The first day of the examination period. 8.30 am. I cleared the path of emails that had fallen since Saturday morning, composed responses to matters arising, and filled in my timetable with further consultation tutorials for the week ahead. (Spaces are now at a premium.) The next fortnight is going to be a ‘slogfest’. 9.30 am. Back to report writing. Music, maestro, please! (Lamont Young.) The early morning sky-full glower has lifted; blue is the new grey:

In the background, a little supportive banter with one of our PhD family who’s suffering outrageously at the moment. Some Django Reinhardt. He had the use of only two fingers on his fretboard hand. (It had been severely burned in a caravan fire.) For most people, that would have been a sufficient and justifiable pretext for throwing in the towel. Instead, he strove to not only overcome the handicap but also, in so doing, become one of the most intelligent, innovative, fastest, and progressive of jazz guitarists. If a door closes on you, try to kick it down before knocking on another.

1.30 pm. A tour of duty in the upper studios. Artworks are going to the wall, in a manner of speaking:

Some principles and observations:

• Your first instinct will be to hang much; whereas, you need only hang enough.
• Your care in the small things is far more evident to others that you’d ever imagine.
• This is not the time to major in minors.
• You must reconcile the last two statements.
• Everyone else’s ‘hang’ is far more straightforward than your own.
• Artistic judgement is most liable to error when you’re under stress. Therefore, seek advice.

In between tours, I pressed on with PhD reports and deflected incoming emails.

6.20 pm. Practise session 1. 7.30 pm. I press on further. Tonight is my deadline for finishing them. More music, please! (Nels Kline: one of my contemporaries and an admirable inventor of electric guitar-based sounds.)

10.30 pm. ‘The night watch’. A little more to do be done on the reports.