under another sun

An utter deluge first thing, then off this morning to Steyning, to have brunch with Dawn at her house. It had been her birthday a few days ago. Also invited where Dawn's old pals Mark and Jane and Denise, all of whom I have met several times. I bumped into Jane in the park the other day with Toby. Most newsworthy was that we also met Paul, Dawn's new man friend. He was well read open and chatty, and born the same year as me.  Everyone had bought assorted food with them, and Dawn had been making her famous quiche with a baked rice base. Lorraine and I brought a courgette loaf, which we had made yesterday.  Dawn often has good parties, and this one was featured lunchtime dancing in her wee front room, and Dawn stage diving from her sofa into everyone's arms. She is prone to this sort of thing from time to time. All very cheery. Dawn and I swapped birthday presents too and she gave me a book called All Art is Ecological by Timothy Morton, who the back jacket calls the philoso

Heavy rain showers this morning. The gutters running like brooks, and fallen leaves making miniature beaver dams as I slipped off to buy some chewy brown, and then up to Raven's Bakery where I bought eccles cakes and pain aux raisins as Adele and Patrick popped around for coffee this morning as they were in Brighton. Nice to chat. Patrick going to start an MA in songwriting and production in January, which is great. He writes lots of songs. Adele's stained glass windows going well too.  Later Anton called around, armed with Polish beers and his excellent cheesecake,  and played an epic game of Twilight Struggle, which is a board game to do with the cold war. It is complicated and takes a long time to learn. Sam picked it up rapidly, however, and soon they began a game that lasted for hours. Anton at last able to play what he thinks is the best board game what delighted. Sam likes games in general, and was happy too. A win all round, as complex board games give me a nosebleed. I

Up early to walk with Toby to the station, but there was a tremendous deluge first thing, and Lorraine gave us a lift instead. Felt sad to see Toby go, but hopefully I will see him next week too. Home to a hobbits second breakfast and coffee. Later in the day Lorraine went into town to get a hot stones massage and hung out with Rosie.  I felt a deep attraction to the idea of simply hanging about on the gold sofa. There are many things I should be doing, but instead I read a bit, and watched a SF series called The Expanse, which was excellent when binged. Lorraine and I had started to watch it some time ago, and then simply stopped. I ate one of Lorraine's individual chicken pies, and enjoyed being a couch potato.  Lorraine home, all relaxed from massages and a cocktail.  

Kippers for breakfast this morning. Sam absent, however, having managed to stay up all night reading in the kitchen coupled with alphabetising all the cookery books on the shelves. Lorraine busy preparing the contents of a chicken, tarragon, and leek pie, cooked in white wine and stock. Delicious. Tobs and I spent a happy afternoon, we walked up to the Hillfort and around threading through bits of woods and so on, and stopping off at last in the cafe in Blaker's park where we shared another flapjack and had some coffee and talked for hours about everything that mattered. It is just really good to spend time with him. Just as we were drinking my coffee I noticed I had an email with another query about an invoice, so I had to pop home and sort this, which didn't take long. Cups of tea and toasties later. Lorraine came home after having popped in to see Dawn, whose birthday it is today. She then proceeded to make what would turn out to be divine individual pies, while I peeled spu

Lorraine and I did a spot of shopping this morning, pausing for coffee and lemon and chocolate lobster tails which reminded us of happy times in Sicily with Toby and Romy. Then off to Waitrose. Weird how happy going shopping for food in an actual supermarket with Lorraine makes me feel.  Toby arrived this afternoon, I met him from his train at Brighton Station where I met Toby. As usual he was travelling light, so we were able to have a slow walk home, stopping off at the Rotunda cafe in Preston Park for a cup of tea and a flapjack. Lots of talking to be done as usual. Then home and Lorraine very pleased to see him. Sam met him again after a few very early meetings in Brighton pubs in the early days of Lorraine and I being together.  Toby refreshed and showered, and off for a cheery evening at the Cleveland where we four were joined by Anton for a meal and a few drinks. Anton and Toby pleased to see one another, having known each other first. Good burgers in the Cleveland, and Lorraine

