under another sun

Worked this morning on The New Idea, breaking off to watch Betty being an extra, tossing her hair in shot over the shoulders of actors in the risible TV series Made in Chelsea . Surely shots that will one day feature in some retrospective of the great comedienne Betty is destined to be. A note from Matt saying he'd liked the lyrics for the song cycle I'd sent him. Thence to the gym and an afternoon of work. Lorraine cooked cauliflower and potato curry tonight, and revelling in not having to do even more work. Later I slipped off for a late and cheeky beer with Anton in the evening in a half empty brasserie called The Breeze with the all important wifi connectivity, discussing a great deal, including The New Idea, and how if you listen to the audiobook of the Lord of the Rings, while simultaneously reading it on your iPad, you can block out the entire world. Bumped into Simon Scardanelli as we left the Breeze, fresh from the launch of an album he'd produced, bottle of ch...

Lorraine up and off to day two of her interview. Meanwhile I had a pretty storming morning on The New Idea, something big fell into place and the whole project feels more robust. Lorraine home at lunchtime, and we loped out into the sunny day and decided to celebrate the end of a huge effort on Lorraine's behalf. We ended up in a lovely vegetarian restaurant called Terra Terra, where we had a variety of vegetable delights, and sat near the back of the restaurant where it was open and drank a couple of small bottles of organic lager. Very cheery. Returning to find Betty had just returned for the summer, and her pal Kayleigh was there and the girls soon left for the night. Good to see Lorraine on the gold sofa playing Angry Birds on her iPad tonight rather than slogging. In educational circles decisions are made quickly, and she was called and told her application hadn't been successful, but that she had done well. Lorraine almost relieved, and completely philos...

The hour come round at last, Lorraine sloping off to her first ever two-day interview for a real headteacher post. I meanwhile spent the day placidly, went to the gym, worked on The New Idea and prepared salad-based fare for Lorraine to eat when she returned, and generally tried to be supportive. A nice letter from Richard today, along with a copy of a Thomas Tallis CD to complement my Hilary Mantel craze. Cath arrived a little before Lorraine did, armed with a pot of yellow roses. Lorraine getting loads of reinforcement and encouragement from Dawn and Rosie and others too. Then she worked late getting things ready for day two tomorrow. I kept her company working on my stuff upstairs. I really admire Lorraine's capacity to grit her teeth and get on with things. Spoke to Janet who said an owner of a local gallery had visited her open house on the last day and had liked some of Mum's work, fish pictures and cat heads. Could be the start of something good. Also spoke to Mum...

Lorraine up and working hard in what is her last day of preparation for the big interview tomorrow. Dawn, who has just bought a flat in Henfield, came around to give Lorraine help and moral support and make lots of green paper leaves. I repaired to Ken and Janet's house and stayed for some time, having good chats with them as the sweltering heat had made it a quiet Open House day.  Janet said that people are very interested, but is concluding that hard times are making people unwilling to put their hands in their pockets. Mum has sold a few items this time, however, which is good. Also talking to Huss, Ken's son-in-law who I've always liked, and their friend Ray, who works at the University and has a trademark of a long flowing beard. Sat in the conservatory in the back watching them smoke cigarettes. Later Lorraine and I went for a walk in the park, which looked like an L.S. Lowry picture, but one which replaced Salford with a big green park dotted with people, bicycles,...

A beautiful hot day. The crowds surging down from the station to the beach like urban lemmings. Worked on The New Idea this morning, as Lorraine worked on the next desk on preparation for her school interview. Then I took myself off to the gym. Working out for quite some time, and trying to lose the fat suit which has stealthily crept back onto me. Feeling an odd sense of frustration at the moment. I am working hard on the The New Idea, but having to dispel a fresh wave of pessimism every day before I start work. Once I get going things are progressing well, and I believe in the project, but for months I have felt as if I have been driving with the handbrake on and any progress is incredibly hard won. Going to the gym is the healthiest way of getting rid of that feeling. Other than having a few drinks. As Lorraine was working tonight, I went to see my pals in the Tacet Ensemble play in Hove, conducted by Matt. A really good evening's entertainment, with pieces by lots of m...

