under another sun

Received a text from Betty wishing me "a happy (evil step) father's day", which was kind of her. Neither of us was feeling particularly ebullient, but we rallied to visit Jess and Andrew in Cuckfield. Had a barbecue outside in their excellent lawned garden, with Winnie their cockapoo dog hilariously zooming about after footballs and tennis balls. A highly relaxing way to spend an afternoon with lovely people and eating a good amount, we went for a short walk into the country with the Winnie, who almost, almost  converts me from my lifelong prejudice against dogs, but not quite. Home late in the afternoon, and went straight to bed and slept for two hours. Then in the evening watched the excellent sixth and penultimate episode of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell , which was a cracker, followed by an episode of the rather good Humans .

Woke up with a sense that obstacles can be surmounted, and that positive sunlit uplands can be reached. An amazingly warm, sunny day. Lorraine had a meeting with a colleague, Sue, in nearby Cuckfield. I came too as they were meeting in a pub with a Wifi. Sue and Lorraine talked about work and I quietly got on with uploading yesterday's blog and drinking coffee and sparkling water catching up with some of my outstanding correspondence and reading The Rialto in which I knew four of the poets, including Robin and her pal Charlotte. Lorraine and I then made off to Brighton where we parked near where we used to live, and walked into town to visit a Solicitor called Wendy who is in charge of our next purchase, which appears to be going smoothly. Then a walk around into the Pavilion Gardens with the intention of having a coffee in the art gallery, but the cafe was closed. It was our only chance to acknowledge that just over a year ago we got married there. Then a mooch about...

Christmas shopping with Lorraine, as there's much to sort out before we go to Japan. Much mooching about and I felt curious flashes of happiness. Having a wife is a good idea, for all kinds of reasons, and certainly transforms the horror of Christmas Shopping into something enjoyable. We turned into an shopping machine too, scything on through the crowds. The shops actually not infernally busy, perhaps due to everyone shopping online, nor was it raining. Met Betty after her morning's work teaching drama school kids. She was tired and end of termish, and had a night's work till gone three to look forward to. We repaired to the Bath Arms briefly, and I think it did her good to see her mum for half an hour over half a Laines best bitter. Home and a quick sprawl on the gold sofa before Lorraine drove us off out into the Weald to Cuckfield to see Jess and Andrew, who took us to a cozy pub called The White Harte Inn where they served quite good Thai food, and ate some of it w...