under another sun

The gradual improvement continues. Smell and taste still patchy and a bit of a cough.  Off this morning to sunny Seaford. We saw two properties, the second was a bungalow with a nice sunny garden, spacious and roomy inside. But the area, full of bungalows, gave us the creeps.  The first property was one we both instantly smitten with. A gorgeous house with an immense and beautiful garden. This made us highly over-excitable and jittery with possibilities. Sat by the sea and had a coffee and sat in the sun, with bold crows pecking around and tried to retain a shred of common sense. Home and mooched about for a bit. I was determined to break 10k paces for the first time in weeks, and so mooched up to the Hillfort for the first time in ages. Lovely stuff. Then home to prep some food. In the evening Lorraine and I watched the Joker movie, which was grim and depressing, but quite stylish too.  Below Seaford head, with some blokes fishing, and a bit of the path on top of the hil...

Felt like a busy day. A meeting with Keith discussing business (or its absence) from 8:30, which took some time. Then sending business emails. Then frenziedly running about the house tidying up for the house, and the herculean task of getting Sam out of bed before the photographer and the copywriter arrived to put lipstick on the Kenny Towers gorilla. I also got down the first draft of a new poem, and edited my interview with JO Morgan, and walked just a little shy of 10k paces for the first time in ages.  I am testing negative for covid finally. It has left me feeling washed out, with chesty cough and a very patchy sense of smell. I went for a short walk this lunchtime, and found I was unable to smell flowers.  I squeezed some rosemary in someone's front garden and smelled my fingers, and I could smell that fleetingly.  I collected a curry this evening, tucking into a chicken jalfrezi. I could taste the peppery heat, but little else. Weird. A happy evening on the gold so...

Did some freelance this morning for the first time in a while. However the agency was only able to provide part of the information, so I was only able to do part of the job. I should be grateful and positive about getting the work, but unfortunately my patience is thin at the moment. I went for a short walk in Baker's Park. It felt brilliant to be out again. Did some of my own writing in the afternoon.  In the evening Lorraine and I went to the storage unit to store boxes prior to the photographer arriving tomorrow. Sam chatting with Catherine today, she is helping him understand options for neurodiverse people working in programming. She is a diamond. I had a good chat with Sam before he went out  tonight to see a friend's band. In the evening watched the online launch of Channel Magazine, which has me burbling a couple of my poems around Chris Powici an old pal of mine from Chiswick's Wooden Lambs reading at around 21:34. I sombrely burble some poems at around the 56 minu...

A good deal better today, and was up and about tidying and getting things ready. In the morning three ladies from the house sales team came, and mooched appraisingly about the house, *sounding* very positive through their masks. But then that is their job innit. Then three ladies from Dusty dolls came around and tidied the place up for the first time in ages followed by a bloke who came around to do the EPC check.  All this excitement was a bit tiring. Fish and chips in the evening, which were delicious. 

Having covid on her sixtieth birthday, wasn't ideal. All plans dashed. But we were able to laugh in bed this morning this would at least be memorable. We got up and showered and wore proper clothes. Still Lorraine had lots of lovely presents, and cards and calls and messages including Pat and Maureen singing happy birthday down the phone. I spoke to Kate and Ian as Lorraine was in the back garden. Beth had scampered through the house to sit in the back garden with Lorraine for a bit. Sam collected a curry for us later.  Adele also called around, dropping off a surprise pressie for Lorraine, and we had a distanced conversation.   Dawn called, saying that she and Paul had a near death experience on holiday yesterday, capsizing a canoe in a strong current in a loch. Both where shaken and extremely cold. They had to let the canoe go, and they managed to make the shore, where some angelic drivers gave them a lift into warmth and safety. The day was fine. Although I probably felt il...

