under another sun

A feverish night, woke up with a soaked teeshirt and feeling weak and a bit rough. AN hour's work with Keith, then Lorraine and I drove off for a COVID test in Lewes town hall car park. People cheery there, and handing you plastic bags through the cracks in your windows and so on. Quite nice to go for a drive actually, despite the fact it was a bit stressful as I was working. Naturally Lorraine could not go into school, so had to work from home.  Had to work like a dod and didn't finish till 8:30 pm. Lorraine having a meeting with Governors at the same time in another room. She spent the day working on the children's reports which was a bit of a win.  I felt a good deal better by the evening, and had no temperature. I suspect this is just a random little bug, but as it is still possible to get the lurgy after two jabs we had to be sure.  Slumped by the TV for a bit before bed. I took delivery today of a new pair of walking shoes. Calliope liked the box, which I used as a ...

Hard day's work with Keith. Brain dead and extremely tired by the end of the day. A quick saunter a couple of times in the day, but feeling underpowered.   However before then, Lorraine, Jade and I watched England squeak a 2-0 win over Germany. The Germans our usual nemesis in such competitions, but this time two late goals from Stirling and Kane (at last) sorting it.  Jade squeaking with excitement. I enjoyed it but felt a bit brain dead. Anton texted me asking which team I was supporting, a reference to the German occupation of Guernsey in WW2.   After the game a long chat with the Tobster, who had finished school today, and is taking next year as a sabbatical. Freedom. But perhaps not ideal conditions for it. Tobs pleased by the game too.  To bed fairly early.  

Monday, and a bit lifeless. Took a lengthy but content free brief with Keith and two other teams for a big job. A Teams meeting, and seeing all the faces. One guy's backdrop looking out of a space station window. Others blurred. Me, I just go with my unadorned study, which is nicely curated with books and a bottle garden. A long slog of a day with Keith afterwards, walking through treacle and neither of us on top form, but we came away with eight or nine starts for ideas by the end of the day, which is pretty good going. Squeezed quite a bit of walking into the day, after work, a bit at lunchtime, and some after work. Excellent football today. Bazillions of goals. Liked this snap of a red car I took against the grey sky, and also a black and white thing of a cloud echoing a tree.      

Up early and working at 7:30 on the German stuff,  and was done by midday.  Spent the afternoon half expecting feedback, but at the end of the day I simply received a couple of notes of thanks. The whole thing had gone very well, which was a confidence booster. I have been booked for the next two weeks too, so I am at last beginning to feel properly solvent again. I billed my French amis too and did some editing on the Rishi interview. Also reading Hélène Cixous, who I greatly admire and is one of those writers that fires ideas in my head even if I am not sure I am completely understanding her.  Still nothing from NatWest whose uselessness will I hope be repaid in hard cash once they get around to dealing with the complaint.  I went for a walk a little before noon, up to Hollingbury Hill which was misty and mysterious. It briefly reminded me of that chapter in Lord of the Rings, Fog on the Barrow Downs -- a strand of Gothic horror completely omitted from the films....

A brief this morning from some folks in Germany, whose copywriter had fallen ill. Spent the day mostly manacled to my desk working on writing copy for pre-existing concepts and pulling them into focus.   They seemed delighted by what I had done, and we had an hour meeting till about 6:40pm discussing everything. All well. A bit of tidying to do tomorrow, but the back broken on the job. Nipped out for a couple of short walks during the day.  Chatted with Mum, who had gone to the Royal Free today for a check up on her ticker, and was told her heart was okay, which is excellent news. She said she made the doctor laugh a couple of times too, which is always a bonus. 

Up early this morning with Lorraine, as it was her school's sports day, and she had sprint off.  I found I had been tagged on a post by a former colleague called Chris who is now a UK Group Managing Director of some agency posting a link onto LinkedIn to an animation about introverts and tagged me. He wrote I often felt that being an introvert was a bad thing, in part that was regularly the feedback I was given. But that changed in 2005 when, as part of my annual appraisal, a creative director I worked with wrote this: 'in a world where people are often on broadcast mode, Chris actively listens and is visibly growing versus his peer group as a result'. That simple sentence from Peter was the first time in my career that someone had positively recognised my intervert character traits. It was an important and powerful moment for me. Quite remarkable to have a callback to 2005 like that, and it reminded me that once in a while I get things right. Was contacted this evening abo...

