November 7, 2015

7.30 am.  Arose. 8.30 pm. Open Day, with the Ambassadors preparing, welcoming, and touring, or Helen with her clipboard (in her role as Duty Sargent), or the display of cakes. Instead, I posted images of the School and the town on a sunny day, as an antidote to the prevailing dismal weather. Not being able to do one thing presses you to do another — to be more inventive. 9.30 am. I reviewed last night’s compositions. They sound complete in themselves. (I think I knew all along that this would be so.)

10.00 am. I returned to the book. I need to distil an account of its scope, rationale, and intent for my meeting with the publisher in London on Friday:

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In between bouts of heady conceptualising, I began opening up the third composition again; it had begun to suggest the need for a dark and uncertain coda, in acknowledgement of the tragedy that had beset Jeanne Deckers‘ life, and its abrupt conclusion.

12.30 pm. My Open Day shift began. To begin: Tweet Central re-opens:

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Several of the parents had associations with the School of Art from the time when it was a chemistry department. A surprising number of students follow in their forbearers’ and siblings’ footsteps in applying to this university.

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A welcome brighter sky emerged periodically, following lunchtime. I manned the Information Desk until 2.00 pm, when I stood in Dr Cruise’s stead and delivered the sample art history lecture to a small but engaged gathering. We should really offer this in the morning session, when the crowds appear. (Note to self: Download the PowerPoint file and test it on the desktop rather than on Dropbox.) 2.45 pm. Back to the desk. The visitors were attending today’s second introductory talk:

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Time, then, to thin my inbox. 4.30 pm. Homeward.

Back at homebase, I tweaked further the trio of compositions before pulling down the shop blinds, at 5.15 pm. 6.30 pm. An evening with my wife.

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