A better night's sleep with less coughing. Woke up with a rough draft of a poem in my head. Noticed Lorraine was looking pale this morning, and used the blood oximeter on her, as this worried me as they seemed a bit low. However, her readings were fine afterwards. Otherwise a day much like the previous one, just lurking around not well enough to do much. Texts with Keith, and Mum, and Toby and Anton. Got down the first draft of the poem. Lorraine knitting an entire tentacle of the octopus she is making, and feeling very pleased with the bobble-suckers. By far the best achievement of the day. We zombie watched stuff on TV: Extraordinary Portraits, a lovely programme about matching a person and an artist to do a portrait, Masterchef, about people cooking deconstructed crumbles and the like, and Simon Wilson , a You Tube star from Wrexham, who films himself endlessly travelling around the world getting into all kinds of scrapes. It may just be the covid, but I find it very compelling.

After a feverish night, I finally tested positive for covid this morning. Pleased to actually have the confirmation that I wasn't imagining it. Lorraine a bit brighter today, and actually popped out to the garden for a while talking to the neighbour over the hedge. I attempted to do some stuff on my laptop, but the grey matter not working with any alacrity. Jade back to Scotland early this morning. FaceTime with Mum this morning, who is now able to smile again after her front tooth was mended. I  emailed Robin, and put a post about Lorraine and I having covid on Facebook. Toby and Anton both called too.  Read a couple of short horror stories by Ramsey Campbell and watched a bit of TV. Lorraine and I looking after one another today, and Sam helpfully scoring us paracetamol and sparkling water for me. Below: the obligatory lateral flow shot. 

Ill and spent the day in bed with Lorraine. However it was a nice day, and we had the Juliette windows open to let in fresh air. A poor night, exhausting problem-solving dreams and waking up continually with painful coughing, headache, sore throat and sinuses, and generally feeling exhausted. Negative test, but nurse Lorraine assures me I have covid. I was convinced I wouldn't get it, but hey ho. Spent the day in bed, and slept heavily this afternoon. I was looked after by everyone else. And Lorraine and I were brought up some vegan food in the evening that Jade had delivered.  Lorraine feels a little better, however, which is excellent. But the timing of this covid is horrible for her birthday on Friday. I feel really disappointed about that. Texting with Toby today. Sent him these photos which I snapped in bed. The cats delighted with us being so sedentary today.

Taking care of Lorraine today, she seems not too bad. I cooked this evening but then felt really tired afterwards. During the day did a bit of editing on my interview with JO Morgan, and tried to do some writing, but felt quickly weary. In the evening feeling as if I were coming down with something ominous, and went to bed early. 

Lorraine is ill, but not alarmingly so. When not taking care of my wifey, I did some window cleaning, and washed the front porch area, and cooked, and made Lorraine Scoobysnacks and so on. Also did some writing. Jade is improving now. She has been here for a week, and it feels so strange that we have hardly spoken for days till today. She ventured briefly into the garden. A beautiful day. We had the Juliette windows open all day in Lorraine's room, so the room was full of fresh air and sunshine. 

So Lorraine got up early this morning and brought up a cup of tea, an effort that made her feel quite shattered. She took a lateral flow test and this was positive, and spent the rest of the day, quite sensibly in bed. She has a cough, and has had a slight temperature. The main symptom is tiredness though, but I did all I could to make her feel okay.  I walked off to Patcham and picked up Calliope's thyroid medicine. It is in liquid form and involves us squirting a small amount down her throat with a little syringe. She seemed very calm about it, and remained very calm and happy all day, as if the medicine had taken an immediate beneficial effect. The rest of the day in Florence Nightingale mode, looking after my lovely wifey going up and down stairs like an ant carrying foods and drinks and making sure she was okay and feeling her forehead and so on. We have a blood oximeter, which I bought a while ago and her oxygen levels are good. I worry about this a bit as she has been prone ...

A beautiful, warm Good Friday. Spent time pottering in the garden, and painting the white things in the front, now that our new concrete path is laid. Also Lorraine and I had cups of tea on the back terrace. There is almost enough lipstick on the gorilla now.  A quiet day otherwise, with both of us lacking energy. Jade still unwell and coughing. Cooked chicken and ate it with salad. Felt oddly famished this evening. 