Sweltering day up in the rafters working on The New Idea in the morning, and wasting time in the afternoon, before Lorraine and I galloped off in the sun to the station and caught the train to Kingston. A fast bite to eat, and then off to the theatre in Beth's college to see a production of Daisy Pulls It Off in by Denise Deegan which Betty had a part. I really enjoyed this play, which was a nicely constructed pastiche of 1920s boarding school girl's fiction full of plucky girls. Nothing deep or profound about it, but that was fine by me. Sometimes a few laughs is all the profound you need. The two leads were very believable, and Beth was funny and confident in her role too. Off for a quick drink afterwards, with Betty and some of her pals, before Lorraine and I had to dash back to the station -- a shame we had to leave early. Home after midnight.

Another beautiful hot day. Hot in the rafters of Old Church Hall, and my brain mainly AWOL during my morning's work, so made off early to the gym and afterwards slunk about not doing very much in the afternoon other than eating ham and salad sandwiches, chatting a little to Sonia who was marvelling at people being in the sea, and saying in her country, Bulgaria, people don't swim much. I watched a documentary  Hitler's Children  about descendants of Nazi wrongdoers. Particularly moving sequences of Rainer Hoess going to Auschwitz where his grandfather was commandant. He was obsessed by one photo of his own father as a little child standing by a gate in a pleasant garden. On the other side of that gate was a death camp, a door into hell as the grandson called it. Visiting that exact spot was appalling. His grandfather could be snapping photographs of his children in paddling pools, driving toy cars and so on, while being meters away from chimneys spewing death. The...

Another long day today. Up early and working on The New Idea again most of the day, apart from taking a constitutional in the park late this afternoon. Had planned to be in London, but my key meeting fell through, which I was rather pleased about. Mooching about in my newly discovered walled garden again. I love walled gardens. Something about walling out of the rest of the world, to make a contained environment in which you can be connected to nature, but completely alone (if you are lucky). I also enjoyed the book A Secret Garden , when I was a child, despite the book cover saying it was mainly for girls. Very warm, even late in the afternoon, and found a bench and did a spot of meditating, listening to the birds and the traffic nearby. Mooching slowly about I noticed one of the corners of the garden was lined with Victorian gravestones for dogs. Like poor Soot, who was poisoned in 1884. Quite touched by this. When you think of the millions who have died since then probably ...

Finished Hilary Mantel's  Wolf Hall , and immediately downloaded its sequel as an audiobook, just released, called Bring up the Bodies . Finding that Hilary Mantel's excellently done Tudor mayhem and wrangling is a pleasant antidote to thinking about about advertising that I am doing for The New Idea. I wonder what the state of advertising was in 1530? A pleasant sunny day though, and warm up in the rafters of the Old Church Hall where I do my scribing. And felt the sun on my head as I mooched gingerly to the gym. I need new gym clothes, as I feel like a tramp. Not that I talk to anyone there particularly. Then tramping into the supermarket to buy the fixin's for nice salad. I made a pretty  tricolore  with fresh basil and mozzarella (so simple), new potatoes with chives and mayonnaise and various other leafy wonders. Lorraine home and exhausted, I fed her with aforementioned salads, then she had half an hour on the sofa and was back at work again till gone ten. I ...

Working in a focused fashion on The New Idea. Happy with its progress, and it is demanding lots of thought. Mercifully the people working on the viaduct were not immediately behind the Old Church Hall today. At 3 pm took myself for a walk in the park for an hour or so, peering into ponds and photographing some fish, though they were camera shy, almost koi. Discovered a walled garden in the back of the Preston House, which was lovely and quite timeless and a nice place to listen to Wolf Hall . Walked about thoughtfully for some time enjoying this interlude from my desk. Home and Lorraine home quite early, but with loads to do. She put me to work drawing a picture for her presentation this evening, and after we went out to the Shahi to bolt some grub. Lorraine in a tunnel of work, but we had some respite. Home feeling full. Below some koi in a pond. Inside the walled garden, Brighton bowling club hard at it, and the folly in the Preston Park.

