Under glass

Up hideously early to go to the dentist in London. Arrived at icy Seaford station at 06:50, but there was no train for over an hour -- either as a hangover from the strike yesterday, and later this week or the icy rails or both. There was no way I would make my appointment on time. Gah. I had to cancel the  appointment and sheepishly blame the trains.

Home again, I took Lorraine a cup of tea up and decided make an early start on the concepting work for mes amis in Paris, plus writing the copy for the latest podcast which was uploaded today and featured an interview Robin had with Matthew Stewart, plus bloopers and other general banter. At my desk an overnight rejection from the agency in New York. No surprise there. 

Working all day, but a very happy day.

Sent the copy that Tim Relf had written for his bit about Planet Poetry in Poetry News.

Lorraine up early and excitedly. A man came shortly after the sun rose, to assemble the glasshouse in the garden. He had driven from Norfolk that morning, and worked outside all day till he finished shortly before sundown. Really exciting to see the glasshouse take shape. Lorraine highly excited and really happy today. Spending some of the day Lorraine experimenting with drying thin slices of oranges to use as decorations. Filled the house with a lovely smell. Also Adele called around this morning for coffee for a cheery chat. 

I had enough of work around sundown too -- having started early, and came out and took a photo of Lorraine, and we stroked the glasshouse for a bit. It seems huge, probably because it is empty, but it is 12 x 8 feet. I hopped off to the gym, walking down the back way past the frozen Blatchington Pond. Ooofed about with a few light and wussy weights plus half an hour on the cross trainer. I really like this gym.

Home and I stopped off in Tesco Express to buy some chicken thighs. Missed them entirely on the first circuit of the place. Bumped into Adele and had a chat with her. We said goodbye but she was heading in the same direction. I started yelping at her not to keep following me. She got her own back when I walked out of the door with my chicken thighs for some reason setting all the alarms off, to the sound of Adele calling out that she hoped I wasn't stealing the thighs etc.

Lorraine, busy wrapping presents, had also cooked lots of baked vegetables, with chicken flavoured with sumac which was delicious. A restful evening on the sofa with cats and an early night.

Below Lorraine inside her brand new greenhouse, and a house reflecting the last of the sunset as I walked to the gym.