Up early and writing well this morning on my poetry MS. I am making daily progress. So good to have this time.  It was unbelievably cold for the 22nd June, however. My study is cold in the morning at the best of times, but I was sat with two jumpers, a scarf and a hat on and I was freezing. Eventually I cracked and put the heating on.  The usual walk this afternoon. Lorraine working late, and had taken food, so I binge watched a TV programme called Motherland, the writing of which is excellent and ate beans on toast. When Lorraine arrived home, and we and Jade watched England squeak another 1-0 against the footballing wizards of the Czech Republic. 

Up and writing early, and I feel I am making decent some progress on my poetry MS. Robin and I were a bit late with the Podcast this time, but we got this uploaded this afternoon. It features Robin interviewing  Helen Ivory and chats about Thomas Tranströmer and Robert Hamberger.  Today was it was the last time Sonia would come around and clean for us. She has been popping in once a week for ten years now -- in fact we are her oldest customers -- and is going back to Bulgaria with Barry. We had a long chat, and she showed me more photos of Bulgaria, and talked about the loveliness of the fresh food there, and worried about Barry being eaten alive by mosquitos and midges.  I gave her the little tree of life necklace Lorraine and I had chosen for her, and a card. She put her necklace on and when we hugged goodbye she went off in tears down the road, and I felt a tear in my eye too. I have always enjoyed chatting with Sonia over the years, and her warmth and her down to eart...

Most of today taken up with the podcast one way or another. Up early prepping for my interview with Rishi Dastidar. When I worked in Hammersmith, he actually worked in the same agency as me but a few years afterwards. A long chat with him, lasting over an hour, and another half hour after we finished recording. Nice to get to know him a little. In the afternoon, more recording with Robin, proceeded by some hasty more hasty research. All fine, and good to chat to Robin. In the evening, off to the Batty, the new home of the Beermonsters. About five minutes into my walk, a big spots of rain pinged off the area of concern. I walked on gradually getting wet. The monsters already in the Batty when I arrived, and soon after, just as when we all last met, it began thundering. Nice to see these gents. Richard with two pieces of interesting news, that he watched a youtube video about huntergatherers in Africa, who were asked about three things that made them happy. The answer was meat, and then ...

Up and off to see Mum and Mas today. Down to Preston Park station to catch the the 9:29 train this morning. Was surprised that the nice man from the Daily Grind stall remembered my tea order after all this time. The power rail arced menacingly shortly before the train drew in, and a Kiwi guy and I standing near it were startled.   An easy train ride. Near-empty train, and I changed at West Hampstead, so I could stand outside. Then to Mill Hill and I walked from there, popping into Tesco to buy some bits and pieces to eat. We had some lunch, and talked about things.  Apart from Mum choking on nothing, and Mas a bit uncertain on his feet thanks to a bad back. Listened to music on mum's iPad, including Mahler, and when I started to walk back to Mill Hill in the late afternoon, Mum walked alongside for a bit and I playing her Africa Speaks, America Answers on Spotify. Mum and Gerald had this album when  Toby and I were kids.  Caught the train at Mill Hill, and got to We...

A new week, a new positive attitude. Another text about a being going overdrawn and so on. Walked down to the physical branch of my bank, and spoke to a helpful person who made calls and returned home clutching a piece of paper with the name of the person who was dealing with my case and a number. These turned out to be illusions when I got home. The name I had been given was the name of the manager, as the case had not been even allocated yet, and after I received an email saying the case will take another 20 working days. This takes me in to July. When I find the energy, I initiate a complaint to the banking ombudsman.  I have been banging my head against a brick wall. Meanwhile the 123-reg email fiasco wears on, however I have given up with it. I have emails perhaps from a few days that I will never see. I can't bear to deal with those people one second more.  Stopped in at Mad Hatters and tried to buy a straw hat but was put off by what seemed to me an excessive price. The...

Up fairly early for us on a Sunday. A leisurely breakfast (tomatoes and a piece of bacon on chewy brown toast as you asked). I called Mum and arranged to see her next week, and we made plans for a picnic on the beach later on. However, there was some call to do with the school, and some of the children had been exposed in a club outside school to people with confirmed tests, which plunged Lorraine into a series of phone calls and emailing parents and so on. While Lorraine was doing this, Jade and I watched the England game where they managed to beat Croatia one nil. The goal scored by Raheem Stirling, who had went to the school in Wembley I went to (decades later obviously) who revelled in scoring in his 'back garden'. The admirable Stirling was awarded an MBE this week too. More power to him.  Meanwhile Boris Johnson and his crew making himself and our country look idiotic at the G7 in Cornwall. His Brexity side-kick for the event, David Frost, was wearing union jack socks. Cr...

