under another sun

A Friday that saw me getting out of the wrong side of the bed. Feeling irritable and the Brexit day hogwash not helping. Phoned by Pat and will be surging off to Hampton on Monday morning, which is good news. At lunchtime I dragged myself off to the gym, but when I got changed and stowed everything in the locker, I realised I had not brought my padlock. Unwilling to leave computer there I left again, feeling cross with myself. Went to a cafe called Cafe Domenica for a cup of coffee and a tuna melt at Preston Circus which gives work experience to young people with learning disabilities. A really good project. I was given a numbered spoon, and brought the wrong drink, followed by the wrong food, but all was good. Pleasant place, although I found I was in entirely the wrong mood to write a line of anything, and discovered that my fossil of a laptop really is on its last legs. Decided to come home again, my mood not greatly improved by being attacked one of three barking  dogs, o...

Up and prepping for this afternoon's visit to St Marks, which means getting a suitcase, and putting a box of books in it, as well paintings of characters, etc. Then I finished The True Confession of Karma Chameleon, and sent it to Black Static, then I paid the last of my year's taxes while doing laundry and so on. Then Betty kindly drove me and my suitcase off to St Mark's C of E school in Staplefield. She drives very well, and conditions were dubious too, with dense fog and wetness abounding. As is usual with these schools, it is right behind the village church. I had to stand in a  puddle with my suitcase while pressing a buzzer outside the playground. Eventually gained access and went to the office. A very friendly little school, with a cramped little reception area where I knocked over several things including something called a gift tree. Fetched by likeable class teacher Dan Holmes, and was soon launching into a spirited reading of the first chapter. The kids lapp...

Working on the short story. Then the gym. Received a very encouraging text from Rosie in Nottingham, saying some teachers up there have ordered Skelton's book. Listened to reports of Coronavirus. A pandemic is highly possible in my non-expert opinion. Missing Janet today. Watched motivational just do it kind of stuff on You Tube and wrote a few emails. Betty made us Chicken Fajitas tonight. Chatted to my wifey.

Still tinkering with The True Confession of Karma Chameleon.  Pleased to hear from Pat about some freelance next week working with Keith. A boon as the Kenny coffers are still at neap tide. Met Andrew Murphy from the Federation of Small Business in Mojo cafe in Queens Road this afternoon. I was talking about the new idea I have about The Business Imagination -- he was telling me about the work the FSB do and various networking events. I Mentioned Magnificent Grace and said he'd get one for his daughter.  The brisk walk there and back through Preston Park did me good. Lorraine and I watching the last episode of the Norwegian  Wisting tonight, enjoyable. 

Greatly cheered by an old pal Nicki (aka Ricky Nose) getting in touch today, saying her son Lenny can't put Magnificent Grace down, and that he wants me to sign his copy. This kind of feedback from a real reader is a real boost.

A day indoors. I downloaded photos of Bossa Love, and made an initial selection of those. Beth and Lorraine zoomed off to buy a laptop for Beth. In the afternoon Lorraine and I conducted The Great Utilities Review, and looked at what we were paying for everything and did calculations and so on. Weirdly taking the skeletons from the closet and giving them a thorough examination made me feel quite good. It went on to inspire an epic bout of filing. Fairly soon I had a smooth desk and felt far more in control of life, and tucked into our roast chicken dinner with gusto.  Both Lorraine and I felt that the weekend had been too short, however.

A lazy Saturday morning with Lorraine, breakfast in bed and lengthy chats. In the afternoon Lorraine and Beth went to look at laptops. I however remember that I had promised Richard and Silvana to take some photos of them as Bossa Love. Nipped down to the Peace statue where I had arranged to meet them. Low cloud and very cold in the wind. Bloody freezing it was, and they stripped off to look summery. Faked some sunny photos, and then took some snaps in a nearby hotel and back at Silvana's flat. The photoshoot prompted by Richard having the wrong guitar in the previous snaps I had taken which they had used last year. Nice chat with them, and then I walked back home. In the evening Lorraine, Beth and I off in an Uber to have some grub with Rosie and Innis. Innis had cooked and we brought some beer and just hung out all night drinking a few drinks, and eating chicken stew and cheese and having a really good laugh. Below  a couple of my snaps of Richard and Silvana freezing for the...

