under another sun

The flappy monster returned just before dawn again. This morning I recorded it scraping and tapping on the roof. Although it sounds like a poltergeist, it is marginally more likely to be an owl I think. A lazy day spent dreaming in the Sicilian sun, reading books and swimming a few serious lengths in the pool.  Quite pleased by the appearance on Poetry Village of my wee poem about Gwen, my grandmother, called The House of Hidden Hope . Feeling quite chipper about my own writing, and this morning I woke up with a short story in my head. Toby and Romy went out for the afternoon, and Lorraine and I set off this afternoon to drive up the Catana to collect Beth and John from the airport. This journey conducted with calm efficiency. We found a straightforward route on google maps, and we were soon on the motorway zooming north. Lorraine feeling much more confident now. We found the car park easily, and John and Betty, emerged from arrivals delayed but happy. Lorraine and I knew it w...

Lorraine and I woken by the flappy monster, a monster we have heard for the last few days. We have now worked out that it lands on the roof, and then seems to chisel persistently at the roof tiles like the worst kind of poltergeist. Up eventually, after coffee in bed, and I was surprised and delighted to find that my short story The Inheritor , set on Guernsey, has been accepted for publication in Supernatural Tales . Felt greatly boosted by this. The editor, David Longhorn, had a recent bereavement and I thought that the submission had melted away. Luckily not. The day spent in a lazy way by the pool, reading, sleeping and a wee bit of Euchre. Toby finishing off The Leopard by Lampedusa, set on Sicily, and Lorraine starting Montalbano novels also set here. In the evening we went out to Noto, parked in our usual place after an impromptu tour caused by a road being closed. Walked across town to find a pizza restaurant, recommended to us by Tina, in a sunken garden. It was cal...

The tranquility of the morning interrupted. The pool man came at the crack of dawn, and somehow blew all the electricity in the house. Romy called Tina who came by and went off to make phone calls. Obviously we were not able to open the fridge. The day was an extremely hot one. Then two maids came in to clean the place, and then Romy walked into a closed glass door, fortunately not hurting herself, but cracking the glass. Maids aghast, wanting to press ice on her head and phoning Tina who came back to check Romy was okay. Power restored, Lorraine wanted to stay at home, but Tobs, Romy and I drove off to Noto for a late breakfast. It was extremely hot, to the point of making me feel lethargic as we walked down the little streets and popped into the church with the expansive flight of stairs leading up to it.  We stopped at a cafe, and had coffee, and mineral water and I had an Italian variant of a cheese and ham toastie. Toby and Romy had a pistachio and mulberry granita res...

A day where Lorraine and I happily simply sat about reading and swimming and eating. The sun was continuous and we sat in the shade and plopped into the pool. Toby and Romy were more adventurous and went out for a drive in the afternoon. As Tina was seeing friends this evening, so we suggested a slightly earlier dinner. The first course included octopus and potatoes, raw prawns in curry powder, and fresh anchovies as a starter. This followed by a seafood pasta, pictured below, with savoury juices to soak up with bread, and rounded off with 'lobster tails' which were crunch pastry filled with chocolate or kind of custardy goodness. After the geckos were watched, and Toby had spotted the sliver of the moon, we went indoors and listened to music and played a game of euchre, which was great fun. Below a quick snap of our house from the hill above, the interior of one of the giant succulents in the garden, seafood pasta, and Romy looking at lobster tails.

Off to Scicli, in Toby's car. Driving across a mostly farmed landscape of stone walled sunbaked fields. On the roads everyone drove at more than twice the speed limit, and tailgating each other as standard. A place where people drive as if they had just robbed a bank. Through a couple of small towns before we reached the outskirts of Scicli descending in hairpin bends down into the city. Then the task of driving around in the narrow streets until we were able to find a parking place. Then we mooched about the place, another baroque town, thanks to the giant earthquake. It is also famous for some of the Montalbano TV show being filmed here, including the steps into a building with doubles as the police office. We paused to have coffee and then went somewhere else for gelato.  From there we caught the baroque train, a wee little train that drove around the town. This did not reveal too much we'd not already seen, however it was great fun. The driver explained that we shou...

Toby and Romy off to the sea late this afternoon. Lorraine and I stayed happily bobbing in the pool. We'd all spent the day eating the leftovers from yesterday's feast, reading and swimming. At one point too, I stole down the track and picked a lemon off a tree where several had fallen, and later on Romy cut it into our sundown gin and tonic. Another utter feast made by Tina tonight. Mortadella and various cheeses and homemade jams and honey from their own hives with bread to start, and then pork loin cooked in marsala wine, with potatoes with parsley and an arab inflected crunchy sweet and sour dish of roasted red peppers, breadcrumbs and capers, with sugar and vinegar, which Romy pointed out was almost like a chutney for the pork. Then turning the light on outside, we watched the theatre of geckoes, as one big bruiser with a regrowing tail, sat near the light and snacked on various insects drawn in by the light. At one point Toby and I sat by the pool looking up at the st...

