under another sun

Lorraine up at six again, and brought up some tea and porridge which we ate together in the bedroom. I got up and soon heard Dawn, who had let herself in in the middle of the night, as her plane back from Rome was delayed. She then left for work, and we arranged to meet up at school on Friday as Dawn and I are going to do another more able children session. Nothing through from the agency, which was fab. I was able instead to work on the play and tweak some poems plus a few other admin bits. Felt more relaxed and cheerful this Monday than I have done for several months of Mondays. I worked happily all day, apart from a walk down to the pier to get a breath of air. Bumped into Di briefly who told me off about not selecting an Adrian photo yet. A grey day, and nothing much happening down at the pier, but I felt free and happy nevertheless. Listening to an audiobook Joni Mitchell in her own Words , which is interesting. I've always thought Joni was the bee's knees and her lyri...

Up and breakfast with everyone. Spoke to Toby this morning, in a luxurious Japanese Ryokan, already night there. Good to talk to him.Mum and I walked down to Brighton Pier where we met Lorraine, Mason, Pat and Maureen for a stroll along the blustery pier, and we went to Horatio's bar for a cup of coffee. As soon as we'd arrived the TV was turned on and blasting out the Stoke versus Manchester Utd game. This would have been pretty annoying, except that Stoke scored two goals. Lorraine Mum and I walked to the end of the pier past the ghastly The Booster fairground ride at the end, 150 foot high of existential horror and looked out to sea. Having collected Mason from Horatio's where he had fallen into conversation with some people ordered french fries etc. everyone else drove home, but Mum and I walked back again. Felt good to walk after eating for England and to have a chance to chat with mum. A certain amount of eating and drinking, rounded off the day and in the...

Mercifully a day working at home today. So many things to sort out, and admin to catch up with. However I cut myself some slack, and took myself for a lunchtime stroll down to the pier too, which was windy and showery and bright.  Great to just be able to breathe in the sea air. Shamefully in the afternoon, I slept for two hours, being absolutely shattered. Lorraine working at home this afternoon, and once up again, we rain dodged around the corner to the Shahi, a pleasant night chatting with my lovely wife before returning home. Snapping various bits and pieces on the pier. Seemed to catch the last of the summer sun on the talking telescope.

Awake early this morning, and got up with Lorraine at half six. After she left for work, poor thing, I walked down to the sea. The tide was right out, but there was evidence of great amounts of shingle and pebbles having been shifted about by stormy tides. Saw the sun rise, making me think of the sunrise five days earlier in Japan. Quite nice to be here though in the fresh wind, and still holding on to that feeling that the year holds some good things. Home and I did a little writing on the business book, after an ah-ha! moment while ironing a shirt this morning. Betty came down from bed, and we worked on characters for her play for a few hours. She'd had a bit of a mental block about it, but we soon got things rolling and made some good progress. By mid afternoon, I found my jet lag really difficult, and I was unable even to spell simple words at times. Betty back to London at tea time, and Lorraine and I sat about blearily on the gold sofa before going to bed at around nine...

Mercury is retrograde, which astrologers claim sends communications awry. Astrology may be bunk, but it mirrors the scrambled and patchy communications arriving at the PK outpost, waiting for Godot-like briefs and emails to be answered. Nevertheless a great day's work on the business book. I will soon have a large enough sample to go fishing with it. A warmish blue-skied day, so went out for an hour at lunchtime gulping the fresh air. Paid a cheque into my bank, and then strayed onto the pier. A dozen people on deck chairs; a mother basking with her eyes firmly closed, absorbing the sun on her face while being tormented by her bored son, and others eyed by seagulls as they dozed to the cheesy music drifting from the speakers. Admittedly the sun-baskers were wearing coats, but nevertheless an omen of better things. Seen from the pier, the pebbles on the beach now in two colours, the dark sea-wetted edge, and the sun dried beach several tones lighter. Walking home along Lond...

