under another sun

First full day on a new job with Keith, working with an agency I have worked for before, but with new people at the helm. Slow progress on a baggy brief. My favourite moment of the day was Keith saying how much he had enjoyed Top Gun Maverick. Tom Cruise looked great he said, suddenly pumping a small dumbbell.   After work walked down to the gym again, and bumped into Adrian and had a nice chat with him on the street outside the Duke of Yorks. They like to spend lots of time in their place France, but Brexit is making that difficult. We both cursed Brexit and the causes of Brexit. Otherwise he and Di are fine despite having had covid lately. Teatime gym busy, but pleased I went. Either I am very fat or I have body image dysphoria. I strongly suspect the former.  Came home showered and prepared dinner. Sam went to Peterborough today to obtain a new passport, but did not stay with his Dad in London as planned, instead he repaired to the Park View after his long trek. He is going...

Lorraine and Beth off to Ashford for a day's pampering in a spa, then collecting Pat and Maureen and bringing them home. I spent the morning running about in my boxers free as a bird about to go on holiday, and tying up a few loose ends before next week. Went round to see Janet and Ken dropping in to the Real Patisserie for some treats. Ken particularly drawn to the ginger chocolatey ones. Janet showing off a spectacular piece of embroidery she'd just mounted. All gold and dusty blue. Then back to the gym where I had a pretty good workout, and felt quite pleased with myself afterwards and less guilty about the fancies I'd eaten. Home, and Di Turner was kind enough to stop off with a gorgeous print by Adrian of the old pier, a wedding present which we will have mounted. Then Lorraine and Beth returned, fully pampered, with Pat and Maureen. Good to see them looking well and we had an enjoyable evening in with them eating chicken stew.

So a migraine in the night, and spent today recovering from it. A quick teleconference this morning at nine, before I devoted myself to slumping about. I chatted with Mum on Facetime, as the woman next door to her danced out invitingly in her nightie as is her wont. Looking forward to being with Mum in Guernsey in a few weeks. This is a carrot of niceness on the horizon. I was sufficiently recovered late this afternoon to get to the doctor for results of bloods. Bumped into Adrian en route and I blurted about Chad, and showed him my new camera which I bought as a reward to myself. It is rather spiffy. I took some shots of nothing in particular just to try it. At the doctor my bloods were okay. Not diabetic and cholesterol not too bad. I took the opportunity to score some tranquilisers for the four flights. I really like my doctor. We had a good laugh about stuff, and I offered to show him my jackal bites when I got home. Walked home too, through the park as the sun set. I love this...

Got out of the wrong side of the bed this morning. Grumpily got on with kindle-readying the marketing stuff, and sending some more words to Helen. Mood a little better, in the afternoon I made off to Helen's place on the bus, which went down along the seafront again. Lots of folks on the beach lapping up the sun that arrived this afternoon. Helen and I working on what can now only be described as an Opera. She played me the first 12 or so minutes of the first section on Sibelius, and it sounded very good, organically whole and effortless. I was very impressed. Another section, which is a Love duet is done too and a similar length, and Helen has other sketches and bits. Then we had a lengthy discussion about content of the next section, and of pre-Socratic philosopher  Parmenides  whose thinking Helen is rather keen to bring into proceedings. My challenge is to do so in a stabby, fighty, passionately operatic way. I walked home to find Lorraine at home. Feeling irritab...

Another poor night's sleep, but slept in a little. Downstairs for leisurely cups of tea and coffee with Mum and Mas. Over breakfast, I was sent a lead from a friend for a client I'd love to work with, but as I followed it up during the day the opportunity had evaporated, still an interesting new contact. Ate toast chatted to Mas about his latest project which involves desalination of water, and mum gave me a lemon scented geranium, and drove me off to Mill Hill Station. The plant smelling lovely all the way down to Brighton. Home fairly straightforwardly and back to work this afternoon, but not before eating a bowl of miso and noodle soup in the garden. There is a purple lilac tree at the bottom of the neighbour's garden which overhangs ours, and it is scented and gorgeous. The plants we put in the other day have survived, thanks to Lorraine putting in cat baffles such as circles cut from plastic bottles into the ground. Lorraine and Beth both out this evening, so when ...

