Nylon beard and a hair cut

Awake before dawn, and pulled the curtains to see the dawn over a grey and Lorraine-less Seaford.  A shower, and breakfast with sleepy cats. A bit tired and wan. Spoke to Lorraine this morning. 

First order of the day was a bit of Santa business. Brian called around with the costume, which I put on at home, and then we drove across Seaford to his house, nobody we passed even noticed Santa was sat in the passenger seat. At Brian's a three year old Jude and baby Sebastian with their mum Annabelle and Yvonne. I found it quite easy to get back into Santa mode, and enjoyed myself immensely. Brian had a list that Jude had written containing two items, a dinosaur and a train. I clarified if the dinosaur was a toy dinosaur otherwise it would be hard to get down the chimney and liberally deployed the ho-ho-hos and Santa banter and the whole thing ended in a certain amount of comedy dancing. Yvonne handed me a glass of port, with a straw, and I sipped it through my nylon beard. Then slipped away with Brian, and was soon back in civvies again. The whole thing had taken only 45 minutes or so, but was funny interlude.

Then around the corner to the pharmacy, had to come back to collect the stuff, so took a brisk walk along the seafront, and bought a cappuccino from a young woman in one of the beach huts. Her view is of the sea all day. Home, and a spot of lunch, before taking a brief from Gabriel -- just to finish off the job. Luckily it is I hope just half day, which I can squeeze in over the next couple of days. 

Then off to Brighton, to see Stacy and get my hair cut. I am noticing the top thinning at an accelerating rate. I suppose I shouldn't complain having had lustrous locks most of my life. Stacy told me that he hadn't had a holiday since 2013. Felt a bit sorry for him.

Then a mooch about Brighton for a small bit of shopping, before training back to Seaford listening to an in-depth interview with Angela Rayner, by Rory Steward and Alastair Campbell, who is the deputy leader of the Labour Party, and overcame a really difficult upbringing, leaving school with no exams, her mother bipolar and she was her carer all through school, had a child at 16 and so on. But she is now deputy leader of the Labour Party. Amazing person. 

Feeling the need to eat and nestle on the gold sofa again tonight. Spoke to Mum, and I am going to see her tomorrow. Horrible moment with Calliope who I thought had broken her leg. She jumped off the sofa arm, onto a side table and slipped on the remote control and fell nastily. Then when I found her in the kitchen she was trying to get into a cupboard which I closed, and I think nipped her paw. Afterwards I noticed her miaowing, and holding her paw and leg horribly and not standing on it. The way she was holding it seemed at a weird angle. With Calliope on my lap, I phoned Lorraine in a panic. But then she seemed okay and was later able to stand fairly normally, and began tucking into food. So I am hoping she is okay. I can't bear it when the cats, especially Calliope, is hurt.  

Went to bed fairly early, and typed this blog. 

Below Brighton under a heavy sky, and bantering with Yvonne, Annabelle and the two bairns and a snap in Brighton.