8.00 am: A communion, centred on verses from Psalm 51. This was the final day for cohort, scheme, and module set up. Full on! On Monday morning, and from then on, my focus will be on the delivery of teaching, research, and planning for post-2021. 8.45 am: ‘What are these unread emails that have lain at the bottom of my inbox for weeks?’ I took myself to task. In parallel (serial operations are a luxury, presently), the space allocation for new postgraduates was further clarified, and preparation for my 10.00 am research committee meeting, finalised.

9.45 am: The rain; the rain! 10.00 am: We held a Research Excellence Framework meeting for the next two hours, wherein staff submissions of outputs were discussed, by staff. I took time out when my batch were being reviewed. What would we do without a brew?:

12.00 pm: Following the meeting, it was on with postgraduate induction and settlement admin, in advance of this afternoon’s walkaround. I’ll be happy to see the end of this week. There’s been too much to do, properly. The busiest Freshers’ Week I’ve ever experienced.

2.00 pm: Mr Garrett, Dr Forster, and I toured the building, and assigned the newbie MA students to studio areas. All were accommodated … just. One more and we’d have been struggling. The rooms still resonate with the presence of their previous owners. Soon, their ‘scent’ will be overlaid with that of new residents. Life moves on.

3.00 pm: Back to the computer to input the allocation data and distribute information to relevant parties. In the evening, I pressed myself towards the finishing line.