A few hours of peace

A few hours of solitude after breakfasting with Lorraine. I continued to sort books out in my study, like meeting old friends again. But also moodily realising that 2023 had been a poor year for my own writing. Almost a complete wash out, except redeemed by five poems accepted in the last month or so. In washed-up hack mode. 

A few other house chores before Christmas. Lorraine drove off to Ashford and collected Pat and Maureen and returned with them at tea time, ready to lap up some tea. Chatting with Mum, after she fed the foxes and nipped out for some teabags. They had been to The Waggon and Horses in the new car.  

I cooked a pasta and chicken thing for everyone, which was rather tasty (sneaking in a little garlic). And had a relaxed evening watching the box. A Sykes programme from the seventies on BBC4, with Eric Sykes, Hattie Jacques and Derek Guyler. An oddly nostalgic experience, probably because I used not to watch the programme much as it seemed dated and slow to me at the time. It was a Christmas episode -- really a stage play, with one set, and a few entrances and exits. Very slow and simple but funny in parts too. I couldn't notice it as a child, but Hattie Jacques had quite a sexy energy. 

Reading Wikipedia I find there was a caged bird in the series called Peter that was a regular character, who Sykes used to talk to. That's quite a nice idea. There was also a character you never saw, Derek Guyler's wife. 

Below Sykes and his 'twin sister' Hattie.