A leisurely morning, mostly in bed. I got up and toddled around the corner to buy some sliced chewy brown bread. After breakfast Lorraine and I went into the garden and busied ourselves planting things for the slugs to eat and moving pots about and repotting stuff.  Dawn came by at two armed with clotted cream, an enormous scone and strawberries. It was lovely to see her, and for Lorraine and I to actually give her a hug. We sat outside in the back garden chatting. She told us how her family has been approached, in a very disturbing and hostile way, by someone claiming to be related to them. The pandemic is turning people crazy. Very nice to be setting the world right with Dawn after far too long.  Sam and Jade like church mice all day, having gone to bed very late last night indeed as is only right and proper in the young uns.   Later in the afternoon, Lorraine and I settled down to watch a bit of the European cup, the important matter of Denmark vs Finland. The game in ...

Slept in a little this morning. Heard the door click downstairs as Lorraine left for school and discovered a hot cup of tea my lovely had left for me. Up and tinkering with poems. Decided I wasn't in any kind of mood to do work of any kind today apart from brood over my poems and read poetry journals. Went off to the park at 10:30 at met up with Francis, Ben and Rick around the corner for a cup of coffee in the rotunda cafe. Nice to chat and get out. Still overcast and degrees colder than Lorraine was just a few miles north. Francis gave me a poem she wrote in the seventies to read. Rick around the corner said he had problems with animals burrowing under his house -- probably foxes. A man was going to come and deal with them. Ben showed us a little circular pane of glass on which he had replicated the painting of a bird on a cherry branch.  Home again, and I spoke to Sonia for ages, she showed me lots of photos of beautiful Bulgaria, and recommended Peacehaven as a place to live, a...

Gothic interlude this morning, with sea mist rolling up to this part of Brighton just as a partial lunar eclipse of the sun began. I had been feeling psychologically out of sorts all morning but this conjunction of heavenly bodies in Gemini proved a signal to get on with stuff (I had been tinkering with poems for the first few hours) and I began devouring an unappetising menu of frogs, filling in tax forms for my accountant, repaying the plumber, importing emails into my mailbox, trying not to get enraged by another text from the bank, setting up a poet interview with Rishi Dastidar and plotting with Keith about scaring up some more freelance work.  A toastie for lunch and I was called by Mum, whose musician friend Ronnie had died -- and she was understandably sad and fed up. If the stars align again I will go visit her again in the next week or so. f this afternoon to have my hair cut, a big event post Covid. Stacey is such a perfectionist. When the place was buzzing with four or ...

Another automatic text from the bank first thing, saying another attempt to draw a cheque from my business account was being made. All I can do at the moment is await the complaint investigators getting back to me. But it still puts me off my stroke. Later, paid the plumber from my personal account, but in checking his invoice afterwards found he had changed his account details. Do'h. Feelings of inadequacy  compounded this evening, when I added three times too much Thai paste to the grub I was cooking.  Keith got in touch. He has been fairly quiet over the last few weeks too, we are going to make some plans. I contacted Val, to confirm all was well with the work I had sent her, and she asked if I had got the email she sent me yesterday. I hadn't, which is making me wonder if my email is still up the swanee.  I wrote for a few hours first thing, but was feeling antsy. Went for a walk at lunchtime.  Meanwhile Jade has been doing hot yoga and said she met a woman who t...

Up early, with Lorraine working at home with the two Sarahs from her work. I had an early start but I am still struggling with a simple brief about piglet health. I can't seem to think clearly. I managed to send ideas off at the end of the day, but I wasn't particularly pleased with the job I did, which is not the best of feelings.  I had a long walk after work which helped me normalise a bit. She had gone to her personal trainer after work, and we all four ate outside afterwards. Later, while Sam repaired upstairs, Lorraine played  My time at Portia this evening while simultaneously watching Ant Man with with me and Jade. Quite enjoyable stuff. I had seen it before but it makes more sense having seen the others, as guided by Jade, in their correct sequence.  I managed to download photos onto my computer again, after some software update had blocked this. Caught up on this blog somewhat before bed. 

