Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me (Psalm 139.11). WFH: DAY 38/LENT 7. 6.30 am: There’re days when the dawn cannot come soon enough to vanquish the night’s terrors. 5.45 am: I awoke, too early, from a dismal dream in which I was ‘closing in on death’ (to quote Lou Reed). The bed in…

WFH: DAY 37/LENT 6. 7.00 am: The wind buffeted the house; casements rattled; birds were blown off course; and the trees bristled like a cat’s hair. But it sent the dark clouds packing. An hour later, a Spring-like day prevailed. Likewise, turbulent periods in our lives can bring clarity and resolution in their wake. 7.30 am: A communion. 8.00 am:…

Unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid (The Book of Common Prayer). WFH: DAY 36/LENT 5. 7.00 am: Proof of presence: 7.30: A communion. 7.45 am: The week ahead promised to make considerable demands on both my time and energy. There’re some possibilities I daren’t entertain; some files, I’d rather not open;…

But only one thing is necessary (Luke 10. 42). First image of the Martian surface from the Perseverance rover (courtesy of Wikimedia Commons) WFH: DAY 35/LENT 4. 7.45 am: A communion. 8.30 am: Studiology. ‘Is there [sound] on Mars?’ I look forward to hearing this (as I’m sure Bowie would’ve too); NASA states: The Perseverance rover carries two microphones, letting…

WFH: DAY 34/LENT 3. 7.00 am: The musical accompaniment to the morning’s ablutions included a composition by the Tudor composer William Fox. It’s the only composition we have by him. Moreover, we know nothing about his life, other than the date that he died. I could find no reference to either him or the music on the Internet. His perpetuity…

WFH: DAY 33/LENT 2. 8.00 am: A communion: 8.30 am: Preparations for the day that presented itself. Thursdays are always singular — devoted to one task: tutoring my third-year painters. 9.00 am: The first tutorial: I forget that students can still be laid low with all the other commoner illnesses that were hanging in the air long before Covid-19. One…

WFH: DAY 32/LENT 1. Morning: 8.00 am: A communion. 8.30 am: MS Outlook has an unhelpful way of marking ‘unread’ mail as ‘read’, when items above or below it are clicked. Thus, everyday I have to review the preceding day’s deliveries in order to check whether there’s any outstanding correspondence that requires a response. I’m not persuaded, Facebook. You may…

‘I imagine that you teach through who you are. The only way, in my books. Students need not only different voices but also a variety of approaches to being taught’ (Email to a postgraduate student (February 15, 2021)). Monday, February 15. WFH: DAY 30. 8.00 am: A communion. 8.30 am: I reviewed the week ahead, my ‘To do’ list and…

Those whom I’ll never touch again. WFH: DAY 29. 8.00 am: A communion. 8.30 am: Having dispatched emails that required immediate attention, I returned to the phase 1 mix, and made small changes that were perceived to be necessary only when heard in the context of the online album draft. It’s curious how uploading a composition objectifies it — as…

WFH: DAY 28. 8.15 am: I braved the bristling iciness, in order to take an early-morning walk and be the first in the queue at the chemists. The air felt all the thinner for being breathed through a mask — rather like being on top of a tall Alpine mountain, where the oxygen is thinner. 9.15 am: Back at home,…