under another sun

A pleasant morning, getting out of bed late and popping around the corner to score some Chewy Brown, which is now put aside for me on Saturday mornings. A small queue outside the shop. A woman said to me, 'a Guernsey jumper, that dates you'. To which I replied sniffily citing why my Guernsey jumper wasn't just a style choice. Another woman in the queue perked up and said that her parents had moved to Guernsey, St Martin's of course, and her brother lived there too, and she had been there for a couple of years. Made me miss the place even more. Home and Dawn came by this morning, for some coffee and a bit of brownie that I had bought with the bread. Because it is my birthday on Monday, she gave me a book too,  Cast by Isabel Wilkerson, which seems fascinating. Lorraine showing Dawn how to present things on zoom, as Dawn is chairing meetings about green initiatives.  She told us about a date she had been on recently, when the man spoke for hours with only once asking her...

A slow start, and kippers for breakfast. Lorraine made several calls, and I did a little work, then we drove off to Stanmer Park, which was busier than I had ever seen it. Always bemusing to see people who park in the bit of the field designated for car parking, make a picnic a few paces away from the car. However we were soon out of the car into the woods, and there ahead of us on a path in the woods we happened on a couple with a dog: Innis and Rosie and Pippi. We had a very nice walk threading through the woods with them, and pausing at a pond which had children running around it and a parliament of dogs leaping about and into the pond after balls.  Innis was telling me about his good friend who has cancer and is near end of life. Luckily he lives nearby, and he has been able to help and see him lots. The horrid backdrop to the world, doesn't prevent everyday horrible things happening too. These talked about we enjoyed mooching about, walked down a country lane flanked by summ...

Lorraine having to work on end of year reports today, I pottered about doing my own bits even starting a new poem which I had not done for months. Fresher and more like English temperatures today, although it was a gorgeous day. Late afternoon Innis and Rosie called around in their mini and took us up to the upper bits of Stanmer Park, for a second day with a gorgeous walk among trees with Pippi the dog bouncing about like an ebullient lamb. Nice chatting with Innis and observing what a proper photographer looks at when he's stalking about armed with a camera. Came to the edge of a big cornfield at one point, and we all loved the wind moving in it like waves in the sea. Home again and a quick drink in the Park View. I had a gin and slimline tonic, the booze of the more slender gentleman. Fond farewells with Innis and Rosie, and then to the kitchen. Lorraine has bought a hairy bikers cookbook, which has the hairy bikers in it holding out the waistbands of their trousers, for it wa...

Woke up feeling somewhat hungover. Unusually, I had the idea for a complete short story, which, after feeding the cats, I simply wrote in bed for a couple of hours. It is called Little Horrors . Got up feeling seedy and hungover, Lorraine and I were soon collected by Beth and John, Beth having hired a car, and we drove off to Stanmer Park, and had a nice long walk through the woods. Which proved the perfect way to recover. John and Beth charging about picking up the biggest fallen branches to menace each other and Lorraine and I with. Lots of dogs, which Beth and John are all goggle eyed over, having to give back Pippi now Rosie and Innis have returned. John showed me a film of Pippi greeting Rosie and Innis, and the little hound was ecstatic. Very sweet. After we stopped off at a cafe for a cup of coffee and sat outside. We were attended to by tame robins who hopped onto the table to eat crumbs. Beth then drove us expertly home again. Lorraine and I home and snoozed happily in t...

A steady day of work, finishing off an essay I am writing about waiting rooms as part of the top secret waiting room project. Lorraine went off to have her hair cut and saw Beth. Texting Carl today, who is still in hospital and somewhat glum. In the afternoon when I was getting square eyes, and feeling tired, I went for a long walk up to Stanmer Park woods. Enjoyed seeing the earth which had cracked between all the trees in the wood during the heatwave, now back to normal and everything green again. Home at six after walking for a couple of hours, to Lorraine. An idyllic day in some ways, writing and walking and having Lorraine at home. Enjoying these last days of having Lorraine at home. Watched the second episode of the new BBC series Bodyguard, which is tense and watchable. Lorraine reading me The Secret Garden in bed. It is one of those childhood books I love. The descriptions of earth, and spring bulbs and so on are bringing back sense memories. Reading it again after so ma...

A really good day for me. Able to focus, I wrote a poem I really like this morning, among other stuff, then went for a three hour saunter with my boots on down to Stanmer House through the woods in the afternoon, which was good fun. Again very hot and somewhat overcast. I felt tiny spits of rain in the air without it actually raining. The land is parched. Home after four and a hot shower, and some reading of Psalms from the Old Testament. I've systematically looked at these before, and some of them are nasty and violent. In the evening, Lorraine was home early, and we shuffled off to the PPT for some surprisingly excellent fish and chips and some cold beer. Home again early, and we fell into watching on Netflix a series called Glow, about women's wrestling, which was surprisingly good. Walking by the side of a field, and a crow.

No tiler still, but spent some of the day trying to get answers from plumbers. Filled with impotent frustration. Apparently the tiler will not answer the plumber's calls etc. However in the afternoon I took a long walk of exploration, found myself walking, and getting lost in, amazing woodland around and about Stanmer House. There are extensive woods and fields there and loads of walking to be done. However, I forgot my specs so couldn't read google maps, so had to do a bit of doubling back on myself. An amazing walk however, although I post no pictures of being in woods, as my woodland photos always just look like lots of trees. Went to a cafe in Stanmer village, and glugged tea and lemonade and a scone. The long walk helped me feel much happier, and my step counter app said I'd walked ten miles today. Below are photos taken just opposite Hollingbury Hillfort on the opposite side. The sky was really threatening, but there was no rain. There is something in the I Ching,...

Another scorcher, and peace reigned in Kenny towers for the first time in what seemed like ages. Drank coffee and wrote poems on the new and beautiful decking, blessing Clem's cotton socks as I did so.  In the afternoon I walked into the big woods above Stanmer Park, right at the edge of town. I followed the path out onto the downs for a bit too. Quite a strong breeze up there too.  Felt peaceful and at one with myself in the woods. I was listening to a new audiobook by Philip Roth, having not read any of his work before. But I soon took my headphones out in the wood, and listened to the wind in the trees. The woodland floor cracked due to the heatwave and drought. Looking down on Brighton from what seemed afar was good too. I just seem to be in an interlude in my life where I am reappraising everything, and having a mental spring clean, it's easy to spot the things that aren't working in my own practise, but the challenge now is the do things differently. Home having w...

Extra hour in bed last night. Then off to Stanmer Park for a mooch in the woods with Lorraine, walking and talking is always good . Went to look at the donkey well, which was open. One of the two ladies obligingly poured water down the deep well, and we all waited with hushed breath until what seemed like ages later the water at the bottom was disturbed. The well was 203 feet deep apparently. Home, and a late lunch in the Shakespeare's Head, where we were joined by Wayne, Matt and John. Great fun, generally. Home to sleep soundly on the sofa before bedtime. Shunning Match of the Day as Chelsea had been beaten by the accursed Manchester United. Below, around the table at the Shakey's Head: me and Lorraine; Lorraine and Matt; John, Wayne, a pumpkin; a strange statue and back to me.

A spot of tree hugging A quiet day, with a nice walk in a sunny Stanmer Park with Lorraine, who insisted that she needed to hug some trees. She didn't exactly hug them, but there was some prolonged appreciative squeezing of branches, and much running of hands over bark. She also pointed out the green bits inside snowdrops, which I'd never noticed. Stanmer Park is on the edge of Brighton, but I'd never yet been there. After wandering about chatting in the trees, and in Lorraine's case to the trees, we drove back to my place, and toddled off to the Sussex Yeoman where we had a lazy and tasty Sunday lunch, and were recognised from having been there on Friday, which was pretty good. Lorraine is an ideal company for a lazy Sunday. Below are these beavers, bears or badgers?