Misty morning

A bad night's sleep, but I enjoyed hearing thunder rumbling in from the Channel, and the brief downpour in the middle of the night -- the first rain of any kind for over a month. The force of it hit further East however, as the garden... It's all about the garden... Could have done with a very long downpour.  

We got up early, and Seaford Head was hidden in mist. Lorraine drove off at eight to Ashford for a day of busyness with Pat and Maureen. It seems Lorraine's niece Claudia is in the UK and will be coming down to see Pat and Maureen soon. I hope we get to see her too, she is lovely.

I did some recording with Robin, although by the end of the day it was clear one of the bits wasn't good enough so we will have to redo it tomorrow. Also I did some writing for a bit, but wasn't on top form due to the absence of sleep.

Off to the gym at lunchtime, listening to Dr Luana Marques read her audiobook Bold Move, a 3-Step Plan to Turn Anxiety into Power -- this is based on CBT and although it is pitched at a basic level, I am finding it useful, and enjoying her Brazilian accent, which reminds me of Fernanda an art director I've worked with, and its slow place means it is difficult to miss the points she is trying to make. Some of it is very practical, her chapter about reframing problems boils down to asking yourself if there is another way of looking at your problem, and what would your best friend say about you in this situation. And instead of skipping I am trying to think through how every idea relates to my life. It is useful. 

Didn't do much at the gym today, simply trundled on the cross trainer for half an hour.

This done, and a walk along the misty seafront. Much of the country gripped by hot temperatures and violent thunderstorms. In Seaford we missed all the thunder and rain, but just near the sea, like we are, there was a cool sea mist over us for most of the day. No trouble with seagulls today, for the first time in a while as I kept all the hatches battened. 

Home and I meditated, and then did a little more writing. Cooked a chickpea-based curry, and did a bit more in my study, before Lorraine returned, and needed feeding and watering. 

A chilled evening and an early night enabling me to read a bit more of  The Apprentice Mage, by RF Foster, being the first of a two volume life of Yeats as Lorraine decompressed from her day in Star Dew Valley. Interesting to read about his time in Bedford Park, Chiswick and how poor the family were then. There were times when I was close to impoverished in Chiswick too, never realising that my poetical hero had probably been scuffing about some of those selfsame same streets.

Below a succulent has bloomed into a lovely SciFi plant.