8.30 am. I’m endeavouring to pack as many tutorials into as small a space as possible. While, in reality, the delivery is exhausting, I appreciate the experience of continuum and momentum, and the opportunity it affords for establish zones in my diary that can be dedicated to either administration or research alone. 9.00 am. On the cards for this morning: book development. As I write, I see:

I also hear: the occasional ‘clumph’ of car doors closing; the drawl of courier vans passing; the wood pigeons’ ‘coo-coo-coo’, close by; the gentle ecstasy of twittering sparrows in the neighbourhood trees; the seagulls, high up, screeching. To record (either audiographically or textually) is to listen. After several hours of note making — developing an inventory of sources, artefacts, and concepts, and a rationale for the research — I’m ready to draft a conspectus. Then I’ll be able to discern whether or not there’s a cogent theme governing the book — one that can both be developed and (as importantly) persuade a publisher to bite.

1.30 pm. After lunch, I walked to Information Services to collect my rebuilt MacBook Pro, and what appears to be an ailing Apogee Duet analogue/digital interface:

Back at home, I begin the task of reinstalling profiles, accounts, and software on the device. The computer now has the equivalent of an entirely new soul and mind. Its past in relation to me has been totally erased. Therefore, we must rebuild our friendship from scratch. (Sigh!) 2.45 pm. Back to the SoundBook (with the MacBook computerizing at my elbow, simultaneously). ‘Too many notes!’ I proceed to sift and order them on screen.

15.40 pm. My most consulted research output in last week’s Academia.edu stats was the Photography & Spirit book:

There’s no knowing why other academics are drawn to one’s work. But the interest does suggest that the material has some abiding relevance for someone. At least the theme of ‘ … and spirit ‘ is still popular. My book on sound and spirit may yet have an audience.

6.20 pm. Practise session 1. 7.00 pm. A little work was required on tomorrow’s Chapels in Wales lecture. It’s a bit of a patch job. But this is the first and last time that the lecture will be given in this context. 7.50 pm. The evening light. Samuel Palmer and Paul Nash would have nodded their appreciation:

More book work: segregating and categorising ideas that had been set down in the Belmont Loose Leaf File. Now ideas are beginning to generate other ideas. ‘Numinous sound!’ Where on earth did that one come from? I cannot even envisage this phenomenon. In part, that’s the idea’s strength. Connections are forming; a pattern, emerging.

9.45 pm. Practise session 2.