8.15 am. En route to the Old College to hold an early morning PhD Fine Art tutorial. In the West Classroom, the residue of the finalists’ last battles with painting and rallying cries still stained the screens:

The room now has additional ‘ghosts’. A memorial to absence:

At 10.00 am, I engaged one of the MA Fine Art students, now proceeding to their second and final exhibition. This has to be completed between now and September, and it’s a tough call by anyone’s standards. The challenge is to better one’s best.

This has been a day for conversations. Some have been conducted face-to-face, others by email. All were of a very different complexion. They entailed expressions of, variously, joy and uncertainty, vision and conviction, determination and clarity, frustration and disappointment, and exasperation and betrayal.

I enjoyed a coffee with a ‘retiring’ finalist at 11.00 am, and a working lunch with my colleague, Dr Roberts, at Tree House. Our business topics covered research collaborations, enhancements to the Art/Sound module, and funding possibilities for the upcoming SteelWorks project.

Afternoon. I finalised some incoming Postgraduate Monitoring admin, and conducted an interview, as second supervisor, in connection with the same. 5.20 pm. Homeward:

Evening. I reviewed the submission of a postgraduate thesis that had required a few amendments before it could be accepted. Rarely does any thesis pass without some changes, these days. Standards! Standards! Thereafter, it was back to updating my CV and website, and responding to related emails. Consistency! Consistency!