Felt a little sadder and wiser after staying up late. Lorraine made beans on toast for breakfast which did the trick. Off in the car to Ashford where we spent the day with Pat and Maureen and Ken, Lorraine's brother. Nice to hang out. Ken cooked a lovely lunch of roast chicken, and lots of salads and new potatoes and so on. I was offered wine, and accepted a small glass. I have foresworn booze as after months of not drinking hardly anything, a social life returning seems, for me at least, to spell drinking quite a lot. I will turn the tide. Watched some tennis on TV, with Serena Williams being beaten by a robot. Pat showed me the garage where his mates have been playing darts again. He won 'the silly game' again last week. He also gave us some big pots. Maureen in good form and busy plotting new embroidery.  Home very easily again, and it was still light. Sunlight all the way till the downs and a murky mist when we got home. Spoke to Mum who was a bit fed up, and then watch...

Into town this morning by bus, a spot of shopping and Lorraine had her second jab. Not without a struggle though, as before although she had been invited to attend there was some mismatch with the records from her GP and wasn't listed. An officious idiot made it difficult for a while, but Lorraine prevailed and came out jabbed. I am very pleased about this as school starts next week, and this Delta variant first identified in India is proving rather too communicable. We should be okay with our jabs however. We bussed back home and made ready for Rosie and Innis coming around. Actual hugging when the arrived, at tea time, and we had drinks and some food outside on the decking. I washed it and sorted it and laid a table cloth which a bird decorated. Nice to hang out in the back and chat. Lorraine cooking up a lovely flan (flan A) and salads and so on. Innis says he  has bought some boules and we hope to play with Anton next week.  It was a sunny evening and after Rosie and Innis...

Up early... Was going to talk to Val this morning but the wifi in the hotel wasn't working, so eventually we arranged to do it tomorrow. Breakfast service at the hotel dismally slow. We had booked to go in at 9.00 and I only got my breakfast at 9:40 long after Lorraine had her's. We packed up and loaded up the car, and then made off for a lovely walk in town. There was a Seasalt shop which is one of Lorraine's favourite shops at the moment. Then went for a saunter by the river, sitting on benches and watching the stream go by. Very relaxing and nice. Lots of fish in the water too, which I liked. Looking at fish always makes me happy.  Eventually we had crossed a cricket pitch, walked along a road back to the hotel and collected the car. Mixed feelings about the hotel, lovely location and pleasant enough staff, but wretched communication about breakfasts etc. which left not just us feeling disgruntled.  The drive home speedy and quite pleasant. We sucked Sherbet Lemons, as I...

A poor night's sleep, despite the virtue of the windowless room being the deep darkness to sleep in. I was woken by a ping on my phone: an automated message from my bank saying that I was about to go overdrawn on the new business account. Which means cheques are still being presented against my new account, and the problem is still ongoing. Was cross about this, which was rubbish.  A full English breakfasts, with black pudding. A happy day, and beautiful weather to begin with. We set off and visited Salisbury Cathedral. Lovely place, with a bit of nice stained glass. We loved a modern font there, which had beautiful inscriptions on it. One "I called you by name and you are mine" I found curiously moving.  Nice to be mooching in the Cathedral, and looking at old tombs and treasures, and listening as a churchman said the Lord's Prayer at noon. We liked the Cloisters too, outside, and popped in to see one of the original copies of the Magna Carter written closely in Lati...

A poem to proof this morning, which is always nice. Will appear in a wee mag called Finished Creatures later this month I think. Off around lunchtime to Salisbury. Felt excellent to be setting off on an adventure, even if it weren't that far as the crow flies. En route I was contacted by Val from Paris about a job, but she was fine with me starting it after I'd been away, which was great.   A pleasant drive, and we arrived at a little hotel by the river Avon called the Rose and Crown. Our room odd in that it only had a velux window. There was a photo on the wall of what we might be looking at if there had been a window. Outside however, was very nice. We went for a mooch across an old Bridge and turning left down De Vaux Place and along by some fields and past Salisbury Cathedral.  We wandered into town a little, and I bought myself a bargain pair of light summer shoes, and we stopped off at the big market square and found a table outside a pub, and had a couple of drinks ther...