Yesterday’s return journey from Newport was tortuous. The afternoon train that I’d intended to catch was cancelled due to ‘more trains than usual needing repair.’  The later train was delayed and one carriage short of a comfortable ride.  The combination of a too small vehicle and the addition of those who would’ve otherwise caught the cancelled train produced a scene familiar to Japanese commuters. I stood until Abergavenny. At Shrewsbury, two trains arrived on the same platform; one for Machynlleth and the other for Birmingham International. But not even the officials knew which was which. For some reason, the train and carriages had been arranged the wrong way around. The front was at the back. It beggared belief. Once the parts were ordered correctly, we departed (half-an-hour late). And then there was a bus ride from Machynlleth to Aberystwyth. On with the iPod and LOUD music. On arrival in Aberystwyth, I discovered that there were no taxis in the rank; my only choice was to walk home in the pouring rain.

8.00 am: A hurried overview of emails and the day’s itinerary, before packing my bag and heading for the supermarket to buy lunch. I’d prefer to complete my transaction with a flesh and blood employee, but they were busy stacking shelves. The machine is always courteous (not that it cares); but, then again, in some other shops that I’ve been to, the human operative is no different:

9.00 am: Abstraction. Today we moved from Post-Painterly Abstraction to Minimalism. The lecture ended with a quotation by Clement Greenberg:

The irreducible essence of pictorial art consists in but two constituent conventions or norms: flatness and the delimitation of flatness; and that the observance of merely these two norms is enough to create an object which can be experienced as a picture; thus a stretched or tacked-up canvas already exists as a picture – though not necessarily a successful one.

And lo and behold, in the studio where I was teaching afterwards, I alighted upon this:

The studio still sounds like a TB ward on occasion. This cold/flu that has prevailed since Freshers’ Week has been hard to shake off. Which means students miss classes; which means that they become anxious about falling behind in their work; which means too much of the subsequent tutorials is absorbed in alleviating, and supporting them through, that anxiety.

1.00 pm: Abstraction again. This afternoon we looked at the demands of the module essay, and how best to prepare for it. To essay a mountain is not unlike essaying a question: it’s better done in stages (base camp by base camp), in full cognisance of the terrain, equipped with the right gear, and, preferably, with an experienced sherpa on the team.

2.00 pm: After lunch, and in the space left by a sicky-wicky absence, I walked into town while the rain was in abeyance to the bank. More machines, where there used to be employees with whom I could not only do business but also witter on about family, work, and holidays – the big and small stuff that make up our lives. 3.00 am: I pressed on with tutorials until the close of the afternoon.

I’m conscious of taking photographs of areas of the School and its rooms that are so familiar to me that I no longer notice them. Yet, they are of the essence of my time here, and how I’ll one day remember the place:

5.30 pm: Homeward.

7.30 pm: The Thursday evening round-up of the week’s business.

Observations and principles derived from today’s engagements:

• Don’t do something because either you’d like to or it’s fun; only do it if it’s necessary and appropriate.
• Deciding the why and the what of your intent will determine the how of its execution.
• The idea and its execution must operate in reciprocal relation. Both mutate by the action of the one upon the other.
• T: ‘Are you feeling limited by your specialism? Break free, temporarily.’
• T: ‘What can a text do that a painting can’t?’
• Things are coming along in a quiet way.
• Education is a process of growth and transformation – in oneself and in relation to the subject of study. Sadly, students whose goal is, almost exclusively, the pursuit of high marks may miss this experience entirely.
• Hard work alone will solve 70% of your academic difficulties.
• T: ‘Forget that it’s a flower; treat it as form alone – and as though you’d never seen the like of it before.’
• Translating student parlance, when asked a question to which either a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer is required, and the response is: ‘I’m not sure, really’ = ‘No’; ‘I dunno’ = ‘No’; ‘Mmmm, maybe = ‘No’; ‘One day, possibly’ = ‘No’; ‘It depends’ = ‘No’; ‘Yes, in a manner of speaking’ = ‘No’.
• S: ‘Are you sharing these pictures to influence me?’ T: ‘No. To show you what’s possible’.