under another sun

Charleston Forgot to mention yesterday that the front of the oven, which is glass, burst apart shortly after Lorraine had cooked. Lorraine thankfully insured, and mysterious glass explosions are covered amazingly enough. An atrocious night's sleep. There are two black cats who live locally who Basil and Brian have been warring with. They invaded at about 4pm and Lorraine and I started awake to the sound of a riot downstairs. Sam called Lorraine at 6:30am with the excellent news that his place at Leeds University had been secured, and called later having learned his A level grades. A fabulous two As three Bs at A level. Bookcases were delivered. These have been recycled by horny-handed gentlemen of Brighton from wood used by scaffolders. A late breakfast then with the Tobster and then off to Charleston House , home of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, and haunt of the Bloomsbury crowd, including Vanessa's sister Virginia Woolf, E.M. Forster, John Maynard Keynes and many o...

Mum in hospital again Just sitting down gleefully to get on with some of my own writing when Mas called up to say that Mum was in hospital again. Put off my stroke by this. In the evening I spoke to him and he said they were hoping she would be home again in a day or so. I hope so. If not I will shoot back up to London to visit her. After spending hours staring at the screen, or reworking a story in a way that made it far worse, I went to the gym. Nice to be back there as paunch evil currently outranks knee evil. Then had a haircut and returned to faffed about ineffectually, diverted only by a card through the door from the police about an incident in the Twitten a couple of Saturday nights ago, when I had been snoozing happily in Lorraine's house. The Twitten is a magnet for ne'erdoewells. As I walked out to the postbox this afternoon, there was a woman a few yards away waiting to score. On returning I saw the dealer and the woman walking away briskly. They might as well be pa...

Head banging Received confirmation today of my meeting in Guernsey about the anthology. Now to get the presentation in shape. Very excited about all this. Otherwise, up to briefly babysit a poorly Klaudia this morning, while Anton took Oskar to nursery. Later to the gym where I had quite a good and sweaty workout. I feel lots fitter but am still fat. Persisting is the only thing I guess. A walk this evening down by the sea taking a few snaps. Stopped in the Cricketers and had a pint, and scribbled a mindmap and felt much better, having spent hours banging my head against a brick wall of two pages that after protracted hours of work were considerably worse than when I started. Some days you just have to admit defeat. Instead I watched the second season of The Inbetweeners DVDs which Anton lent me this morning. Love it. Below some seafront photos in twilight.

High on Sunday Relaxed brunch at Bills with Lorraine, Anna and Brian. Luke-warm cucumber juice wasn't great, but the rest of it was fine. The place thronging, and good to gossip with everyone. Brian between jobs at the moment, but not panicking. In the afternoon, Lorraine and I went up to Devil's Dyke, which is like the top of the world for Brightonians. Very clear to the distant North Downs, and south to the sea. It was busy with people sunbathing, and having picnics and flying kites. Being surrounded by emptiness on both sides makes me feel like falling upwards into the sky of course, but I still enjoyed it. Home again to do some work, and then watch the DVD of the first series of The Inbetweeners , which Anton lent me. It had me hooting with laughter. Wonderfully observed, and hilariously offensive in a totally authentic 17 year old boy way. Below a shark kite, and picnics for all.