9.30 am. Making good on common courtesies following the symposium yesterday, I wrote to one of the speakers from the session that I had charge over:

I didn’t have the opportunity to show my appreciation for your paper and presentation yesterday. You delivered it with consummate professionalism and economy. I also enjoyed your work too. Fascinating. It reminded me of my experiences in the Linnaeus’s garden and house at Uppsala, Sweden. I was staying at a hotel, during an autumn conference, the back door of which opened onto the garden. The hotel guests were allowed to explore it freely. And, being out of season, one was often alone in the garden. A rich experience.

10.15 am. Cleaning! The study and studio needed a sparkle:

I always disable the computers’ keyboards before cleaning; a brisk run over with a duster can accidentally activate a combination of keys that can place a device into a deep sleep from which it might never wake up.

11.45 pm. Off to lunchtime music recital at Holy Trinity Church:

Sometimes, even with the best of intentions, music does not happen. The score can be first rate, the notes played in the right order, the range of dynamics appropriate, and a sense of togetherness among the musicians evident, and yet …  There was a composition by one of the performers, however, where the ‘spirit’ did descend.

1.10 pm. I returned home for lunch via the Farmers’ Market. 2.00 pm. Back to the studio, in order to review and adjust section 4, as well as to test the new sampler/looper in the reconfigured handboard section. The sound was ‘dead’ on boot up. There may be an issue with the volume pedal being placed after the sampler/looper; it should, in any case, have been on the return path from the handboard to the loop-switch unit. Ha hum! Then a hum. And then it was working again.

Now that the network of pedalboards and the handboard and their effectors have been completed, both it and I need to be disciplined in relation to one another. In essence, the network is a single, complex instrument, which I must now explore fully and learn how to play.

4.00 pm. Some taxy business, one week before the deadline for submission. Yawn!:

5.15 pm. Done! 6.30 pm. Practise session 1. 7.30 pm. An evening with my wife.