under another sun

Very nice not to be on a train this morning. Felt full of beans and cheerfulness all day, it was a beautiful sunny spring day and I'm beginning to wonder if the months of rain and overcast skies had undermined my mood more than I thought.   I woke up at six and got up at seven, sat at my desk writing for an hour or so, then returned to bed with cups of tea. Lorraine off to Storytime, and then see Pat and Maureen. I went back to my desk and at last finished the first draft of Kansas . It was only this morning that the end, which had eluded me til now, fell into place. The draft is in a fairly finished state. It's just under seven thousand words but will soon be tightened.   This done, I went for a walk around Tide Mills, trying another new path. Home again at a little after two, and Lorraine and Beth were at home. Enzo having been left at the nursery for half an hour without problems, and Beth feeling steady about it. Lovely to see her, and the baby a bit later.   Arranged...

To Morrisons with Lorraine, and then food prep before Innis and Rosie visited with Pippi. Lots to talk about, especially with them getting married this year. Off to Friston Forest for a short walk among trees, Innis telling me about plans for his not a stag stag do. I had privately vowed never to go to a stag do again, but what Innis proposes sounds creative and interesting. Then home to have a couple of drinks and some casserole and bread and butter pudding made with hot cross buns. A fine way to spend an afternoon with a good deal of talking. Telling Innis about reading Raymond Chandler, and he said I should watch The Big Lebowski as it sort of based on The Big Sleep .  In the evening to Seaford Rugby club (they're known as The Scarlets) as it was Debbie's birthday, and she had a big bash there. Among people I knew Kate and Andrew, Andy and Delores who got Andrew  to film them in their TV pitch. A fun evening, with a cracking ska inflected band with a female horn section. T...

An unusual morning. Lorraine and I travelled up to Blackfriars this morning to meet Romy. She was staying at Seacontainers, now a hotel and block full of agencies, some of whom I'd had dealings with over the years, and also it was just along the river from the IBM building I worked at in the nineties. It still feels very familiar there.  Lovely to be able to see Romy albeit briefly. We met in the lobby of the hotel, and sauntered along the river, and stopped for a coffee in the NFT then a small pizza in Gabriel's wharf. For the last few days she's been working between London and Frankfurt. Lots to discuss and catching up on family things, hearing about Dick's baseball oriented trip to the US, Joan, Raine, Toby and the house being gradually reassembled. She'd enjoyed seeing Mum the other day in the White Bear, and was looking forward to collecting the venerable Meatball, now a US resident, on her return. Nice to sit with Romy by the dreary grandeur of the Thames. Sad...

A good morning's writing, although Lorraine called me on the way to work saying Dawn's mum had died. I texted Dawn for both of us while Lorraine was driving. It had not been a surprise, and she had family all around her when she went at home. Personally, I was feeling clearer in the head today. I have been in a bit of a mental fog all week due to Gerald's death and Andy's death and beginning to get twitchy about money. But a week's work has arrived for next week, thanks to my pal Keith, which offers welcome boost to the Kenny coffers, and with a new client to boot. Then off to the gym, also much needed after being locked indoors for the last two days. Walked down with Betty who was also off to her gym for a frenzied personal trainer workout. We left in sunshine, Betty in shades, and by the time we reached Preston Circus we had walked into the cold sea fog which was covering most of the City and crept back to cover the whole town later. I've never known a  wi...

Another misty day. Lorraine dropped me off at Preston Park Station this morning and I went to Gatwick where I met Pat and Barney having gone through security. Off this morning to Newquay to go to Andy Wilson's funeral. Met Pat's second cousin Liz who was with some others who had worked with Andy at a different agency. I got lucky with the seating and had two seats to myself, on the Flybe, and sat by the window. A blanket of cloud broke up a bit over the North Cornwall coast and I could see the beaches of the rugged coast before we landed. The airport smaller than Guernsey and with no luggage we were all through in no time, and into an eight person cab, which hared us off through more mis to the crematorium on the outskirts of Truro, we were slightly late but crept in nevertheless. Andy's coffin there. A misty day here too, and I was interested to see some of the countryside as I had never been to this part of England before. Then, standing about outside, Barney, Pat a...

First of March. Working well on the book this morning. Spoke to Pat about Andy, he is going to go to Andy's funeral in Truro Friday week. I decided I wanted to, and fortuitously, the work I was going to be doing in London with my pal Keith has been bumped for a week, so I booked a flybe ticket to Newquay on the same flight as Pat, another pal Barney will be coming too. Feel happy this is all decided. To the gym late in the afternoon. Only after I was on the cross trainer did I realise that my little towel, unused for some weeks, smelled foul with damp. Felt somewhat self conscious about this, especially as the place was unusually full of students. Accidentally wiped sweat off my face with it at one point, which was a schoolboy error. Walked home, then more work, before breaking off to cook. And welcome Mrs Kenny back into the fold.

Finished the spot of cattle plague work today for my French pals, and then some organising of various bits to do with Edinburgh and so on, and chatting to Sonia who was bemoaning the state of dentists, 'you open your mouth, and it costs you £20'. Lorraine working at school. I took myself off for an enjoyably long walk this afternoon, while listening to the C.S. Lewis book. A nice night indoors, although Lorraine feeling coldy. Spoke to First Matie today, talking about Andy, and a general catch up. Later getting texts from another former colleague Debs about Andy too, as she had just found out. An early night. Below Lorraine and I often look at the lovely shape of this copse.

The dangers of yellow Play-Doh Cheery but busy today - working on a pitch. Working with Andy again, one of my old art directors. He told me a funny story about Play-Doh . Apparently shortly after a birthday where he had been given lots of Play Doh by his colleagues (for art directors are always fiddling with stuff like that) he was in bed trying to get to sleep - he had a big presentation the next day. Sadly there was an enormous amount of noise coming from his next door neighbours. The idea of some kind of ear plug came to mind, and he wadded cotton wool up but this didn't work. Then he had the inspired idea of fashioning ear plugs from Play Doh. When he woke up the next morning, he went to pull the plugs out. Unfortunately these simply crumbled a bit and he was left deafened with dry and hard yellow Play Doh wedged in his ears. Ghastly visit to his doctor, who was unable to remove the plugs, but sent him to the hospital with a letter. He had to visit several departments before th...