Lorraine and I celebrating our eighth wedding anniversary today. A swap of cards this morning, and flowers. In the afternoon we bussed into town, and had a walk by the sea and then popped into the Royal Sovereign before a delicious Japanese meal at Bincho Yakatori. Busy place, and lovely food and excellent Japanese sake and beers. Only downside is they rush you through, which I found irritating, and we were only able to stay for an hour and a half. Nevertheless the food was great. Curiously despite things like sea bass tempura and grilled mackerel and melt in the mouth pork belly cubes, the one thing that brought the taste of Japan home most was the cabbage with black garlic sauce on it. Beautiful. We jumped on a bus and were happily home, having eaten really well. A happy day with Lorraine, ending as  all the best days do, on the gold sofa. Again, pretty useless on the photo front. Snapped this bottle of red rice beer that Lorraine ordered. A beautiful -- and it turned out quite poten

Lorraine half term started today, and she spent the day with Beth.  I got up with something of a heavy heart knowing that I had to sort out invoicing problems, and get onto my bank again. But then -- glory and trumpets -- my complaints guy, Harry Singh emailed me first thing. He had been out of the business for several months due to sickness, and instantly fixed the intractable problem with me getting a debit card for my business account -- he had found a system glitch which was preventing it. And hey presto within a couple of hours I had been emailed to say a new card was in the post. He had managed to fix in half an hour, what I had spent months of futile Kafkaesque effort failing to sort out. Could the end of the Natwestisögur be in sight? On my invoices I had simply transposed two numbers in my bank sort code (and I had to resend my three outstanding invoices). Felt a chump but at least it is fixed now. Lorraine home in the evening, and happy just to hang out quietly.  A walk this

Another family day -- this time off to Kent to see Pat and Maureen, who had invited Lorraine's cousin Maxine, Simon and her sixteen year old twins Tay and Emilia who Lorraine and I had popped in to see close to the Welsh borders in our wee summer jaunt. Guernsey lilies in Pat and Maureen's front garden. A cheery afternoon, with Lorraine finishing off the cooking of the Sunday lunch, with me doing a bit kitchen portering. Maureen had baked an excellent apple pie for me, because I been a good boy looking after Lorraine. Maureen on sparkling form. Pat bonding with Tay over jigsaws, and teaching him his patented jigsaw method.  Maxine and Simon really nice, and Maxine was talking to Maureen getting a few facts about the family. Her mum, Rose, whose funeral we went to a couple of years ago, was close to Maureen so it did Maxine good to see her aunt. Not on great photo duty today, and took one of Lorraine, Maxine and Maureen sitting on the sofa which was one of the worst snaps I'

Up with the slightly more hungover sparrows this morning. Bought some bread, and Lorraine and I had a cup of tea before I made off to London to see the newly-arrived Tobster, Mum and Mas. Onto the train, only about half the people wearing masks these days. While I was waiting for the Mill Hill train at Farringdon, Mum texted and said Mason was insisting on leaving for the Waggon and Horses immediately.  Luckily the train I jumped onto stopped at Elstree, so I went there instead and walked from Elstree to the ancient Roman road Watling Street, headed north and soon discovered them in the Waggon and Horses with glasses of beer and cider and nibbling chips. Good to see Toby with my own eyes. He looked fairly fresh considering, and his flight over a couple of days before had been fine. He had been wandering for miles through London yesterday and had met up with his pal Mike. We immediately made plans for him to come down to Brighton next week.  Mum on good form, Mas taciturn, although he w

A smidgeon of morning's business concluded, then a long walk with Anton, meeting him at his house, and them walking westward before doubling back along the seafront. From there we walked Eastwards to be level with the Marina. Then we started a long pub crawl, stopping off at many pubs over many hours. Our saving grace was that in each we confined ourselves to a half.  At the St James pub we had a chicken wrap, and then drifting through town talking to assorted bar owning or serving folks as we did so. Cheerful to be ambling along chatting about everything and nothing. Anton telling me about a TV series called Comrade Detective which is filmed in Bulgaria, and is overdubbed by US actors.   Fond farewells with Anton, outside the Shakey Head. I had walked 28,352 paces by the end of the day. I walked home feeling good, and Lorraine, who had just finished work, ordered a curry. This was delayed somewhat so I went to the Park View, where I met Sam for a probably unnecessarary extra beer,

A chat with Toby at Mum's place, him having landed successfully. Plotting coming to see him. It was stormy overnight, and I wondered if the flight had been terrible, but the Tobster had three seats to himself, and it was a smooth flight. A cold day, but I got on quietly with some work on my poetry manuscript, and the start of something new sparked by last night's talk by Richard Powers. A hour or so work for my French agency friends, then final tweaks and uploading the podcast containing my interview with Ashanti Anderson, and doing some social media stuff. I think Ashanti will do well. She has her own publicist.  Otherwise a calm day. I keep putting off the next round of trying to sort the bank out, because I know it will just make me mad. So instead I watched a documentary about Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, and cooked this evening.  Below the view from the hill fort wall across the golf course to the sea gleaming on the water. A beautiful afternoon.

