¦ dialling in from Jesus Mound ¦
08:40 Onto my 2nd mug of tea, grey light flooding in through skylights and wide french doors. The calm serenity of the morning has been broken by mum's arrival from upstairs. A simmering tension radiating from her. Not helped by Annelise's cats (Sid & Bob) mewling and whining like demented Harpies as soon as she enters the living room. In fact, mum has been bristling with tension all week. It's been hard to relax around her. But the old bedroom has been taken by Freddy (a lodger). So I've chosen to sit at the kitchen table day in-day out working on the laptop. Currently on page 118 of Yellow Dawn 2nd ed. Talk Talk - Natural History album has come on through random selection, though changing even as I type these words to.... wait for it.... Dead Can Dance, Desert Song.
Today is Monday. I've been here since last Wednesday night and it feels like forever. Despite the prickly atmosphere I'm enjoying myself, though I think it will be a long time before I next return. Saw Richy yesterday, he popped over with some artwork he's completed. It's a new thing for him, painting, and he's hoping to sell his images through Ebay and the like. They're good, so I think hes should do okay. He and I went for a walk down into the Dene and had a couple hours of reminiscing about old times. He and his wife Louise are deep into preperations for a round-the-world trip (taking place 2008 or 2009). It's great to see him so sorted and adept at life. He's a lovely bloke.
Jo flew to Rome on Saturday. Have had a couple calls and some text messages. I'm not missing her but I'm deeply aware of how much I love and adore her. I was right not to go; she says it's not a scratch on Paris and there are things about the place she knows I wouldn't enjoy.
08:57 Time to get on with my day. I'll be heading up to Kitschin at some point to help Mike, either with writing copy for his Kidsafe product or tweaking images in photoshop. That'll blend into a couple hours of working with pen and paper in my notepad, planning next part of Yellow Dawn, some cups of illegally strong coffee and maybe a croissant with bacon.
19:45 sitting at the same broad oak table, daylight fading into a murky evening of intermitent April showers. It's been a good day. Now onto page 122 of Yellow Dawn, exceeding my target of 1 page per day. Had a frank discussion with mum about her tension. The wonders of open communication. Don't hide what you think and feel; express yourself with clarity and honesty, through polite words and solid principles and the world responds equally. She apologised for being so terse. I told her she had no need to apologise, and we explored the reasons behind her tension. Sidenote, it seems the Abby building society have been bought-out by a Spanish bank; quality of customer service has gone right down the toilet; I couldn't believe the attitude of the service-staff in Newcastle and the way they handled mum's queries...it boiled down to them saying "I can't cancel a standing order, you (mum) need to ring Spain and do it over the phone".
WTF?!!!
News today said that the number of animals being abandoned by owners in England rose 50% in 2006. Another symptom of the collapse of civil society in this country. People buying animals as fashion accessories and then realising they actually need to be responsible and take care of the creatures... an affront to the lazy self-centred buy now on credit and go bankrupt rather than pay it back wankers who seem to be multiplying like lemmings in this country.
Djr