The best night's sleep of the year so far. Here and there this morning. Down to The Old Church Hall, to pick up a bundle of post, that despite postal redirection is still being delivered to the wrong address by the incompetent Royal Mail. A bit galling. Also around the corner to pick up framed pictures, the nostalgic Tales from Topographic Oceans Roger Dean poster, and two photos by Adrian that we'd finally had framed for our new house. Then home, and then out again, this time on foot, to stroll across the park, then up to Seven Dials where we popped into Anton's house to give Klaudia her present, as she was 11 yesterday. I gave her a Golden Ticket to a mystery theatrical night out with her Godfather so I can say no more here. Klaudia getting ready to go off to a James Bond party, and emerged after Lorraine put her hair up looking very sophisticated.  Got to hang out with Oskar while Klaudia was getting ready, sitting with him as he whizzed through one of his computer ...

A novelty horror-free day. Lorraine, poor thing, had to be up at six in what is turning out to be a bit of a week from hell work wise.  I was up and about before seven. Worked today on the business book, caught up with a little correspondence, including from Joan who had sent a note wishing Lorraine and I well. Writing to her made me long to visit Deviation Road again. It's like Tom Bombadil's house out there on Deviation Road in Ontario. Spoke to Janet and arranged a cup of tea with her and Ken tomorrow. They were pleased to hear about Lorraine and I. In writing the book I am having to read up a lot about Ensō , which I have decided is my latest craze. These are pictures of circles drawn in one stroke by calligraphers influenced by Zen. They require an empty mind, and how you ink your circle reflect the way you are tuned into the world. I love the idea of painting an Ensō every day, and have been thinking and writing about circles a good deal, even creating one of sorts th...

Bumped into Adrian this morning, telling me about struggles to get the council to remove graffiti from brickwork, blasting it off himself, before the Green run council agreed too late to remove it. Told him I saw press coverage of Brighton's ruling Green party with a 'Wilting Greens' headline. Betty at home but snoozing through the day. L and I went into town to watch The London Gay Symphonic Wind orchestra in a free event in the Dome. Called en route by Matt who told us to come to the Brighton Tavern first. This was thronging with cowboys and squaws and so on.  Matt had entered The Tavern Stampede, see photos below, this involved half a dozen or so folks pelting down the street to return in coffee bean sacks, asking for a cowboy blow job cocktail, and some business of changing shirts. All rather hilarious. Thence to the dome with Matt and John, now sporting a white stick, to hear the London Gay Symphonic Winds. Rather good actually, playing everything from Elgar's ...

After Quorn sausage and fried onion sandwich for brunch then off to see Adrian and Diane who were having 'a drawer sale' on behalf of Macmillan Cancer, i.e. work that had been in his plan chest drawers. We were able to buy prints of Adrian's amazing seascapes at a bargain price. And we bought two, and had coffee and chatted, listening to Adrian's jukebox. Then into Brighton for a bit of non-nosebleed-inducing shopping after which, we walked down to the seafront, wandering into Jack & Linda Mills' prize-winning Brighton Smokehouse, where we bought locally caught kippers served piping hot in a bread roll. Simple and delicious eaten looking out to sea on Brighton Beach. Home for an evening of lounging. Watched the recent Prometheus movie on TV, and really enjoyed it. I wasn't expecting too much, having heard the disappointment of Alien fanatics. Wish I'd seen it in the cinema now. Lots to enjoy and some genuinely horrible moments. Less single minded th...

Back on The New Idea, and benefiting from a break from it with another major ah-ha moment and worked for many hours. I think this is sufficiently a good idea not to be blurting about it yet. Hobbled to Sainsburys to meet Lorraine after work, where I bumped into Adrian Turner over the veggies. L and I trying to buy slim foods. Ate aforementioned slimming foods, but she cooked some chocolate and beetroot brownies tonight to take into a team meeting, and I was undone. Delicious. Rewarded for walk to supermarket with tiresomely painful foot. Managed to watch football, and listened to a few more chapters of  Moby-Dick , which in its slow unfolding becomes increasingly gripping journey into the unknown and mental collapse. I wonder if it was an influence on Conrad when he wrote  Heart of Darkness . Must find out.

