under another sun

Recording with Robin, first thing, then after a certain amount of faffing trying and failing to find a workaround for the time lag in my channel when we are recording, which is ruining the quality of what we do. Then a fish pie lunch, and up off to Mum's, arriving at little after six.  The trains pleasantly undisrupted, which made the journey almost pleasant. I enjoyed listening to Will's audiobook, read by him, called The Cut That Wouldn't Heal , which Callum said was his favourite of Will's books. It is a kind of memoir about his father's death. A strange experience hearing him reading it, having just seen him having experienced a bad stroke, and to listen to him describing his mother, days after meeting her myself. Shortly after it really started reminding me of of Knausgaard and then he began to talk about Knaussgaard. Will reads it very well. There is a lot of craft in it, making it fascinating to follow.  Picked up some tortilla chips, hummus, and coleslaw at ...

Up fairly early. I have been having bad dreams, general assorted catastrophes. Just before I woke up I dreamed I had been having an affair. I woke up thinking oh God, what have I done? An immense flood of relief when I realised it was only a dream. Breakfast and teas and coffees with Mum. Neither of us terribly chatty. Mum receiving nice notes from Brad. I will write to him over the weekend, all being well. I am returning to see Mum next Thursday evening, but left her with instructions to call me at any time. Also a list of all the stuff we are doing, and where we are with it.  I feel tired and drained and left mum at about 11.30 am, bumping into Ben outside. A chat with him, then he went in to seem Mum, while I walked to Edgware and caught a bus to Mill Hill Broadway. In great contrast to last Friday, when I trained back to Seaford, the trains were excellent today, and the journey home passed in a blur. Nice to see the sea again, and felt cheery as my train pulled into Seaford sta...

No work. Bliss. Up and breakfast with Lorraine, and she went off to walk and talk with Penny and other ex-headteacher friends I spent a happy couple of hours finalising my reading for tonight's Needlewriters. (Success happens when preparation meets opportunity, I reminded myself). A lunchtime walk, and the luxury of a nap this afternoon. Quite nervous, and bleating nervously to Lorraine once or twice. Pleased Robin and I were reading together which somehow made it feel better.  I'd not seen the rooms upstairs at the John Harvey Tavern so crowded. I counted about 45 people. All my favourite poet friends there, SJB, Charlotte, Janet, Stephen Bone, Antony Mair and Jeremy. Plus there was a delegation from Seaford, Adele, Patrick, Andrew and Kate. Then, greatly to my surprise, old Warwick University pals, Will Leith and Callum Murray appeared, who I first met when I was 19, and then sat in the front row. As I was being introduced by James Ellis, who did a great job all night, I some...

Worked well today, recording the best part of two episodes. Lorraine's last day at work. A cheery day generally, and it was great to have Lorraine home for the next two weeks. Was sent this photo by Sue, an old university pal. Seeing a photo from 40 years ago is like being in a time machine. Here it is. Left to right, Hugh, Sue, myself and Will in the Beaubourg Centre in Paris, late October possibly early November 1979. A happy interlude. We all snuck away from university for a long weekend in Paris. There were several others, including Amanda who I have seen a few times lately, and Scott a very cool American exchange student. I had worked all through the summer in a London Hotel in Knightsbridge, so could afford the trip and the seedy hotel we stayed in. It was great fun. I got in trouble with my personal tutor Martin Warner on my return as I had skipped a tutorial. Never did that again.

Networking A busy day today. Went down to the Quadrant pub to attend the Brighton Social Media Cafe. Mex had let me know about this, and she attended too. A diverse and interesting group of people with a pleasingly geeky undercurrent. I met several interesting people, including having a long and interesting chat with a business advisor called Julia, Mex also introduced me to several other people, and stepping in to big me up in the course of introductions. A nice man called Curtis was saying that he wished his ex-wife would be as nice about him. It was all well worth attending, and I learned quite a bit too. And only about 50% of it from Mex. The cafe will be repeated so I'll pop along again. Then a delicate Thai meal with Toby and Mex. They'd not seen each other for several years and it was all quite jolly. Mex full of news and ideas, as well as vivid accounts of cat handling, her cat Boli. By coincidence I am in the market for a cat too, and may well score one shortly. Fond f...