As I turned the corner into September, I could smell the scent of a new academic year ahead. This is a month for transition. 8.45 am: A little sourcing of hybrid analogue/digital mixers, while dealing with postgraduate admin and making a mental list of all those things that I’d needed to put together in readiness for the weekend’s pilgrimage to my fatherland.

I’ve a cousin in the South Wales valleys — one of the few family members that remain — who has endeavoured to map her and my late father’s ancestry. One carte de visite in her collection, however, has defied her best efforts to identify the subjects. The gentleman (and he was undoubtedly such) holds an open book in one hand. Iconographically, the device symbolised either a person of learning or (more probably) a preacher. However, the grim and disapproving expression on his wife’s face confirms, without a shadow of a doubt, that she’s a Harvey:

9.30 am: As a large piece of domestic hardware was squeezed through the backdoor by two earthy delivery men, I returned to the studio and to ward-off email responses. (Once distractions are integrated into the work schedule, their potency is diminished.) 11.00 am: Off to the School, where I scrutinised several new purchases:

Afternoon. On the floor — my essential carriables for the trip: notebook, pens, camera, bag for chargers and photographic miscellany, iPad, medication, antique mobile phone, travel information, and hand gun. It’s not that my home town is particularly dangerous to be in. (The epithet ‘Dodge City’ was reserved for a council housing estate at Coed Cae, four miles north of Abertillery.) Rather, I’m taking the weapon to the Police Museum:

In the studio, my mantra is ‘simplify’. I’m challenging myself to make the connections within and between sound units as direct as possible. Pair back; tear down.

7.00 pm: An evening at the Arts centre with three quarters of my family, where we attended the NTL performance of Terrence Rattigan’s play, Deep Blue Sea:

The set design and soundscape reminded me of David Lynch’s Rabbits series.