Mainly podcast recording with Robin and editing today. Off this evening to meet Innis who had tipped me off that Richard Powers was giving a talk at the Rialto theatre in Brighton. Met Innis in the Windmill pub of a cheeky first, and then went to the talk. Brilliant man, and a gifted communicator. He gave a 40 minute talk, semi autobiographical, about what had led him to writing his latest book, T he Bewilderment , which I was given by Rosie and Innis for my birthday. The Overstory , his previous Pulitzer prize winning novel, I have as an audiobook, and have only just started. He is two years older than me, so his recollections of reading SF as a kid, and thinking about space, and what the year 2000 might be like, in the sixties and seventies seemed very familiar to me. He was talking about life on earth, and of course about how precious this is. He also talked about the consequences or otherwise of finding life in the universe not on this planet. Interested and engaged audience who a

A spot of writing, and working through a surprisingly long list of things to be done, and prepping for my interview with Alireza Abiz this evening. Lovely man, and fascinating to hear about his childhood in Iran. After the revolution, for example, the books in school all changed, and a school administrator took a book little Ali had taken from the school library, about the French resistance in the second world war, and torn it in half in front of him.  A walk this afternoon to the fort, gorgeous pearlescent day. Happy to be indoors with Lorraine tonight.  

On a whim, Lorraine and I drove along the coast to Seaford. It was also a scouting mission to see if if it might fit the bill should we decide to move. It is a little coastal town perhaps 10 miles east of Brighton, and has regular trains and buses back into the city -- I know six people who live there too, including Steve Cartwright, and people I met through glass: Adele and Patrick, Yvonne and Brian, and Jane. What we saw, a nice little bit of coastal shingle, and a martello tower, hefty chalk cliffs and few streets of shops, pubs and restaurants, certainly didn't rule it out. We sat on benches outside a little cafe stand, and had cappuccinos and a couple of sausage rolls in the sunshine and fresh air.  Annoyingly I forgot to take any photos till we were heading back to the car. Home and fairly chilled, though I was getting emails to do with work, and texts from Fernanda, wondering if I was ready to work again: I am not.  Some of this afternoon spent prepping for recording with Ro

Up early, made tea and egg and bacon sandwiches, and had breakfast in bed with Lorraine. Then I sprang off walking down to the Salvation Army hall near the Level, where I got my flu jab. The nurse told me in a stern way -- as the needle went in -- that my surgery need a blood pressure reading from me. An Orwellian moment, that didn't add to my feelings of relaxation. But they mean well.  Up the hill, bought bread, and then a relaxed day with Lorraine. I did a bit of podcast editing, and otherwise watched a film based on the Green Knight, with Dev Patel in it, which I enjoyed. Enjoying Match of the Day too, with Manchester Utd being schooled by Leicester. Chelsea won away to Brentford in their new stadium, tucked behind Kew Bridge station. I experienced a sense of divided loyalty. A perfect result, 0-1, with Brentford not being humiliated, and Chelsea still top.  Beth and James were due to come around tonight, but they cancelled due to colds and not wanting to share them. A sore arm

Friday, and up to the smoke to see Bob. A fine way to spend a Friday but felt curiously twitchy about being in London as I was waiting for Bob. Still, nice to be getting off at Blackfriars and sauntering down the South Bank towards the Royal Festival Hall, chatting to Mum on the phone. I know the South Bank very well having worked there for a couple of years, apart from all the visits. Met Bob outside Folyes and after a bite to eat and a cup of tea inside the RFH we went to Haywards Gallery and spent a happy couple of hours mooching around the Hayward Gallery looking at an exhibition of contemporary painting called Mixing It Up: Painting Today . It felt great to be presented with work that stretched me, rather than looking at stuff that was simply decorative. Bob and I mooched about discussing paintings at some length. Several works I found really excellent. Kudzanai-Violet Hwami's picture Family Portrait, made me feel uneasy but we were chatting about it for ages. Pictures by Gare

A peaceful, black and white skies kind of day. Hillfort again, despite tiredness. Great skies today, which when you exaggerate the darkness look well moody guv'nor.  Otherwise editing my interview with Ashanti, and writing poetry. I completed a poem about Glen, my friend who died two years ago.  Peacefully indoors with Lorraine this evening. Sam up travelling off to Scotland today to see Jade, and arriving safely. 

