8.15 am. My assessment-related emails met with an economic response. Thereafter, I attended to research-related correspondence: a reply to the British Library, and a further attempt to secure membership of a music royalty agency. 9.45 am. Much hammering, screwdriving, scraping, and muffled-thuddery in the studio above my office. All good signs:

10.30 am. A second year painting tutorial, followed by a PhD Fine Art tutorial half an hour later, in which we examined sound-file processing.

Following lunch, I pressed against the wind and rain towards the Old Classroom to conduct an afternoon of pre-feedback tutorials. A melancholy pervades the studios; this is a time of endings and farewells:

Some principles and observations:

• One of an art teacher’s duties is to be a soul counsellor.
• Remember the past, live in the present, and think about the future.
• Develop, at least a provisional, sense of your own trajectory. Consider what your work might look like this time next year.
• An enthusiasm for your work must be founded on reasoned observation and good judgement, rather than feelings alone.
• You will be as inconsistent in art, as you are in every other department of life. This is the human condition.

4.15 pm. Homeward. The party candidates’ signs — weather-beaten on the penultimate day of canvassing:

The etymology of the verb ‘canvass’ derives from the 16th-century French ‘canabasser’: ‘to examine carefully,’ ‘to sift through canvas’, and ‘to solicit votes’. The noun ‘canvas’, for its part, originates in the Latin ‘cannabis’ (itself derived from the Greek ‘Kannabis’: ‘hemp’).

6.20 pm. Practise session 1. 7.30 pm. The irksome, annual research student monitoring round (and attached forms). The management of which comes to me, as Dr Cruise places the mantle of Postgraduate Co-ordinator on my shoulders this year. One begins by setting-up an administrative framework. The objective is to complete the task efficiently, speedily, and well, while circumventing any silliness and redundancy inherent in the process. 9.45 am. Practise session 2.