The alarm on Lorraine's phone got us up early this morning, and Lorraine volunteered to drive us to meet our guide for the guided tour of ancient and modern Noto. We were to meet him in Noto Antica, the remains of a hilltop walled town destroyed by devastating earthquake in 1693. Getting there proved an adventure, particularly for Lorraine. Guided by google, we were taken down a road that became narrower, and when we began driving across shallow rivers flowing across the road, alarm bells began to ring. We began climbing up the mountain in our little hired Renault Clio, on untracked roads of white rubble, some of which, to Lorraine's horror, had sheer drops on one side. At one point, as the track ahead proved almost impassable, we stopped. Romy ran off and found two women ahead, and discovered the road improved a little. With just Lorraine in the car, we got over the bad patch, and then progressed up to the top of the hill. We had reached the ancient ruined town by the donkey r...

A Monday to dream about. Up gradually having slept really well. Breakfast and then a day of lounging reading books, swimming in the pool and chatting, and gradually wandering around the grounds, which flick with lizards. I'm reading a book by Yoko Ogawa, which is excellent blend of the literary in the style of Murakami, with a nice dash of horror. At tea time I sat in one of two chairs looking across the olive groves, and lemon trees and others, and Romy brought me out a glass of gin and tonic and we sat looking down on the land, which at that time of the day gets golden green and resembles a renaissance Italian painting. Utterly gorgeous. By prearrangement Tina arrived. She is a Sicilian who lived in Toronto as a child, she said she moved back here when she got married, thinking it was safer to bring up children here. I wondered why bringing children up in the birthplace of the Mafia was safer than Toronto, but did not ask. With a helper, she prepared us an amazing dinner. T...

So just the 12 hours sleep then. Lorraine and I got out of bed pretty refreshed and had breakfast with Toby and Romy. The house is gorgeous, with high ceilings, and decorations made in black metal. There are two triangular spell-like words on the wall over the sink, as well as pottery pineapples, and pottery owls. The floor is sone in slabs with circles of shell fossils in. Outside is a veranda with tables and chairs, and a long thin salt water swimming pool, in which we all swam. Spent the day reading, and lounging and swimming, and chatting in an unhurried way. Lovely to catch up with Romy who we haven't seen in too long, hearing about her recent short course at Harvard. Returned to the bedroom to sleep a bit more, for I am surprised at how, having let myself relax a bit, just how tiredness and stress is releasing itself in bubbles. I had a gorgeous swim in the late afternoon, however this was slightly truncated by a suicidal bee, landing on my back and jabbing me as I swam. ...

Up at ten past three after a despicable night's sleep, and L and stumbled around getting dressed. Out into the heavy rain in Zombie mode and drove off to Gatwick airport's summer special car park. L handed over the key to the car, and correcting the number of our numberplate for their records. Then to the Easy Jet check in, mostly automated. We got to the automated check-in, and the computer said no. Wranging a check in staff member, who allowed us to check in, but said the aircraft that had been supplied was smaller than the original one, and there were too many passengers.This led to hellish scenes standing in queues for hours not sure if we would be able to fly, and then sitting on the plane for hours while they finally got the chosen ones on board, and took all the luggage out of the plane and sorted through it for the bits belonging to the losers. Lorraine and I were not sat next to one another either, and both in middles of rows. Flight a bit choppy but not too bad. I h...

The temperature far more manageable. A humid and rainy preparation and packing day, hampered slightly by the men from BT replacing a telephone pole outside our house. Laundry to be done. Lorraine and I took the stuff over to the laundrette to dry, as we had so much of it. I abandoned her there and then went down to the gym to have a good session there. Repacking and weighing our case so that it came in a smidge under 22 kilos. Home and Pat and Maureen arrived in the evening to cats and have a holiday break of their own in Brighton. Chatted to Mum and Lorraine talked to Sam, who is considering picking up the threads of his PhD again, which is good news. L and I crept off to bed fairly early, in a futile attempt to sleep before getting up a few hours later.

Bloody hot. In fact the hottest day in the UK ever, 38.7 recorded in Cambridge, that is 101.6 F  in old money.   Lorraine working from home for a bit, before taking time off to proof What You Look For for me, and she made a couple of useful suggestions, before I sent the thing off to Bloodbath magazine. I was then officially done. We bussed over to Beth and John this evening and were fed roast chicken and veggies and couscous and played Euchure. Lorraine also took a bottle of champagne she had been saving, as now her Ofsted inspection success is official, and her school is officially 'good'. Bussed home and home, happy to not have to get up tomorrow. Boris the evil clown no forging a cabinet of the maddest and most far right politicians on offer, looking to drive Brexit through even on a self-immolating no deal basis. Meanwhile THE CLIMATE. Christ. I made this nonsense a few months ago, below, but it seems more appropriate than ever. The other guy is Nero.

Lorraine not having to get up at the crack of dawn this morning, I got up made her tea, and worked on my short story, which is now almost ready to send off to a magazine whose deadline is closing in a few days. Lorraine then off to school, to talk to plumbers and do last minute work before returning, having done pilates. I went out this evening to meet Anton and Christian, over from Australia, in the Evening Star. They had already drank a few beers and had a curry. Not seen him for some years, and it was great to drink some halves, as they were drinking halves, with them. Christian done very well in marketing in Australia, and is now working for a big bank there. Same mix of Aussie down to earthness, with a streak of astute sensitivity. Nice to reminisce about old times. We went back to sit in Anton's garden, it being warm still, and had an absolute bloody final before I walked home. This being a dark day when the evil clown Boris Johnson was elected to be prime minister of thi...