A bit of writing, working on poems, and some podcast editing and general admin, plus a decent walk. Feeling run down, and very pleased I am taking it easy this week. But I was out again for another curry this evening. Frances picked me and Rick around the corner up and drove us to Hove Tandoori for a meal with Yvonne, who I had not seen for ages, Jane, Adele, Sally and Ben. The restaurant full and the food pretty decent.  I sat next to Yvonne, who among lots of laughs told me about her breast cancer diagnosis during the lockdowns. Luckily it is gone now, but must go back for yearly check ups. A cheery evening, seeing everyone, with bags of badinage. What a lovely bunch they are. A lift home from Frances and I was back before ninish, in time to have a chat with Toby, who is over soon. I am really looking forward to seeing my bruv again.   Very touched that Ben gave me this beautiful piece of circular glass, that he had painted with my initial, and the symbol for Libra in it. Gorgeous.  

An enjoyable birthday, not overburdened by the usual existential crises. A busy day. Breakfast with Lorraine, and then an early morning coffee with Beth and Sam who got up too. Gifts of high-quality socks too from Beth, and Sam and Pat and Maureen. Lorraine is going to buy me a camera, and I am going to consult with Innis on a good one to get. I love taking snaps, and it would be nice to have an excellent camera.  Messages from Toby and a beautiful e-card from Mum. Maureen and Dawn both phoned me to sing happy birthday, and facebook full of nice messages too. A lovely text from Rosie. I took delivery of a box from Fortnum, which contained a small library of beers from Catherine and Tanya. Also a poem and a St. Martin's parish an old magazine on memories the Occupation from Richard and Jane.  In the evening after Lorraine had returned home with a birthday carrot cake with a candle, and I had put on some high quality socks, Sam, Lorraine and I drove down to the Shahi, where we met An

Up late, and at last feeling a bit fresher this morning, despite brief solving dreams. I would keep waking up and realising that my brain didn't have to be solving these problems, then drop back to sleep to start it all over again. A happily slow start, talking lots and enjoying another morning untroubled by cats. Eventually everyone up for coffee and poached eggs and smoked salmon breakfast with Rosie and Innis. Then slowly getting ready and packing, before setting off from Robertsbridge. Lorraine and I drove to a pub called The Hatch Inn in the heart of Ashdown forest, and the quite far away to a car park and walked dangerously along the road to meet the others again in the pub. We had lunch there among the posh country set, a young woman near us with a huge diamond on her finger and wellies, bluff entitled older men, younger guys climbing out of racy two seat cars with their women friends. The young guy who was serving us, we were sat outside, called me 'good sir' and s

A gorgeous sunny Autumn day. Still feeling extremely tired, but had a mid afternoon nap which was gold. Lorraine finding it hard to relax. She has realised she needs to keep busy, and Star Dew Valley is the perfect blend of relaxation and busyness.A happy time hanging with Rosie and Innis sitting outside our nicely converted cowsheds on a beautiful day. A short mooch into the countryside, where we encountered donkeys, a farmer in a pink shirt, and walked past some kind of dog farm, where dozens of dogs bayed threateningly at us, and made little Pippi shrink between Rosie and Lorraine, and through lots of lovely undulating countryside. This is definitely a countryside for horses and dogs. Pippi found some fox poo to roll in, and Rosie was very disappointed in her.  Rosie negotiated us leaving a little later tomorrow. Much amusement when the owner said she would be out competing with her horse tomorrow. Mental images of her playing chess with the horse or racing against it, and so on. In

Just burnt out today. I wandered into town to buy Rosie a present from Lorraine and I, and got the batteries swapped in Lorraine's watches.   I am definitely in need of a break, and luckily that's what exactly what the fates had in store for us tonight, as Lorraine drove us off through Lewes -- and an annoying traffic jam -- and out into the east Sussex countryside where found Robertsbridge, the village we were going to stay in for the weekend. We were staying in what had been cowsheds or stables or something, but had been converted into a very comfortable apartment, with a communal kitchen, dining and sitting area, and two bedrooms and en suite bathrooms. Rosie and Innis had arrived a little earlier, and had roasted a spatchcock chicken, and some vegetables. Drinking into the evening, before slumping happily into a comfortable bed.  Lorraine and I left the cats in the care of Sam, who has fully completed his migration from being a disliker of cats, to being someone the cats lo