Goaded by an all night headache which gradually wore off as the day progressed. Lorraine working again all day in preparation for her headship interview. I worked companionably on The New Idea on my desk next to Lorraine's, when I wasn't reading about Chelsea's victory last night. Dawn came around in the afternoon armed with organic carrot cake, and I left the ladies to education discussions. I took myself off to walk in the breezy sunshine around Preston Park, and ambled about for an hour or so, pausing to watch a few overs of a Ladies cricket match and feeling like Summer was coming, hearing the snick of willow on leather cricket ball. Have almost finished listening to  Wolf Hall which I have done when not writing or thinking about The New Idea, which seems to be progressing by blurts of writing, and hours of thinking. Cooked a nice meal for Lorraine tonight of my own invention. L is bearing up surprisingly well. Next wee...

Still feeling off colour, which culminated in a vile headache by the end of the day. Lorraine hard at work on preparing for her forthcoming two day interview as potential head teacher for a nearby school. I worked on The New Idea for a while, and touched up some bits with a thin brush of the painting I had been doing in the bedroom.  Downloaded Miserere by Gregorio Allegri, which I am finding spine tingling. Lorraine and I went out, but only as far as the nearby shops including a greengrocer's where I seized a couple of garlic bulbs so as to leer at Lorraine with garlic bulb eyes. Unfortunately one still had a robust stalk, which almost took my eye out.  Imagine trying to explain that at the hospital. Maureen had send clippings from local papers about Ken, Derek and Lorraine's sport stories from when they were young. They were a very sporty family, and there were two shots of a willowy Lorraine in two netball teams. The evening...

Oddly weak and shaky today, but thankfully succeeded in not turning this into a festival of hypochondria. Worked fruitfully on the New Idea this morning, and then made off to the Twitten to let Alf in to fix the shower. He was almost an hour late, and as it was raining hard outside I sat at my old table and listened to a movie podcast on my iPhone, feeling a bit like an intruder in my old house. In the evening Lorraine and I taxied off to see John, who has having a dinner party with his pal Wendy, a Glaswegian woman who works in HR for major stores. She was nice. Wayne, Matt, Lorraine and me were the other guests. We celebrated eight years of John having lived in his current flat, which overlooks the sea at Hove the view serrated by verdigris green beach huts extending along the seafront. Lots of tasty food, and pleasant chats - although an undercurrent of sadness from John I think, as he moved into the flat after breaking up from...

Monkish and solitary, I worked hard on The New Idea and made steady progress. This broken only by saying hello to Sonia who came by for a cleaning bout and by talking to mum about a peskily convincing item of spam. A chat too, with Betty telling me about upcoming rehearsals for a piece she is in called Daisy pulls it off , she also thoughtfully texted me to watch the new episode of Big Bang Theory which I duly did, along with a new US series called Two Broke Girls , which is sassy. Breaking off from adjusting the hair shirt, I read Wolf Hall , which I think is a wonderfully sustained piece of work. Otherwise little going on. Lorraine out with some of her pals tonight.  Richard sent me a poem about Zombies, which was thoughtful. I think zombies get a bad name.

Vaguely out of sorts and feeling lethargic. After some writing, I put another coat of paint on the wall. Weirdly this paint when it is drying smells of sick, and inhaling its sicky fumes may have added to my wooziness. Mum told me that my Grandmother used to cut an onion which somehow absorbed the fumes. When I remembered this I put a bit of an onion in the room to see if it would have any effect. Went to the gym, I went through my routine but was underpowered and my ankle felt sore afterwards. Listening, as an audiobook, to Wolf Hall , which justifies all the plaudits it has attracted. Richard has listened to it too lately. A believable historical reconstruction: the scenery doesn't wobble. Lorraine thinking through her ninja two-day Head Teacher interview. We went to bed in the room which still smelled sicky. Lorraine soon began coughing and saying something was catching her throa...