Something of a curates egg today. Got in touch with the lovely Rosie this morning, and arranged to go to The Book Nook with her this afternoon. However, she was on the phone to them, and the first question they asked was what publishing house was it produced by. Which is the project's Achilles heel, jabbed first jab. To the gym this morning, and in the afternoon off to Brighton's premiere Children's bookshop. A bit awkward as I am a leprous self published author, and they won't stock those books. The very nice woman there called Vanessa was flailing around to help me by suggesting things like looking on Google and buying the Writers and Artists Yearbook, despite telling her I have, actually, had lots of other stuff published. I went there with the intention of leaving them a copy and I accomplished this. It was good to talk to them. A letter from my accountant letting me know about a smidge more tax to pay by the end of the month. Luckily not too much, but given tha...

Another cat battle in the night, and a poor night's sleep for Lorraine and I. I was a little tired today, but worked fairly efficiently this morning. Waited all day for an amazon delivery of more copies of the book, turned out this was the final solitary copy, which was easily slid through the door, which was funny. Tired and antsy this evening, although I cooked a fairly decent chickpea curry. Spoke to Mum, who had been trying to sort out her car, and even entertaining the idea of a new one. Ben being extremely helpful as usual. Found myself enjoying an episode of Death in Paradise. I'm not sure what this means.

Lorraine and I had a poor night's sleep, compounded by an alien cat getting through the cat flap and a howling fight breaking out at 3.00 AM.  Nevertheless pp early with Lorraine and competed the first draft of my new horror story by about noon. Still tinkering with the title. I will put this aside now for a couple of days. Right now I like its stalkerish creepiness. Then three small boxes of books arrived containing a few dozen copies of Magnificent Grace . I had been dreading the moment I opened it looked through a copy and found a howling formatting error or something. Luckily, I could find none and pronounce myself satisfied. There was something very satisfying about popping open a box of books and seeing this story finally realised in book form. Now there is the business of taking it into schools. Put out the standard box shot on social media, and had some nice attention -- even a couple of people saying they would buy it. Maintaining cautious optimism. Off to the gym for ...

Up early and carrying out a box of tools to Max's car as I saw Lorraine off for the day. She will be able to drive herself to school in a few weeks. Max has been great. Off out for a walk a little before noon, wearing sunglasses as the sun was low and bright and I was walking due south to the sea. Listening to an improving self-help book on self esteem. Good to read these kinds of things from time to time, as they are full of common sense reminders. Reached the calm sea, and popped into the Sea Life centre again, and even had a cup of coffee while gazing at a big tank full of grey mullet, rays, dogfish, guilthead bream, and a large ballan wrasse. I figure if I go there a few times I shall have a brilliant idea. Then a brief crunch about on the pebbles under the pier, and I walked home to continue my work having completed my 10k paces. Discovered Music For Installations today on Spotify by Eno. Mostly a collection of generative music, it includes the music from the installation...

Blue Monday was fine for me. Parts of the short story I have been working on fell nicely into place, when I joined two unsatisfactory things I had written before to make one satisfying whole. Busied myself with this and a few other bits of admin and emails, then to the gym this afternoon where I had a decent workout. Lorraine home in good time and I had a chat with her before going out for a cheeky curry with Ben and Rick. Rick drove us to the Elizabethan Curry House and we had a nice meal there, then back to Rick's place (just around the corner from me) for a cup of tea. Ben had just been on a weekend course on divine geometry, looking at Persian patterns. It required drawing millions of circles and not going mad. He said it was quite stressful but he learned a lot. Rick I learned works voluntarily for Crimestoppers committee, and before his retirement was responsible for security for the region's Post Offices and Royal Mail. Talking about climate change and so on.  The...

Lorraine and I now yearly ticket holders for the aquarium. As the yearly pass cost only £5 more than a single ticket, it seemed a bargain. I have visions of myself going there and sitting about off season. We hopped on the bus and went there in good time today. I loved mooching about looking at the tanks of course, and Lorraine enjoyed herself too. There is a little cafe at the end of the Victorian arcade of tanks. The aquarium opened in 1872 and claims to be the oldest operating aquarium in the world. It has apparently the UK's largest collection of sharks and rays. Very happy to visit this  knowing that I will be able to return any time I feel like it. Home again, and did Sunday things. Cooked some roast pork which was very nice. It was part of the collection of meats that Lorraine had bought before Christmas. We watched Call the midwife too, which is something of a Sunday ritual. I have grown to like this programme, which has a good heart which is a nice thing to be reminde...

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 ...

