So What Have i Planned Today

We seem to be back to the blanched out undifferentiated milky white skies of a few days ago before the wee pretty weekend. My ambivalence to the weather is palpable. What is more importan though t, i have a couple of mystery shops to do today along the Old Shoreham Road for one of my newer companies with a sleuth inspired name, and American to boot! They pay you in dollars but since it goes into Pay Pal it gets converted to Uk pounds when i transfer the money to my bank.

I have started reading this book on the Russian poet and literary figure, Joseph Brodsky. Quite fascinating account.



It was one of those books i bought for a quid from the Waterstones sale back in January or February. Amazing bargain either way, as it was priced up at £18 for this Yale university Press paperback.

Poem Of The Week

have not done one of these for yonks, so here is my poem of the week -

Joseph Brodsky - I Sit By The Window


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Poems by Joseph Brodsky : 12 / 29 « prev. poem next poem »
I Sit By The Window

I said fate plays a game without a score,
and who needs fish if you've got caviar?
The triumph of the Gothic style would come to pass
and turn you on--no need for coke, or grass.
I sit by the window. Outside, an aspen.
When I loved, I loved deeply. It wasn't often.

I said the forest's only part of a tree.
Who needs the whole girl if you've got her knee?
Sick of the dust raised by the modern era,
the Russian eye would rest on an Estonian spire.
I sit by the window. The dishes are done.
I was happy here. But I won't be again.

I wrote: The bulb looks at the flower in fear,
and love, as an act, lacks a verb; the zer-
o Euclid thought the vanishing point became
wasn't math--it was the nothingness of Time.
I sit by the window. And while I sit
my youth comes back. Sometimes I'd smile. Or spit.

I said that the leaf may destory the bud;
what's fertile falls in fallow soil--a dud;
that on the flat field, the unshadowed plain
nature spills the seeds of trees in vain.
I sit by the window. Hands lock my knees.
My heavy shadow's my squat company.

My song was out of tune, my voice was cracked,
but at least no chorus can ever sing it back.
That talk like this reaps no reward bewilders
no one--no one's legs rest on my sholders.
I sit by the window in the dark. Like an express,
the waves behind the wavelike curtain crash.

A loyal subject of these second-rate years,
I proudly admit that my finest ideas
are second-rate, and may the future take them
as trophies of my struggle against suffocation.
I sit in the dark. And it would be hard to figure out
which is worse; the dark inside, or the darkness out.

Classic Album Covers

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Today in Brighton

Just had a bout of sneezing. Thankfully stopped.

Anyway, had a good day out doing my two visits along the Old Shoreham Road today. After the visits i walked down to Aldrington rail station to get the short train ride to Brighton and popped into the Evening Star for a few beers.





The Arbor Why Kick A Moo Cow was a delicious fruity 5.5 % ale, but please guys, what a silly name for a beer, lol.

Addendum - Why Kick A Moo Cow is so called - "Waikikamukau (/waɪkɪkɑːmuːkaʊ/, as if saying "Why kick a moo-cow") is a generic name for a small rural town or locality in New Zealand. New Zealanders use the name as a placeholder name for "any town" or to denote a non-specific but remote rural town. It has a similar connotation to the Australian term Woop Woop and other appellations such as the Boondocks" or "Timbuktu". The name is a joking reference to the frequency of New Zealand place names starting with "Wai" (Māori for water, and used in the names of many rivers and nearby towns).
Waikikamukau is reputed to specifically refer to the town of Waipukurau in the North Island. The origins are hazy but one account is that the American servicemen stationed in NZ during the Second World War found it difficult to pronounce the place name and thus jokingly called it Waikikamukau."

From Wikipedia. Thanks to hamsterwoman as well.

Then i decided to go full hog and had one of these in a half pint glass of course. The famous Dark Star Imperial Stiout was on tap. Sold in third or half pint measures. A stonking 10. 5 % ABV!





I met GC in town and we had dinner at Cafe Rouge with vouchers from her Tesco shopping.



She had the demi-poulet (half-roast chicken basted in a Café Rouge herb rub with a rich garlic butter. Served with frites) and i had the confit de canard (slow-cooked confit duck leg, spiced cherry jus, sugar snap peas and dauphinoise potatoes).

Lovely jubbly! A fine end to the day.

Brighton Pics

I snapped some  more ohotos around Brighton , once i left the Evening Star pub -



This is part of the North Laines area.

( More pics here )