under another sun

Off up to London again, rather wan and sweaty, however doing good work on the train on my poems, writing decisively and with clarity. Another pleasant enough worm-based day, though an undercurrent of frustration at being so run down and everything a bit of a struggle. Through Facebook, learned from Diane in New York that MJ's son Jack has gone missing for three days. Jack is now 17 and obviously everyone is worried - though he was seen today in his hometown, so hopefully he's not gone too far or come to harm. Went to lunch with Matty boy, who briefed me on something to do with the ghastly pulmonary arterial hypertension over a pleasant, and nicely priced Italian food, with some sparkling water. Interesting chats with him as ever. The shower isn't working properly at the Twitten, so another round of expensive plumber-based activity awaits. Home early, a few minutes before eight. Lorraine still working at her laptop, doing her best to get through a nightmare week, so I ...

Diane June Yikes. There's a felon in the house! Here's my new painting by Diane June called Felon . Diane is based in New York. Last time I was there in 2006, I went to see the Generations 5 exhibition at the A.I.R Gallery. Despite Diane being a friend of mine I can honestly say I thought her work was the most interesting there. You can see more of her wonderful work at re-title.com at neo.images.com and availableart.com Below Felon, and Diane June at the Generations 5 exhibition last year.

A welcome Felon A bit of a Moanday. Dreary weather, and I felt a bit dreary too, despite work being fine. I worked through lunch and left promptly. Finished the audio book about Samuel Pepys, enjoyed it and learned quite a lot too. I read it partly because I am one of the millions who keep blogs. Pepys wrote his in a type of shorthand and left the six leather bound volumes with the rest of his books which he bequeathed to a university library. They were found much later, and were initially rewritten and badly edited. And they were not published unmolested and in their entirety until the 1970s, about three hundred years later. When I started this blog a few years ago, I had in mind some sort of lofty literary journal, but it has turned into more of a diary. Obviously there are a few things I cannot talk about in it, but these are few. When I arrived home there was a note to say that a package had been left with my next door neighbour. It was the painting from Diane June, called Felon . ...

A beer with the boys An early knock on the door just as I got up, and two parcels with photos in frames from Sprinkles, one for Anton and Anna and the other for me. Wonderfully wrapped and presented as you would expect. She really is a tremendously thoughtful person. Worked cheerfully on my poems on the way to work, and feel that at last, there is a strong thread of connection between them. At work The Gnome were cooped up all day, as we had a teleconference at lunch with a lady from Coventry with a cold. However I left work early with the French Bloke as he had an evening pass. We met Matty boy in a pub called the Admiral Codrington for a drink, prior to him going on a date. It felt very altogethery to be in the company of the chaps, although both of them are looking gallingly whippet-thin and healthy. Enjoyed Matty enquiring quizzically of the barman "would it be possible to buy some beer?" as if the idea had just occurred to him. After Matty left for his date, the FB began...

Canned sunshine Up early and decided that today would be all about painting. I have decided to warm up the colours in my house. Have a rich warm yellow and a dark red. I put the red in my study (influenced by my recent trips to Arundel Castle and Brighton Pavilion) and some yellow in my bedroom and in the living room. Felt a bit like a murderer afterwards stuffing red paper and rags into the bin. But the yellow is like painting sunshine on the walls and I love it. Spoke to Sprinkles briefly a couple of times, in the morning and last thing at night, but I was being a bit brain dead both times. But she is home safely, and doing Sarah type-things like having her nails done and seeing her Uncle and Aunt. Meanwhile in the evening, feeling tired and a bit coldy, I watched Fire Walk With Me , the Twin Peaks prequel by David Lynch. Got genuinely creeped out by it at some stages. Laura Palmer's descent into destruction was genuinely horrible, and reminded me a bit of a prototype Inland Empi...