Finished my poetry manuscript this morning, and posted it off mindful of Paul Valery's comment that a poem is never finished, only abandoned.  There is some excellent work in there. I have called it The Slow Tsunami , and it is about time and memory. I am now able to think about other things... But find myself a bit brain dead after the effort. So after chatting to Sonia about Egypt and Hitler, I went for a long walk about in Brighton, pausing to lurk in a cafe with my laptop drinking an Americano and treating myself to a low fat blueberry muffin in celebration. Through the Pavilion gardens where a duo of buskers were playing saxophone and one of those large African thumb piano things. The music was heavenly, and even I was forced to chuck a pound in their hat. Then to the pier marvelling at the bright low sun in a blue and cloudless sky. My favourite merry go round was being dismantled and all the horses were stacked together. The fairground part of the pier takes on a...

A pleasant day in which I worked on my new poem did a few bits of admin (including emailing the people who'd offered me work on Monday) and took myself for a long early afternoon moochabout in town, browsing happily in secondhand bookshops and popping into Waterstones where I bought a book by Umberto Eco and Jean-Claude Carrière, called ' This is not the end of the book; ' and a collection of essays called  Literature and Evil by George Bataille. After a walk by the sea I found myself in Kemptown where I stopped at a little 'cafe bistro' called Figaro's in a sidestreet. Here I ordered tea, and the man balked as if I had requested a unicorn, for it was an Italian place priding itself on its coffee. I was presented with a cup with a dirty saucer with the teabag floating in the milky water, and minutes later the worst all-day breakfast I've had this century, complete with a noxious ratburger. Thinking about it even now makes me want to retch. The charms of t...

Brighton Bradbury Lorraine and I both hard at work this morning. Me in the closing stages of the Doppelganger piece, and Lorraine preparing for her interview which is 9:00am tomorrow. Also discovered another surviving neon and saved this. The neon massacre took four souls. Of the two survivors one looks as if it might pop its flippers at any moment. Off to the Shakespeare's Head for a quick bite of lunch and a chat with Matt and John. Prompted by Lorraine, Matt and I may do more of This concert will fall in love with you around Valentines Day. I have a feeling next year is going to be rather busy. After Lorraine left for home clutching surviving neons and to do more prep for tomorrow, I was left feeling rather antsy. Walked down to the sea and a stroll on the pier. Chilly and it being a Sunday night the funfair was closed. Dark with a full moon above and I enjoyed ghosting about by the ranks of parked dodgems, the closed Haunted House, rollercoaster and so on. I saw a figure with ...

Monk's vegetables Up at seven and on with A Guernsey Double . The second glasshouse poem going well. Also practicing my lines for This concert. Calliope unimpressed, and generally fractious because of rain. Under an umbrella, headed off to my usual cafe and worked there, drying out, and sipping Americanos for a couple of hours. Then a stroll to the pier in sudden sun, the sea whipped up and the flags horizontal and snapping in the gale. Spoke to Bob who was staying overnight in Oxford, and to Lorraine who called around to collect her keyboard to help her learn her alto parts. A monkish day. Looking forward to cooking a chicken all day, but when I retrieved it from the fridge it was really badly off, despite having only bought it a few days ago. Stir fried Quorn and vegetables again. Below views from a windy pier. As ever, click them to enlarge.

Score! Yippee... Can't describe the feeling of Matt handing me the This concert will fall in love with you score, nicely bound with lots of music and my words in it. Even better we had our first choir rehearsal today in St Michael & All Angels where we'll be performing. Matt took the choir (which includes Lorraine singing alto) through two madrigals which will be in the first half, and then quickly through some of the new material. I've never heard my words sung before, and it was an amazing feeling. This was voice only, with Matt playing a few lines and chords on the piano, but it sounded absolutely gorgeous. I also began to try out my lines in the context of the choir. Felt great to be starting. Mindy came to visit today, with her delightful daughter Lola. Good to see Mindy and meet the five year old Lola for the first time. Naturally we went down to the pier, and wandered among the tuppeny rollers, and high tech one armed bandits. Walked past a man and woman, with th...