Hail and hearty Buzzing around town today. Beautiful blue skied day after the morning rain stopped, interrupted by hail from a single humongous cloud. Had a long chat with Sophie. Into Resident Records to discuss them taking CDs (unlikely I'd say) got my specs fixed after I squished them carrying in boxes of CDs the other day, then met Dipak for coffee in the Marwood to discuss music in a sagacious fashion. Heard some of the new material he and Richard and working on, and it sounded amazing. Then off to see Di and Adrian for a cup of tea and give them two CDs as Adrian photographed Matt I and the musicians, then off to Simon Scardanelli to give him a couple of samples. Thanks to Adam Bushell the PA is all sorted for the concert. Things are taking shape, now I just hope some folks show up for it. Otherwise we're going to look a bit sheepish. Heard from the French Bloke this evening. Turns out they won the eyeball pitch I worked on with Keith at the beginning of the month. Nice o...

Moving the big things Up early, with Calliope noisily exporing her new environs of the bedroom. Lorraine and I back blearily early to the Twitten. Cath and Dawn very kindly arrived to help. Then Steve and Lance, the 'nice man big van' guys sparked ant-like ferrying along the twitten, past the talkative man waiting for his drugs, and into the back of the big van. Dawn seemingly able to carry her own bodyweight. Beyond, the centre of town unnusually lively around the station with Brighton football supporters, who played their first league game in their new ground up at Falmer. At the end, Lorraine reminded me to lock the back door of my house, and I walked in again, noticing my footfalls echoing, and I felt a moment's contentment. I've had a great time at that house, but I am ready and very happy to move in with Lorraine. I left the aquarium there to be collected in a day or so. At The Old Church Hall, a mere five minutes away, Betty and Mark were ready with te...

Ho-hum Rain tumbling from the gloomy Monday sky. Another twitchy morning in The Summer Suck, and between twitching I sorted out posters and flyers for Pack of 3 . Learned next week's work in London is not now happening. I am going through a streak of this kind of thing. But this is good news as I can bring my house move forward by a week, which will banish this limboish feeling. Once this is done I have to seriously focus on generating doubloons, as I can see the wooden bases of the Kenny offers. Visited Di and Adrian to talk to them about the photos I need, and discuss many and several topics. Talked to Lorraine who has the tired/cold lurgy, and I had little cheer to bring her. Worked till 11:30pm tweaking the CD cover. Design and art direction is a thief of time, you can be working away quite happily and realise that three hours have gone. Below between rain had a quick walk down by the sea. Hard to credit this is July. And one of Mum's new cat heads. We had a long chat this...

Photographs Hard disk passed away in the night. A few words were said, followed by an arm-thrashing dance. (Typing this on old steam-driven laptop I'd given to Lorraine). Limbo-ish day. Rehearsed my lines for This Concert for some hours in the morning then followed Brian Eno’s advice: if in doubt, tidy up. Spoke to Mum and Mas. Mum said she had been working on her heads. This summons several images and only after some time do large painted big cat heads come to mind. In the afternoon I went to see Adrian and Di. Adrian showed me the shots he had taken. Miraculously, given there were minuscule amounts of light in the place, he has created some wonderfully evocative images for us. In one or two I don’t look too porcine, which is nice. Some lovely shots of Matt conducting and looking intense. Enjoyable chat with Adrian. Di saying that this month would bring abundance for a Chinese feng shui reason. I hope she's right. Chastened by man mountain pictures, sped off to the gym for ...

Hard drive An eye test first thing this morning. Nice optometrist who said he started off as an electrical engineer, but married to an optician who, he noticed, was earning a lot more money than him. No appreciable deterioration in my mince pies and their insides good too which, having written at length about eye injections, is pleasing. Dell helpline: call started at 11am and after four phone calls, the problem was diagnosed as being as a doomed hard drive at 4:15pm. Felt like Dante in Purgatorio with an Indian call centre Virgil. Cheekily having diagnosed a hardware problem, they tried to sell me software support for a year. An engineer will come to replace my hard drive, which of course means I will have to set up my computer from scratch again. The problem also prevents an automatic backup so I am forced to laboriously copy everything across to my external hard drive, file by file, email by email. Gah. While I sighed in my study, there was a huge end-of-the-world thunderstorm over ...

