under another sun

Saturday, thank God. Managed a much needed lie in before the cats grew pesky, and I sidled down the Ghormenghastly stairs of New Kenny Towers to the kitchen to appease them and make tea. Then, soon after Lorraine and I were up and at 'em, driving around buying paint and other stuff as well as Trading Boundaries where we bought a throw, golden in colour, which Lorraine has fashioned into a harem-like hanging which now shields the north of Brighton from seeing us clamber into bed of a night. There was also a small exhibition of signed Hipgnosis prints of album covers by the likes of Pink Floyd and Peter Gabriel, including the famous prism cover of Dark Side of the Moon signed by Storm Thorgerson. Then home to spend time filling the holes and scars in the walls and then spent the evening watching a ridiculously stupid film called Battleship, where mighty transforming alien craft take on navy ships or something. Really stupid. We also guiltily ate fish and chips again, rather than ...

New Kenny Towers a place of industry. I made a Guernsey beanjar, to christen the house with my bean-based aromas. A BT guy arrived to connect our wifi, as three men arrived with our new washing machine, which is now in the dungeon, as Lorraine and I have dubbed the cellar. Later other men delivered was a dishwashing machine, that I thought I might be able to plug right in, but came with a many instructions, regrettably none in English. My throat now very sore and my neck puffy with swollen glands, and foot still hurts, so today's painting, scraping and rebuilding my office a slog. Lorraine doing governor training, but not too late. Beth back for a few hours too, before zooming off to look after Anton's house while he is in the US, and we all snapped down some beanjar. In the evening, the previous owner helped us decode the mystery of the washing machine plumbing. It means we have to take apart a substantial kitchen unit, and pass the outflow pipe from the washing machi...

Yippee! Exchanged at last and we take possession of New Kenny Towers on 27th of November. Waves of relief as the legal stars finally align. The soul-shriveling years of dealing with solicitors and estate agents and property managers that began with me moving out of the Twitten, renting my house in the Twitten, selling my house in the Twitten, moving into the Old Church Hall, trying and failing to sell the Old Church Hall last year, selling the Old Church Hall this year, moving to Haywards Heath temporarily... the end of all that is arriving in a week and half. Lorraine and I and Betty are moving into the home in Brighton that Lorraine and I have chosen together and have no intentions of leaving. The full joy of this is yet to sink in. There is naturally lots to be done -- and another move to be rapidly arranged, luckily only cats and skeletons from Haywards Heath, then the other stuff stored in Maureen and Pat's garage, and all the stuff we have in storage in Brighton. But all th...