I live in a box of paints... As the incomparable Joni Mitchell sang. Well I did today for an hour or so. A bean jar and a little painting this Sunday on the theme of Jacob's ladder. I found it incredibly therapeutic. I blame looking at all those Paul Klee books the other weekend. Lorraine doing unspeakable work, and when she finished we took a walk by the grey sea, and onto the pier. I was fascinated, as usual by the Dolphin Derby and took a couple of snaps. I love the scowling fish looking down on people. Heard an obituary of the formidable Nancy Tait on BBC Radio 4, who has died aged 89. I worked for her for several months in a pokey office in Cuffley for her charity in support of people who had died of industrial diseases. More in my daywork blog about that. Below a colour sketch for Jacob's ladder, the Dolphin Derby under starter's orders, and a lucky winner.

A beak where it wasn't wanted Met Sophie, Andros, and the bairns early this afternoon to lurk on the pier. Following tradition, Andros off for coffee and the rest of us onto the pier for several rides. A cold day. I went on the dodgems with Sophie and the kids. Sophie zooming around looking curiously traumatised by it. Christof and I went on my favourite Horror Hotel ghost ride, which was excellent, as they have made a few improvements. Enjoyed the cheesy horror tableaux that you trundle past, and was surprised by the bits of cloth that pleasingly trail over your face in the dark. Lorraine went on a ghastly whirling thing with Electra, and even managed to hold up her hands in the approved manner. After a couple of hours of this sort of thing, and watching the kids on even worse rides, we made off. Far more horrifying than the ghost train was a feathered devotee of Hitchcock pacing along the roofing eyeing us, and just as I pointed out its comical behaviour to kids, we were suddenly...

Happy Monday Got up fairly early and worked on my poetry manuscript all day. Just revelling in the opportunity to do this. I feel that I have won the lottery and can at last focus on what is important to me. In terms of draining long term frustrations, this is superb. It was a good day's work too, with me making lots of progress. I took a mid afternoon walk, down to the sea, and was rewarded with a spectacular show. The wind was up, and the sea was rough. The sky was putting on a Turner-like parade of light and colour, and a huge charcoal coloured rain filled cloud came over. There was a faint rainbow, and I walked onto the pier as the starlings came down in their thousands in the whipping wind to roost under the boards. All this made me feel strangely elated. Below some sea scenes. Click them to make them bigger.

Rough seas and queasiness Feeling a bit queasy this afternoon I took myself for a walk along the seafront to get some air. Wonderful rough sea and powerful waves the perfect antidote to cyber staleness caused by three days of website building. On the pier noticed again the tarot card reader's green covered waggon, looks like something that escaped from Dark's Carnival in Something wicked this way comes by Ray Bradbury. It made me feel almost compelled to go in, because it seemed so incongruous on this bleak and rainy grey day. The pier was almost empty, and glancing into its warmly lit interior you could spot Ivor the fortune-teller squatting at the back like a toad. In the evening walked up to Lorriane's house in a massive downpour with an unaccountable need to listen to Led Zeppelin on my iPod. Very pleased to have my new waterproof berghaus anorak. I had killed the previous one by putting it in the washing machine, which removes all of its waterproofing at a stroke. Onc...

A walk by the sea Below A fisherman doing unspeakable things to crabs. (Also see 15th Nov for more on crabs); a graphic looking post thing in the harbour; part of a rusted fence; two of the chalk cliffs; one of the harbour at dusk (click on it to enlarge it and you will see some starlings) and a shot of the patterns underneath the pier.

A wooden horse called Peter Began work this morning at eight on dragon-related stuff. Anton came around for a cup of tea at lunchtime and we had some dragon-related chats, and as I type this I am waiting to go off to the Eddy with him to further discuss this and other important matters over a pint or two of Harveys bitter. Otherwise still busy planting seeds for next year's income. Talked to another headhunter and have made an appointment to see my accountant on Thursday. Also chatted to The Gnome to see how he was getting on, and talked to Sophie, and emailed with Katie who sent me a useful contact. Cooked a beanjar today so was able to warm the house from the oven and fill it with herby and comforting beanjar smells all day. Took myself for a couple of walks. I am becoming slightly obsessed with the pier. I started writing something the other day that is set on it, and so have been drifting back to check the details. Something about places that are out of season that I love. Some...