under another sun

Lorraine collected Enzo and we had breakfast with him, he had a hobbits second breakfast of a pear and Weetabix mix. He adores Lorraine, but does seem genuinely pleased to see me too, which is wonderful. A bit of podcast prep this morning,  then recording some podcast banter with Robin. Just nice to catch up. I've missed talking to her.  Then lunch and playing with Enzo. In the afternoon to Drusilla's. Enzo certainly noticing the animals but when everything is new, a load of prairie dogs are just one more excitement. One monkey came to the window and loomed over him, which Enzo didn't much like. The swing was a great hit though. Grandparents in the car which parked next to us, and the woman talking lots to Lorraine as we left at the same time. Quite a few babies being taken there. Off this evening after dinner Lorraine and I sloped down to the women's institute, and tried to keep the flag shagging neofascists out of local government. What times we live in. Re-read The O...

Election day, and a fairly busy one for me. Lots to do this morning, before walking to Hove to see Helen. On route, I pulled my coat on, and my watch strap came off and my new watch fell to the pavement face first and burst like an egg. Somewhat galled by this. To Helen's. She played me thirty minutes of new music in Act Two of the opera. Some really sophisticated  composing I think. Excellent stuff. Her sons were there too, and I got to meet them before zooming off to the The Boots aka The Duke of Wellington, where Beth and Matt Colborne were rehearsing. Had a pretty good session with them, and a cheeky beer before I walked home, where I was repeatedly plagued by election door knockers from the Green Party, wondering if I had voted yet. When Lorraine came home, we drove off to cast our vote (both for Caroline Lucas). Finally home, and after supper, I started watching coverage of the Election at 10, with their Exit poll predicting a hung parliament. General astonishment at th...

Reeling from the shock election result, which confounded all opinion polls. I stooped to venting on Facebook, something I try to avoid and I shall not duplicate all that here. There is precious little to be gained from venting, and more to be gained from actually doing something. I am pleased however that Caroline Lucas the solitary Green politician in parliament, is my local MP. Wasted lots of the day reading about the fallout of this event rather than doing much actual work. Still it was Friday, and Lorraine and I zoomed off by bus to Hove, where we slipped into the Ashoka, to meet Rosie. People in the restaurant all around discussing the election. Rosie has not been well lately, but scoffed curry heartily nevertheless. And after a good feed, we bused home again. Below Hove in red for Labour, Brighton for the Greens. The remainder of southern England resolutely Tory.

A sigh of relief Finally finished Defenders of Guernsey and got the files off to the printers. Mentally exhausted racing to meet this deadline. However I am pleased with the results. To the gym as an antidote to tense hunching over screens day and night. It felt great. Thence to the polling station, to vote in the council elections, and in the voting reform referendum. I voted yes to change, but only because there wasn't a "er...probably" box to tick. The polling station not exactly thronging when I arrived there a little after four. Campaigns on both sides of the argument full of backbiting and lousily conducted. Maybe it is my age, but the current crop of politicians seem like Lilliputians. Not sure which of the leaders of the three main parties nauseates me more. Thence to The Basketmakers to meet Matt for pints of Seafarers beer. Got talking to a friend of Matt's called Joe who was in a late incarnation of a group called Stereolab some of whose tracks are rather ...

Election day Broke off early to vote. Returning from the polling station, I passed one of my Twitten neighbours who asked me if I'd voted. I said, yes, but that none of them deserved it. And he said he was off to choose the best of a bad bunch. Hardly startling, but the kind of conversation I suspect was played out a million times around the country. The reputation of politicians has utterly nose dived in this country in the last year. In my constituency of Brighton Pavilion, the leading candidates were Caroline Lucas, leader of the Green party, and Nancy Platts for Labour. I overcame my Brown nausea to vote for Labour, tribal loyalties proving impossible to overcome. But I am sympathetic to the Greens too, and Lucas has had an enormous amount of publicity lately, and seems a competent politician and likely to become Britain's first Green MP. Not that that is any kind of recommendation. Contacted twice by wild eyed Labour canvassers during the day, which clearly means it is tig...