Woke up at five thirty, and sat listening to Lorraine's alarm going off several times. A cup of tea in bed. Lovely. Got up, did my billing and timesheets etc. and then tidied my study, which was strewn with concepts and notes and mess. Cathartic. Soon ran out of energy. Took myself for a short walk, and then had a pre-noon hour of sleep on the gold sofa.  Clippers this afternoon. Stacy allowed his perfectionism to run riot for the best part of a hour. More startlingly, though, Stacy's own bedraggled baldy/longhair combo had been replaced with a short crop.  Discussed the scuffle outside The Cleveland last Friday, one of the scufflees is a Clippers client.  Sauntered off to Kemptown afterwards, and hung about on the beach for a bit. A misty day. Went to the Black Dove and waited for Anton. Feeling absolutely shattered at this point. As I had half an hour before he arrived, I tried to write, but when I consulted my brain the cupboard was bare. Beer to the rescue, masking my tired

Up at two thirty in the morning having a panic attack which had started in my sleep. Once conscious I was able to get a grip, and listened to a meditation tape, but it took several hours before I actually slept again. Soon resigned myself to the fact that work was not going to end at a decent hour, so had to cancel plans to meet Robin and support Jeremy Page in his book launch. Two 10 minute breaks in the 12 hours of desk work today. Telephone call with New York where the stressed head creative invited me to write instant copy and read it immediately in a meeting with twenty people. I refused, point blank. Infuriated, I vented with pompous indignation to the London team afterwards about how we had given them clearly the best work and the strategy for their pitch, and were still treated like children. The whole red-faced don't they realise who I am  crap.  Despite this they were all very sweet and Nanda said she loves working with me. Felt an arse afterwards and apologised. Because

Almost there on the pitch now, one more day. Nanda and Nando great to work with. Very early starts, long exhausting hours with no time for lunch. After work, at about seven, on Lorraine's suggestion, I sauntered down to the Park View and found Sam there doing crosswords. I joined him for a pint of Neck Oil, and then a Cally Pale. We talked about lots of things, having got over the fact that Sam made the schoolboy error of asking me about the job and me then telling him. He is a good lad, and it was a small interlude of niceness. Also nice was returning for dinner with Lorraine. More cheery this evening and Lorraine and I watched an unlikely assortment of YouTube videos with Sam.

A hobbit's second Monday, having worked yesterday. Already tired. Raining hard off and on, but the outdoors nevertheless a tantalising otherworld with rainbows. I love working at my desk, but only if I can get outside for long periods too. The pitches I've been working on this year beginning to blend into a kind of forever pitch. Today at least the pointless end of day two and a half hour with New York was canned. Nanda is wonderful at her job. It's rare you see someone so good at what they do. She is one of the most creative people I have ever worked with.  Nando, who I am partnered with, is a lovely man, and very easy to work with and we have benefitted from Fernanda's brilliant eye and conceptual flow. Lorraine home after a parent's evening. Eventually, when it was time to plonk on the gold sofa, realised how lucky I am that for me this job ends on Wednesday. For Lorraine it goes on and on.  This morning  a double rainbow glimpsed through my window.

Lorraine and I spent Saturday spent in Zombie mode, recovering from what had been a despicable week at work. I had a nice chat with Mum, pottered about a bit, but had no gas in the tank. I wanted to go for a walk, but there were gales and heavy rain all day, apart from when I got up early to buy bread and take Lorraine and I breakfast in bed and read the Guardian on the phone as the rain started to fall. Worked all day Sunday. Took Lorraine breakfast in bed, then disappeared. For me this job has turned into an endurance test. I am going to take a break after it for sanity reasons. But as a last job and my patience is in the red zone. Especially the 2.5 hour meetings that stretch into every evening with an unwieldy  transatlantic team. Mystifying why squandering dozens of people's time this way is thought good. Right now I feel like I am serving a jail sentence, and haven't wished the days away like this since I was in Chad. Our ideas, of course, are liked. The New York people w

Felt at an absolute nadir this morning, feeling overloaded, out of control, and with nothing but difficult conversations and stress ahead of me. Meetings for the current job, which is being run out of New York, being posted to me to fill the weekend, meaning that this week, which started with a migraine, would  stretch for ten unbroken days. I decided I whatever they said, I was going to take a day off. Luckily during the day lovely Fernanda negotiated Saturday off for the London team, a fact which made me feel a good deal better about things.   Spoke to Keith first thing too as we have been offered work as a team starting Monday which I can't take. Worried that I would lose Keith three weeks work, but luckily that agency found him another writer. My old pal Slug emailed asking about my availability too but was similarly unable to do that either.  However, the way things are working out, I am unbooked from next Thursday -- and will have time off in my birthday week. I am absolutely