Another rainy day. I love the music of rain falling on the velux windows. It mitigates against the heavy machinery grinding away on the viaduct above my head. I noticed, however, one of the bright yellow cranes is called a Bronto. Perhaps I should learn to love them, lumbering about in the rain as they do. Watched a TED talk today, which are often brilliant gobbets of interesting stuff. Susan Cain was talking about The Power of Introverts , despite being really good at things, are not really catered for in modern school and workplace environments. She said at one point "there is zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas", which I rather liked. I am close to the middle I think. I loving mingling with others and can happily take centre stage, but also I crave bouts of solitude. Such as spending a productive day making big strides with The New Idea. This is not going to be a massive project, and so I can i...

Up working on The New Idea for most of the day, and thinking about it in the gym during my workout. Very broadly, the New Idea is about the business of creative concepting. It feels a bit like a copywriting job too, more of a chore that my other writing, but I hope it will be of practical use and therefore be sellable. Sell like piping hot cakes in fact. On my way back from the gym, I got a call from Lorraine excitably lurking in a corridor saying she had an interview for the job she had applied for. Getting an interview with her first application is an excellent achievement and when she came home we had a glass of bubbly to celebrate. I am proud of her. Mum called this afternoon too. Then a stroll around the park after supper for 40 minutes, really nice just to get out. Plants and roses all luxuriant with having had so much water. I find myself watching too much TV these days: mainly The Big Bang Theory, and footie,...

Up early and in a frenzy of tidying up and activity. Sun pouring in through the velux windows this morning galvanising Lorraine and I into a frenzy of tidying up and activity including painting the last remaining mauve wall white. Why does anybody paint mauve onto a wall other than to signify their own moral degeneracy? Lorraine told by Beth to expect a surprise delivery at 11:30 today. And the delivery proved to be of Beth herself and three pals from college, Olivia, Liza and Emily. Lorraine and I had arranged to meet Matt and Wayne in the Bath Arms for a late roast lunch, and the girls came too. Beth's friends proving cheery and likable - although Olivia had just lost a friend in a car crash so was putting on a brave face. Beth took her pals off to look at the pier, where two had their fortunes told, and went on various rides. Matt needed some shoes, so L, Wayne and I went shoe shopping with him. As we were leaving the Bath Arms bumped into...

Waking early again, but not able, this morning at least, to accuse Lorraine of infidelity with Bear Grylls which was nice. Spent much of the day revamping and simplifying my website. It now looks like this , which I think is an improvement. Even if I say so myself, I particularly like the use of a photo I took in Japan for the homepage. Had to reorganise plumber for the Twitten and then to the post office, sending off more CDs of Clameur to the US. Then to the gym. Having felt as wan and feeble in the last couple of weeks, I was pleased to survive, albeit in a slightly oversweaty way. Lorraine home early, and we scooted off to the Shahi with Cath. The ladies mostly talked educational shop and I applied myself to two pints of cooling lager, basking in a feeling of quiet satisfaction with the week as I forked down bhuna jhal. Below Jane has been at her lookey-likey business again. Here she is having had a day of pampering during a secret project, with a Kate lookey-likey Gabriel...

Woke up convinced Lorraine preferred TV adventurer  Bear Grylls to me after a vivid dream. The fact that L and I know little about him only added to the strangeness of this.  Got to work accompanied by the screeching of bricks being cut in half under the infernal viaduct. Spent the day working on revamping my personal website. My cyberpresence has been a long-running sore, unfocused and confusing. I realised this is because I am eclectic in what I do and this should be seen as the defining thing. I love Brian Eno's description of himself as 'a drifting clarifier'. In the afternoon off to Marwood cafe to meet Anna for a long chat over coffee and a slice of cake each. Then home via Sainsbury's to cook a vegetarian chilli for Lorraine. Also prescribed chocolate for Lorraine. Below: the rain continues unabashed. Quite like the murkiness this brings. Brighton is hilly, so the tops of streets disappear, and individual roofs penetrate into...