Up to The British Library today to meet Mum. We went to see the Buddhism exhibition there, notable incidentally for being the first time I have paid less for a show due to being 60. I was early but Mum was too, so that was great. A perfect little exhibition in many ways. Lots of lovely stuff to look at, Buddhist texts on palm leaves, gorgeous illustrations explaining the Buddha's life and the cosmology of Buddhism. There were also sounds playing too, with cicada and frogs and natural sounds of water. There was also a large bowl to strike at the end, which people did which rang out in a lovely way. It made Mum think of her dad Alex for a while, who was born in India, used to tell her about Buddhism and other religions. I have always been well disposed towards Buddhism, reading quite a bit about it from being a teenager, and going to a retreat with Sophie. Mum and I enjoyed this quite a bit, you came away reminded of kindness, which can only be a good thing.We had been relaxed by a...

Found myself struggling for concentration this morning, so bearing Brian Eno's advice of 'When in doubt -- tidy up' simply did stuff instead zoomed about tidying, doing laundry, taking stuff to the post office. Then decided to get a fresh perspective and have a cup of coffee there. Suddenly began to get my head around the mental block I had, (after the yummy mummies had taken a screeching child away) eagerly opened my yellow notebook and snatched up my blue inked fountain pen only for it to run out after a dozen words. Bah. Simply went home though and got on with the day, rejuvenated. Amazing how many times doing something else is the answer. Off this evening to The Needlewriters  in Lewes. I caught the train at London Road, where I sought out Sarah by prearrangement in the last carriage. She congratulated me on the publication of Sin Cycle , and we discussing her editorship of the works of Mary Barnard  hopefully to be published by SUNY. We headed to the John Harvey Ta...

Started a new short story, this morning which I worked on most of the day.  No title as yet. At lunch watched the remainder of a documentary in two parts about the Jonestown Massacres in Guyana. Over 900 dead followers of a madman called Jim Jones. Apparently the biggest loss of US civilians until 9/11. On the way to the gym I chatted to a couple I met through Matt Pollard some time ago, Basil and, I think, Michael. Talking about poor Glen lots while standing near the newt pond in Preston Park. All very sad and I hadn't realised they were such friends with him. Glen had so many friends who were all willing to help. The gym is full of students, so I feel like coelacanth, or some other living fossil. I had not taken my water bottle so was reduced to lapping water out of my cupped hand. A quiet night in with Lorraine and Beth, watching the quiz show Only Connect , which Beth is exceptionally good at.

Rainy and cold all day. Outside seemed unspeakable, so stayed inside. Was able to re-edit the text layout of Magnificent Grace changing the paragraph indentation across the book, with various saves to Amazon, and assorted nitpicking took about nine hours, with a break for lunch, where I watched a documentary about the Jonestown Massacre. Beth working tonight, Lorraine and I cooked sea bass (why is it called sea bass? there are no freshwater bass in Europe).

Lorraine managed to do her own shoes up this morning, and go about business on her own. She is doing well. Horrible nightmares last night, waking up to feelings of obscure doom. Perhaps it was just that it was Monday. Or perhaps I am not writing enough horror at the moment to vent it all. Stern focus and unrelenting drive somewhat elusive at present. I spent the morning tinkering with the layout of Magnificent Grace . Then I pressed save, and went to the gym. At the gym I realised I was a bit premature, and there was something else I wanted to fix. Will have to wait a bit before this can happen. A few bits of admin arranging visits to schools. A quiet tea-sipping night indoors. Spoke to Mum and we agreed to meet up on Friday. All quiet on the freelance front at the moment, as it usually is this time of year.

After a kipper breakfast, Lorraine and I rode on the bus down to Hove Town Hall and walking back along the seafront to Brighton. A sunny day, quite warm in the sunshine. Just loving getting the sunshine on me after so much grey lately. The water was high and the pebbles seething when the waves pulled back. At the Meeting Place Cafe we stopped to have a cup of tea and two of their huge rock cakes sitting in the sun by the sea. Then we toddled back into Brighton, and ended up having a coffee before bussing home. Made a giant turkey stew from the stock I had made from the Christmas Turkey, rather excellent. Started reading The Shadow Over Innsmouth by H.P. Lovecraft. For his time, he was an innovative horror writer for the time, but his not even thinly veiled racism is vile and unacceptable. Reading while holding my nose. Lorraine and I watching  Call The Midwife tonight, L sad that the wrong uniforms are being worn by the nurses. The fathers of the babies are generally portraye...