Off this morning to see Stacy and get my hair cut. A new person working there now, in the side room, a woman who was cutting the hair of a lustily screaming child. Women standing about behind Stacy's chair chair gossiping as if they owned the place. A far cry from the brand of stilted masculine chitchat that is the norm there. Some eye rolling going on among the more established barbers. All quite funny.  A little bit of writing, and recorded a video of myself reading Snow on the Hillfort , and Sahel Sunset , for the Irish magazine, Channel for the launch its sixth issue. Took me a while to remember how to make a video, but it went okay. Home and a spot of jet washing the decking and Lorraine and I doing bits of gardening. The vets phoning with the results of Calliope's blood test, she has hyperthyroidism. Difficult even contemplating life without my furry little daemon. Luckily, there are treatments but they are expensive.  Spoke to Mum who said she had been a bit depressed. ...

Poor Jade unwell and in isolation, watching videos on her laptop.  Lorraine and I zooming about bit. We took Calliope to the vets, to have a blood test. She suffered having her chest shaved and injected with barely a whimper. Amazing. Later we drove off to Lidl in Hove where we did some shopping, and bought some of their cheap and tasty lager among other things. We like shopping there.  Lorraine logged onto her email and there is a parent kicking off in a demented way, which made her feel stressed. Soon there will be a time when this is all behind her. We worked in the garden potting up plants that we bought yesterday in Ashford. A relaxed evening indoors.

Up fairly early this morning. Could hear Jade coughing in bed. Lorraine drove us and Beth off to Ashford today to see Pat and Maureen. Had to be rerouted due to the enormous tailback of lorries caused by complications due to Brexit, the PO shipping crisis, etc. etc. We went off to a garden centre for lunch, I had a nice baked potato. We all bought some pot plants, for when viewers come round to look at our place. Both on good form, and keen to learn more about our plans to move house.   One of Pat and Maureen's neighbour pals dropped in, a nice woman called Janet Pooley that Lorraine has known all her life. Her son now lives in Kingsbury. On the way back heard that Jade had taken a covid test and has this time tested positive. We hadn't seen her this morning, and she is now isolating in Sam's room. I am hoping now, selfishly enough, that Lorraine and I don't get it too and have our Easter disrupted too. Bloody covid is a pain. And I feel sorry for Jade who just wanted t...

Monday... So lots of clearing up prior to having David an estate agent round. He had details of every property that has sold in our area this year. He confirmed what we had thought: that it is very much a seller's market. Apparently there is a diaspora from London, and a recent Sunday Times article saying the Fiveways area (where we live) is one of the best for families in the country (there are four good schools within walking distance) means that houses like ours are going like hot cakes. So selling may well be easy, but that means buying could be correspondingly difficult.  Lorraine and I have both dealt with estate agents in this town lots over the years, and David seemed to be fairly on the ball and we liked him. He gave us a valuation and a suggested guide price. Felt like a big step, but a good one. 

Up and we walked down to Catherine and Tanya's place on Muesli Mountain where we met them, and Guy and Tim and drank a bit of bubbly. Really good to see everyone, and it feels like the turning of a page somehow from winter into spring. Turns out that Catherine and Tanya are thinking of moving soon too, but only a couple of streets away.  Then we all walked down to Ship Street for lunch. Had a good catch up with Catherine, before we had reached  Petit Pois, a lovely cafe restaurant with a French owner. Really good food, and very reasonably priced too. I was sitting opposite Tim, and we had the best conversation we'd ever had about memory and myth and childhood and so on. From there off to the usual ice cream place where we sat outside licking lovely ice cream. Guy is such a natural story teller. He can talk about something as trivial as a dream he had last night and make it completely compelling.  Fond farewells with everyone -- I didn't talk to Tanya due to where we were ...

