under another sun

Podcast editing this morning, but simply count not make myself work at it for longer than ten minutes at a time. Eventually, after a couple of hours, I went out for a walk on the edge of corn stubble fields the other side of Seaford golf course. Maybe my brain has been harvested  Home and generally antsy. I read more of Martha Sprackland's translation of St John of the Cross, to discuss on the podcast. Interesting stuff, and I learned more about the Via Negativa , a term I have been bandying about for decades without full understanding it. Lorraine had a difficult day after doing Rhymetime. Pat and Maureen needing lots of help. Poor Pat needed lots of cleaning up today, and Maureen saying she needs a bit of respite for a few days, and Lorraine is looking at ways of doing this. Enzo round with them briefly, which was cheering. I started cooking dinner, then stopped halfway and collected Lorraine.  We stopped at Steamworks, where we treated ourselves to a cold lager and a talk b...

A tetchy text from our next door neighbour, who has to wash his cars because of dust from our building work. The same neighbour whose house for the first two years of our stay was a building site, and we politely put up with months of dust, plastic waste, tools, etc coming over the fence, not to mention the constant noise and inconvenience. It made us both very angry.  I consciously had to calm down for the good of my health. He texted a bit later more politely and we replied to that one, deciding like Michelle Obama to go high when they go low.  I wanted to have some morning calm to write in, but I felt to irritable, so after speaking to Mum, I went off for an early walk. Seven miles in total today. I am now on a streak of fifteen days, and in the last seven days have walked over 40 miles. It feels good to be getting back to my old habits, and I am listening to audiobooks as I go, and my knee which had a moment a few months ago is holding up. Still on the biography of Muriel ...

A morning of action. Got up early, and sent off the first two parts of Gordon Road , to Long Poem Magazine. Then had breakfast with Lorraine, looking at my mail, which included the last two copies of the Sampler One from Mariscat with a nice note from Hamish the editor. Another letter told me how to claim my state pension, and my replacement Lamy pen arrived.   Had a good morning's work. Lorraine off to see Pat and Maureen, and brought them back for lunch. Then Lorraine went to the dentist, with Maureen as they both had appointments. I went for a long walk this afternoon, taking some photos with my proper camera. Spoke to Beth briefly, who'd seen the midwife today. All well.  Home, and Pat and Maureen in the garden. Maureen told me very sweetly that the best thing that ever happened was Lorraine and I meeting each other.  Later Lorraine and I mooched down to the seafront again, stopping at Osbourne's fish and chips en route. We ate fish and shared chips in the evening sun...

The job I was doing on Friday and Saturday has turned into an octopus. Every time I thought it has been poked back into its tank, another tentacle got its suckers on me. This necessitating assorted video, phone and text messages during the day, and bits of writing till evening. I will be able to charge a bit for it but not a day's worth. I was quite productive. On Sunday night I made a list of things to be done, and biffed through most of them, including writing to the solicitor, tracking down the name of people to send invoice to, writing blog posts and doing other bits including listening to the first cut of Robin's interview with Kathryn Maris. I wrote to John McCullough on the same matter. Spoke to Mum, who was delighted with having received one of Lorraine's cross stitch designs, which is a late birthday present. Went for an early morning walk today, instead of my usual post lunch saunter, picking up the threads of Bleak House again. Nice to be mooching in the fresh ai...

Woke up at four and was wide awake. Slept fitfully afterwards. Lorraine at school again today, I uploaded the Skelton Episode, which seemed to take ages, and then made off for a long walk in the afternoon. Walked about 15k paces during the day, and went over Hollingbury Hill and into Stanmer Woods for the first time in ages. It is blissful to walk among trees, and there were few people about, all of them on bicycles or the odd person walking their dog.  Hollingbury was noticeably busier today, and I noticed several groups of teenagers hanging out, clearly breaking the lockdown rules. The government has shot itself in the foot and leaked the idea that there will be some easing of the restrictions from Monday. The newspapers reflect the bungled messaging by trumpeting 'Freedom Beckons' etc.  All jostling of course with the groundbreaking news that the singer Adele has shed a few pounds. Home after my walk. Beth sunbathing in the back garden, Lorraine home and finishing off a b...

Monday then, and Lorraine off to school for the inset day, before the children all pile in tomorrow. The alarm going off at six, and back into the new routine. I like getting up early and stealing a march on the world. So making what seems like a new start. A new list, which looks a lot more practical and balanced than the lists of summer. I spent much of the day working on my Waiting Room project, getting in touch with the French Bloke who has agreed to let me bounce it off him, as he has a large and different brain. I also billed mes amis in Paris, and made a few calls, including to Janet who I will see on Wednesday all being well. Off for a walk this afternoon around the edges of the golf course, not a massive walk but enough to stir the blood. I find you can have a short walk, but if lots of it is not on a pavement, this is more demanding. At the moment I am preferring walking outdoors to going down to the stuffy gym. When the weather turns wretched, I shall gym it a bit more. ...

A really good five or six hours of working more fluently than I had done for some days this morning, and I made some good progress. Then I took myself for another walk, through the woods by the golf course at Hollingbury, determined to get my ten thousand paces done, though still feeling underpowered, sore throated and so on. Lorraine has this cold badly, but is still struggling into work. I was listening to the weighty audiobook of  Joseph Anton by Salman Rushdie as I trudged. I am over half way now. Fascinating story of Rushdie's life under the fatwah, but I feel his account is screaming out for a hard edit. The death sentence hanging over Rushdie for writing a book was utterly unacceptable, but Rushdie himself is hard to like, and the man who emerges from his account is complex, highly talented, wronged, with lashings of pomposity and vanity, but ultimately he is also an heroic figure. Spoke to Mum this afternoon, and also was asked to go up to London to do some work tomorr...

Up early and off to Brighton station in a cab with Beth. I went there to meet Anton and go for a walk, Betty off to London to celebrate John's mum's birthday. We got there early, but Anton was earlier of course. Got the train up to Balcome, bemoaning Brexit and so on. You'd think a July walk would be sunlit and warm, but a low drizzling cloudy rain accompanied us for our walk of about three hours. A nice walk it was too, and only one incident when one our various phobias were triggered. This time it was Anton avoiding a field packed with fairly solid looking cows. We walked along the field next to it, but eventually had to return to the cow field. I simply walked through the gate and had to coax Anton through it who was already getting entangled in  barbed wire having sought an implausible route through a hedge. Rained finely but steadily durning the walk, which ended up around the Ardingly Reservoir, which was full. The last time we'd passed there I think was just ...

Undeterred by the back, which felt better when I walked, I made tracks to Lewes where I met Robin for another chat about Telltale Press. After a session discussing business at her kitchen table, and looking at her new painting which I thought was shirts on a washing line, but was actually the cliffs based on a shot from a helicopter which Robin and her husband took. I sauntered down the hill to Lewes Station back to London Road where I walked into town, pausing for a cup of tea then to the Chiropractors who tutted about my back problem and generally clicked and sorted me, before she announced she was moving to Australia with her boyfriend. From Kemptown I walked up to the Blue Man cafe where I sat doing some work with another cup of tea. Then to see Janet and Ken. Hus was also there, just returned from work, and nice to chat to all of them, and eat a delicious bowl of tiramisu Hus had made. Then I walked home through the park, and found I had walked about 15,000 paces for the day...