arundel by katharine eastman

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(a slow woozy glooper that feels right for this hot afternoon and evening)
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Yes I seem to be back. Of course I am back - I was away - in Sussex for a holiday - and now here I am in dear old messy charmless Southampton. We went all over and visited lots of places and had a great time, staying at the Angel Inn on the high street in Midhurst - often I think we were the only people staying there. The staff were delightful and eccentric, which is always a bonus.

One of my favourite places we went to was Arundel. Not the castle of course. Too boring. Arundel has a Kims Bookshop - so does Chichester, another of my favourite places - those packed-out second-hand bookshops with steep steps up to lots of little rooms - guaranteed to break apart anyone's promise to stop buying any more books until they've read all the ones they already have.

I doubt I'll be as prolific as I was previously. Maybe. But unlikely. While on holiday I discovered gardening. I've done a lot in my time - growing loads of veg, and also doing paid stuff in other people's gardens. But I've never enjoyed it. However, while walking the walls in Chichester we looked over at all the tiny beautiful complex neat little back gardens alongside, and I fell in love with the possibility that I too could create something as delightful in the tiny space here.

We also went to the Open Air Museum, which has lots of old houses that have literally been moved from other parts of the country and are presented with their old cottage gardens - and these gardens too inspired a newfound love for cramming as much nature as possible into a small space - the wilder and weedier the better - but with a certain order imposed too.

And now, back here, I have been out the back digging holes in the lawn and planting random stuff, and absolutely loving it. So that will be my passion when it's not raining. Which it isn't now, obviously. But it is very hot. And it's the heat that drove me indoors to do this piece.

Another change has overcome me - whatever that means. I nearly gave up with my internet provider EE - it kept cutting out and it was very slow. But their customer helpline is the friendliest of all of them - real human beings who have time for you. And god knows they've needed it. And, beguiled by their niceness, in a moment of inspired stupidity I opted to upgrade my thingy, and am so glad - it used to take over 2 hours to upload a piece of music like this, and there was a greater than evens chance that the upload would fail anyway. Now it takes just a few minutes. I am amazed.

You too might be amazed by this piece of music. I like it a lot. That might just be because it's a long time (relatively speaking) since I last heard any of my music, and perhaps the break has been good for my ears and brain. Maybe the same effect has whatevered with you too. I almost understand why most musicians - certainly all "proper musicians" - only release about one album per year - but I hope that in spite of gardening getting in the way I shall never become a proper musician.
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(recorded Sunday 13th June 2021, photo Arundel, June 2021)
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