A leisurely start today, with breakfast in bed. Up and found that the Proof copy of the paperback of Magnificent Grace had arrived. Generally pretty pleased with this when I had a look. A couple of issues I will try to fix. Actually having the thing in your hand makes it seem very real. A certain amount of pottering about the house with an increasingly handy Lorraine before we took ourselves out for the afternoon and off to the Duke of York's picture house to buy a cup of tea and see the new Sam Mendes film 1917 .  As harrowing as you would expect a depiction of trench warfare to be, but brilliantly done and filmed to make it seem it was one continuous shot. Probably the best war film I have seen. Lorraine loved it too, although it was a tough watch, saddening and extremely moving. Walked home talking about the moving, and then had a very relaxed evening on the gold sofa.

A nice evening with Dawn and Beth. Lorraine home quite early and I collected a curry from Red Chillies and we had a bit of a spicy feast and a very talkative evening. Dawn plotting changes in 2020, and perhaps relocating. After doing various bits and pieces of my own work this morning, walk up to Hollingbury Hillfort this afternoon after chatting with Sonia. I was armed with my proper camera and catching the sun bursting through the clouds and Rampion wind farm and the i360 from a distance.

Another foggy damp day. Lorraine up and more independent now that her arm is no longer in the heavy cast. I had no urgent tasks and I had the luxury of doing some thinking, and catching up with a few blog posts, and fiddling about with some writing. An old pal Chris Amies got in touch via Instagram to say he had read and liked The Inheritor in Supernatural Tales. Out with the so called Beer Monsters this evening, in our usual Evening Star haunt. Nick was there when I arrived, he is a mine of information about beer and brewing. We were soon joined by Steve and Richard, then two musician pals of Steve's discussing an upcoming Sumerian Kyngs gig. Later we were joined by Claudius, and who had with him a young rapper called Harrison who goes by the name of Aitch  who I asked to find himself on Spotify for me as he was leaving. He was a nice guy and very talented. Later we were joined by Monty Oxymoron  currently keyboard player with The Damned. When I grow up I want to be a wiki...

Up slightly later, and Beth drove Lorraine was off to the fracture clinic. Turns out the doctor she saw there was a parent of a child at school. Good news, however, the break was very clean and Lorraine now has a wrist support rather than a sling, and has been told she can do light things, such as a bit of typing, with the hand. Getting the cast off was good, and prevents L having to probe with pokey things under the plaster when she felt an itch. Meanwhile at least another hour spent in a futile search for my Harry Potterish lost spectacles. I have now spent four or five entire hours ransacking the house from room to room in search of the bastard things, which I still believe must be in the house. Made a bean jar today, but somehow it wasn't right. Slightly too much carrot, and an hour undercooked in its slow cooking process, nor did I add real chicken stock. Worst of all, as I had no fresh parsley, I experimented with coriander. It transpires that coriander in a bean jar is a...

Up early, and getting Lorraine off to school. Two more hours searching for my Harry Potterish new glasses. Took to facebook to moan about their disappearance, Rosie suggested I should use strings to keep them on me. The majority of the day fiddling with the book layout for Magnificent Grace, which absorbed a good deal of patience. Decided on a quick walk, and took my camera to photograph the fog that settled on Brighton in the afternoon, but its battery was flat. I took one snap on my phone of misty Blaker's Park. The evening Lorraine, again home at six which is very early for her, we cabbed off to Anton's house where Anne was having a little gathering for her 80th. Anton unexpectedly had to work in London today. Anna there however to help, which was kind. Both bairns there too being excellent. Good to see Klaudia who we'd not seen over the festive period, now recovered from tonsillitis. Oskar now clearly taller than his sister. I expect he will be looking down on the a...

The first Monday of the year, and Lorraine collected by one of her colleagues Max, and driven off to school. I felt strangely anxious first thing, but having wrote a list of things to be done this week, managed to carve through them all by 11 o'clock.  Paid my accountant, billed an agency, rearranged a school visit and made the decision to go with Amazon for the production of the paperback of Magnificent Grace , as there is less risk and initial outlay. Preparing the manuscript again. Also took myself off to the gym for the great atonement, I am much less fat than I was this time last year though which is pleasing. A throng of new year newbies being shown around. Beth also back to her gym the last couple of days.  Spoke to Anton, to Mum about the financial advantages of being 60, and to Dawn about going into school among other things. Lorraine was home from work at an unprecedented 5 pm. Managed to eat chocolate and a shoal of  lebkuchen so the diet part of it not bein...

