why but trundling around Sainsbury's with Lorraine always makes me feel cheerful and secure. The simple pleasures are the best. Spoke to Mason to wish him the best for his birthday, we are zooming up to Edgware next week and will take them out to celebrate. Good to see Anton, who is doing remarkably well, and had been for a walk around The Ardingly Reservoir and under the Ardingly Viaduct with Oskar. He is currently researching chess sets. Meanwhile Lorraine had cooked a delicious lemon chicken tagine and, after food, Lorraine initiated a game of  Uno. Anne sitting out this bit...

A bit of a lie-in this morning. Both of us with a backlog of tiredness. The more I feel I give into it, the more tired I feel. The answer is to do things. Lorraine and I went off into town doing a bit of shopping, and generally pleasantly drifting about in town. She bought a matching top and trousers, from the shop opposite Gars where we had been yesterday and were lured by a sage green top. Before that Lorraine had to return something in Primark. I have only been in there a few times, although everyone seems to go there these days, with varying degrees of irony. Then we went into C&H fabrics where Lorraine looked at fabrics, and I looked at judgmental plastic horses in the small toy section. After our shopping done, and a cup of coffee drunk (a freebie, as Lorraine had a Costa card given to her at school), Lorraine and I went to The Joker. Here I spoke to Mum, and Lorraine and I and ate some woof woof wings and had a long chat, before we slipped into the Cinema to see The Ghost ...

Sent off my novel to an agent specialising in children's books today, selected mainly on gut feel and intuition. This felt like a significant moment. Having spent much of the day sorting it out, and asking Lorraine to read through everything before I emailed it off. I will also send it to a publisher, and once this is done there is nothing more to be done for the time being. I would love to work with an agent though. Despite my attempts not to build my hopes up, I have a weird optimism about this story. In the evening, Lorraine and I had a cheery date night in Brighton as a date and celebration of sending the story off. To The Cricketers, which is a pub she and I used to have a Friday night drink in when we were dating. Then across the road to Gars Chinese restaurant, where we shared a Chef's feast and a couple of Asahi Japanese beers to wash it down with. Generous portions, and we did some serious chopstick work. Our fellow diners not of the most restful sort. A table o...

Lorraine and I up fairly early. Lorraine off to see her pal Tanya, who also gave her lots of resources for her school. I, meanwhile, worked on my my proposal for the novel, which I intend to send out tomorrow. I am putting a great deal of effort into this. In the afternoon, Lorraine home again, and we had a light lunch and then drove off to Bolney School, where we dropped off the boxes Tanya had given Lorraine, and looked at the building work being done on the old school. Lorraine a bit sad that some of the more quirky features were being covered behind new panelling.  From here we went for a delightful short walk around some old mill ponds in a nearby wood. Gorgeous they were, saucered with waterlilies, and reflecting the fluffy white clouds. We sat under an oak tree, near the biggest of the ponds, which was already dropping a few acorns while watching the dragonflies. We scrumped a dozen or so sweet and juicy blackberries, which seem very early this year. A lovely little ...