Barbecue of beers Lots of admin this morning. Fairly satisfying to biff through things, including working out at last how to send email from peterkenny.co.uk, which involved a week of helpdesk emails. Met Mark for coffee to discuss the Marlborough theatre dates at the end of Tuesday. Mark's pirate idea sounds very funny. Discussed Betty the Spacegirl too, and talked about the branding for the show. Both came out in a happy place. In the afternoon off to Di and Adrian Turner's studio to discuss the photoshoot next Tuesday. Adrian is going to mooch about during the rehearsal and snap candid shots of us. Always enjoy popping into see them, Adrian printing off prints of his beautiful seascapes as we were talking. Really looking forward to having a proper photographer work on the project. To the Marlborough Theatre to drop off an envelope, before repairing to the inevitable Basketmakers. There had been a planned barbecue, but the unreliable weather put the kibosh on it, so we all w...

A Beacon Up early thanks to Calliope. Felt run down, blocked up, and with a persistent sicky headache. Did however have another cracking hour or so on poems, which I am so pleased about I don't really want to say more in case I hex myself. Also pushed on slowly and surely with Betty the Spacegirl and have agreed with Di and Adrian Turner to take some photos of us for the CD - which is spendid as Adrian is a top photographer. Phoned The Sussex Beacon who Matt and I want to give a proportion of the earnings from the CD to. Not only is this good karma for the project, but it is also the place where my friend Tim Gallagher found some real respite in his last months. Spoke to Mum who was 'working on her head', another cat head as it transpires. Also to Matt to discuss various business things. The Barbarie's email newsletter, Barb Wire, mentions Defenders of Guernsey which is rather nice. In the evening off to Lorraine's house where we popped around the corner to pi...

Raining poets in London Sleeping-pill assisted sleep made me feel much improved today, although still unaccountably edgy. But cut through things quickly, sent copies of Defenders off to an agent and to Shaun Shackleton at the Guernsey Press. Also contacted The Sussex Beacon about the CD project, went to see Adrian and Diane about photographs, taking in dozens of spangly high heels Adrain is shooting. Was made a lovely cup of coffee and had a nice chat with both. Off to London, plans changing at the last moment so took myself amid torrential rain to the poetry library in The Royal Festial Hall. Had a strange sequence of coincidences all relating to people I knew really well in the early 90s. Wandered over at random to pick up a copy of Acumen and it fell open at a poem by Rhona McAdam, an old friend. Next magazine I picked up it fell open at a review of the excellent iTuplips by Mario Petrucci, another old friend. Wandered aimlessly along the shelves and Tim Gallagher's Narcissus G...

Framed In the afternoon I went to visit Adrian and Di Turner at their studio, and saw some excellent portrait work Adrian had been shooting. Di and I went for a coffee afterwards at what is becoming our usual place. They are preparing to go to Arles for the photography festival where Adrian has a show. I gave them a copy of A Guernsey Double as something Di had said to me in the cafe a few months ago had informed my poem The Little Chapel . Adrian's work looks spiffy here . His seascapes are simply fantastic, and these are what they are showing in Arles.

Photos and poems Big steps forward with A Guernsey Double , Richard and I are close to agreeing a cover. I took myself out to the magic cafe in the afternoon and worryingly found about five things that needed to be fixed in the poems. The perspective of not looking at them properly for a couple of weeks. But I am comforted by WH Auden who said something to the effect that he never finished a poem, only abandoned it. Also popped in to see Adrian Turner's photos in an exhibition in Kensington Gardens in the laines. His seascape photos look fantastic at a larger scale. Lorraine came by this evening, and we occupied the gold sofa and did nothing, which was almost perfect as I am feeling under the weather. Below some shots by Jane Wrin of This Concert will fall in love with you Matt conducting, Glen on piano, Adam on vibraphone, Ellie on violin, me, and Tom on marimba. Lorraine third from the left singing.