Decorations all packed away in the cardboard box marked Christmas for another year. After Lorraine and I took off its decorations, I dragged the tree down to the Christmas tree graveyard in Preston Park, following the trail of needles. Noticeably fewer this year than a couple of years ago. Our tree barely shed at all, and it seems few others had done so too. Must be the species on sale around these parts this year. Caught up with a bit of correspondence, and wrote to Sarah Barnsley who had sent me a note of congratulation about Sin Cycle , and a long overdue note to Joan in Deviation Road. Otherwise a final day of mooching about. Seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time on laundry, tidying the decorations away and washing up. All cooked a roast chicken with many vegetables this evening, and ate it watching episodes of the brainiac quiz show  Only Connect which Beth is very good at. Drank some wine, as it was Sunday night, and next week is a school week. Began clipping Call...

Another glorious day of doing little after Lorraine and I had got up showered, an affair using gaffer tape and plastic bags to keep L's plaster out of the water and us both in the shower at the same time to help wash her hair. I mostly caught up with this blog and also posted something on my Notebook blog about Sin Cycle and cooked a vegetarian chilli which was rather nice. Lorraine braved a spot of work, and wrote her thank you cards to the children, who had showered her with gifts at the end of last year. Otherwise, we enjoyed a passage of indolence interspersed with the Norwegian Wisting  detective series which featured skeletons at the bottoms of wells, which was rather fun. The house immediately below us down the hill has had a extension just added to the roof. When washing up today I glanced out at the back garden and saw the lower half of a naked man striding about by the window. An unexpected eyeful. Lorraine and I debated what to do about this. Perhaps he hasn't f...

Up comparatively early, and had breakfast before Jade and Sam had to set off. Funny to see Beth driving them off to the Station as we waved them off. I was sorry to see them go, and it was a pleasure to have had them stay. Texted Sîan today with the pics I took yesterday with Jade and Lorraine. Then an amount of tidying up and stripping of beds and laundry and so on. Lorraine and I mooched through Preston Park into town, where I had a haircut. Home again, and then the launderette. After this I fancied going into standby mode for a bit, so we watched the first episode of the new Dracula series on BBC, and saw  A Hard Day's Night by the Beatles. Surprised by how chippy the dialogue was. Wilfred Bramble, Pa Steptoe of the ancient series was in it, and was a bit of a cantankerous Samuel Beckett character. Lorraine and I cooked a huge vegetable soup tonight, and lapped it up. The music was good though.

Feeling a tad less liverish this morning, having managed to drink nothing yesterday. Beth off to work today. Sam, Jade, Lorraine and I bussed into town this afternoon, and sat downstairs due to the arm. Sam got off to meet one of his pals Lee and the rest of us continued to Hove Town Hall where we walked past Janet and Ken's old place down to the sea. Cool and a bracing breeze here, and lots of seagulls gliding on the current. A slow amble back into town having a good heart to heart with Jade. Just nice to be out in the fresh air. Shared the news about Sin Cycle on social media, lovely response from some folks. Feeling cheery about this as a start to the year. Then into The Basketmakers (the family pub) where we found a table, and were soon joined by Sam and Lee. Lee a good old pal of Sam's who proved to be a talkative and cheery soul, who surprised me by remembering that we had met once many years ago. He was interested in logic and mathematics, and  is considering launch...

A very happy new year to anyone who drops in here. This morning I had the 24 poems of my sequence Sin Cycle published in Eratio Poetry Journal . The editor Gregory is based in New York, and is rather an excellent person, and this is a fantastic start to the year for me. Great that the sequence is published, as I am proud of it. Felt another wave of gratitude to Robin, Charlotte and Sarah for their encouragement. Lorraine pleased for me. I woke up early, and decided I needed to make a decision. Either dwell on the symptoms of my hangover, or get up and start clearing up. As I crept out of bed, Anton texted to say he had already been for a healthy three mile walk. Lorraine crept downstairs too and we gradually made good, and had breakfast, after I had helped Lorraine get dressed. And then chatted to Mum who was about the task of struggling with Mason's hearing aids. A slow day. Jade up late this morning, Beth mid afternoon, and Sam at around 7pm.  Lorraine and I had a sho...