8.30 pm. Who borrowed the lectern lamp? Where did I put my Dictaphone? These were two unexpected crises that I experienced while preparing for the Chapels in Wales module:

The Dictaphone was discovered, but died from battery exhaustion halfway through the lecture. (The power gave-out without warning.)

10.00 pm. A morning (and lunch) of Vocational Practice paired tutorials, in which I reviewed the students’ development of their group-workshop projects. There are many natural teachers among them. And all, I suspect, will become teachers in the process of preparation and in the delivery of the class. They’ve some exciting projects to present. I hope the undergraduate school responds with reciprocal enthusiasm.

2.00 pm. A hasty, rubbish lunch, followed by an afternoon of micro-tutorials for all-comers at the Old College. Rebecca’s slippers slept:

Georgina’s boots (I’m reminded Van Gogh’s painting of Gauguin’s own) await her return:

In the spaces between tutorials, I whittled away at postgraduate and general admin. Some principles and observations:

• Our lives, abilities, tastes, and proclivities may shape our work either positively or negatively. The choice is ours, actually.
• It’s insufficient merely to do something, even extremely well. Once must also understand why we do what we do. What does it all mean? Answer that question, and you’ll have discovered something profound about yourself too.
• A little encouragement goes a long way. (I know that from personal experience.)
• Treat painting like a 9 to 5 job. In the end, the making of art is just honest labour.
• Unlike the operation of the ‘muse’ or inspiration, hard work never lets you down; its always available to help you, when you’re ready to apply yourself.

5.00 pm. Homeward along the Prom. ‘Goodbye, Aberystwyth Bandstand (1935-2015)!’:

Temporarily, we’ll be able to see a space, a vista, a view through that has not be visible for 80 years.

6.20 pm Practise session 1: attention to the plectrum hand and pre-amp effector. 7.20 pm. I undertook admin related to the outcome of this morning’s teaching: PDF-ing documents, (that’s not a vulgarism), uploading files, and keeping all concerned in a very wide loop. These undoubtedly tedious duties are, nonetheless, the small cogs that help the big cogs of more meaningful enterprises to turn. 9.40 pm. Practise session 2: cross-picking and tremolo picking exercises.