The Day. 9.30 am (running late): mop cut at Richard’s:

Home. I returned to the British Landscape exam scripts, responded to emails and social media posts, and communicated assessment marks between assessors and the School’s office. In the background, I played the Mahavishnu Orchestra’s Visions of the Emerald Beyond (1975). My esteem for the album continues to grow. When I first heard it, as a teenager, I was floored by its ecstatic, spiritual intensity and the almost supernatural quality of the musicianship. The compositions are a coherent and cohesive fusion of jazz, rock, funk, and classical traditions. It almost shouldn’t work, but it does … magnificently.

2.30 pm. Off to School and to the show. An opening. The crowds drifted in more slowly than in previous years, but arrived, nevertheless, in great numbers, and more consistently too. (Newcomers entered from beginning to end.) The ‘hubbub’ felt positive, enthusiastic, and accepting. One of the great virtues of the School’s achievement is quality in diversity.  It was in evidence again this year. I heard many admiring comments from the visitors.

It was good to reunite with some of the School’s old friends and alumni. They’ve remained enthusiastic and genuinely encouraging supporters. This was the last opportunity I had to enjoy the students’ work as art only. From Monday onwards, it becomes output to assess also. Around 5.00 pm, the first tweets and Facebook posts were issued:

This is the beginning of the ‘goodbye’. A departing. An emptying. A closing: