under another sun

A nice breakfast, and speaking to Mum,  L off to Eastbourne to see the Wizard of Oz with Beth and Enzo, in a production done by Beth's theatrical pals. The show greatly enjoyed, and Beth got to introduce Enzo to lots of friends. I made off to Brighton, and spent the afternoon with Anton playing dominoes and catching up on events since February, when we saw each other last. Wheelbarrow loads of news, and some of it difficult such as his Uncle John being seriously ill.  Anton's few days away in Spain with Camino very stressful due to worrying about the family, surviving the downsizing at work and so on. Thankfully my godbairns Klaudia and Oskar doing well. Also during the course of the afternoon learned about Anton's new craze, which is a sort of leather writing folder, and going to sit in quiet corners of pubs writing thoughtful and intriguing letters to Camino.  We met in the garden of the Battle of Trafalgar. This old favourite of ours, now a ghost ship under new owners....

By bus to Brighton just after noon. Unusually, it was not pouring with rain. I got off at the Sealife Centre, and walked along the front, enjoying the crashing heavy waves, and the seagulls flocking above the hardy tourists on the pebbles.  I cut up to The Hole In the Wall, the hidden local's pub Anton and I have managed to overlook over the years. Met Anton for a leisurely afternoon, setting the world to rights over several beers and a couple of games of dominoes. The woman behind the bar was wearing a teeshirt with skeletons on it, and I asked her about it, and she replied a bit warily as if I was trying to chat her up. As I payed for the beer I found myself saying, 'I like skeletons', confirming all her worst suspicions of me.      We moved on to another pub, then to The Hampton where we ate some Indian street food, and played another game of bones, at which I beat Anton like a ginger stepchild. Meanwhile I heard about his time with Camino in snowy Spain, and lear...

A bit of business admin. Lorraine off to London to enjoy meeting Sam at the Royal Festival Hall. Sam staying with his dad for a few days.  A message to Carl whose birthday it was.  I did some of my own writing this morning, and had some productive thoughts. Made off this afternoon, to Brighton where I met Anton in the garden of the Batty for a few cheery beers and a couple of games of Bones and a good deal of talking. Followed by more of both in The French Horn, where we had a raclette , and did finicky heating of cheese and bits of meat on little plug in raclette grills which ticks lots of boxes for a finickmeister like Anton.  A cheery afternoon and early evening. Rolled down the hill for an absolute final in the Batty before I zoomed home. But only to find the train stopped at Newhaven, and I had to catch a bus from there to get home. Surprised to find a poem I wrote in the 80s quoted by the Priaulx Library on facebook -- also featuring Richard of course. One must take...

 Lorraine and I off on the train to Brighton at lunchtime. Walked down through town to meet Penny and Steve in Mowgli, a restaurant with good quality Indian street food. We had things like bhel puri and gunpowder chicken, and home lamb curry, sat on seats with ropes for backs. Some seemed to be actual swings. A savage price for beer, but luckily I only had the smallest bottle of  Cobra I'd ever seen. Interested by Steve telling us about the paper he is delivering in Japan about synthetic rubies discovered in a sunken ship called the SS Persia -- sunk without warning by a dastardly U-boat in the Mediterranean in 1915.  After lunch, and fond farewells, Lorraine and I walked up towards the station, through the back alleys and my old Twitten, Camden Terrace. We went to the Batty, where we met Anton for a bitterly contested three-way game of bones, and a few beers. The Batty on the brink of change, the regulars fear for it.  Lorraine and I sloped home to cheese on toast. ...

Dem bones Mondays. Don't you just love 'em. Got up extra early to go to the dentist, but dismally worming trains meant I was still miles from London when the appointment was due. Got to work late too, grinding teeth, for the two and a half hours of my journey. Once at the office, managed to skid on a piece of cardboard which slid only a matter of four or five inches, but I managed to jerk my back. Now I can't turn my neck and have made an appointment with the back cracker. When not brooding about spines, and their treachery, I generally enjoyed thinking about skeletons. Planning another skeleton monologue as I like them, and Joan cleverly likes them too. Home and sated a desire for cheese and onion sandwiches. Must be craving calcium.