Sam off to Leeds today, where he is going to meet Jade. Lorraine and I had a free day, and the first one of her holiday. We had a very happy day today. We drove Beth and James off to a village called Upper Dicker, which  I found impossible to say without thinking of Carry On comedian Sid James. It was the wedding of James's cousin, who he is very close to. Then onto Seaford, which is not far. We parked in the centre of town, and mooched about and ate in a cafe called Grumpy's where we had some lovely grub at a really nice price. It closes at five, and reopens at six with the addition of candles and becomes a bistro.  We then went into four estate agents to register with them, and have conversations. Seems weird to be doing this kind of thing again, but fun. After this we walked to Steve's house where we had a glass of beer at his place. A lovely garden with a view from the bottom to a pond below. It also had a hidden man cave reached through the side of the house, which he ...

Up early and off to Edgware after I did some writing and a wee bit of stuff for the podcast. Turns out the people we have asked to concrete our front path were to start today. Nine o'clock, shortly before I had to leave, a bloke started hammering outside. The broken concrete path came up easily. I walked down to Preston Park again, and trained it up to Mill Hill Broadway. The faux first train compartment offering me the opportunity to do some work up to St Pancras away from the hammering. Met with Mum and Mason at the Jolly Badger, which is a Harvester. Sam said yesterday to ask for the 'set' menu. There was a senior set there, including an 80th birthday party and one overworked waitress, who kept saying no worries . Mason seeming okay given the alarms early in the week. I had a rack of ribs, and two pints of Guinness. Chatted to Mum, reminding her that she was not alone and to ask for help if things get difficult. Mason able to wander off to kindly pay the bill, and of cou...

Recording with Robin this morning, and talking to Mum to see how she and Mason were. Then set off at lunchtime to go to Chiswick to get my gnashers checked by Lucinda. Raining enthusiastically when I walked to Preston Park, luckily I took my old golfing umbrella. Trains cancelled and delayed, so that I almost turned back after waiting on the platform and seeing my travelling time shrink. Luckily the train gods were with me, and I had a seat in faux first, and did some work for a bit, before changing at East Croydon and Clapham Junction. Having spent so many hours of my life at both, almost nostalgic to go through them again after two years of not commuting. Enjoyed the train ride to Kew Bridge from Clapham too, a glimpse of a former life. Reached the dentist with a slim minute to spare.  Teeth all good according to Lucinda. I felt as if I had been given a gold star when she said that I take good care of them.  A long wait for the train at Kew Bridge, the wet platform steaming ...

Improving from whatever was ailing me. Off into town with Lorraine who had to go to Specsavers. Her visit there lasted well over an hour, giving me time to do a bit of window shopping in the lanes for an hour or so.  Returning to see what was keeping her, I simply walked past the shop, should have gone to Specsavers , I thought having been brainwashed by the advert. After a bit we found ourselves outside the studenty pub the East Street Tap, which is just around the corner from Chalk and simply went in for a glass of cider. I'd not set foot in there for over two years. Loud music and tables and chairs like those of a cheap factory canteen. But still not without charm. The in the gents the urinals are made from metal kegs, with the name of the old beer Courage stamped on them. A message there about what beer turns into. Also some graffiti: Prince Andrew is a sweaty nonce . I don't remember having seen graffiti about royalty before, and never so accurate.  We were hungry, but e...

Another good night's sleep. Cheerier and more energy. My lovely wifey bring me a cup of tea in bed again.  And no April fooling. Went for a walk for half an hour or so around Blaker's park and nearby streets. A little flurry of fine snow again when I was out. I took a snap, and nothing showed up. Listened to an interview Robin has done for the podcast. She did a brilliant job.  Wrote a bit more of Storage , and started reading a book of poems by Mary Oliver called Dream Work. Tracey had lent me a copy of one of her later books years ago, but I didn't connect with it at all.  But it is love at first sight with this collection. Reaching out from 1986, when it was first published, to a geezer in 2022 who feels an absolute sense of connection and recognition. Writing and reading really is a kind of magic. Some poetry collections on your bookshelf are like friends.   Feeling much cheerier and more relaxed generally. Not flogging myself for a bit, feels great. Spoke t...