8.00 am: A communion. I would like to come away from it all, and have the opportunity to extend my communion over several days. The ‘it all’ is that composite of circumstances, irresolutions, conflicts, distractions, and discouragements that are the stuff of our common-human experience – in different ratios and intensities – throughout life. But winter will give way to spring. Our fortunes and dispositions ebb and flow.

9.00 am: After a weekend away, I’d much to catch up on in terms of responses to mail and planning for the week ahead. A slow to respond Outlook didn’t help matters along. ‘Keep going forward, John, one step and at time. Be relentless. Be very brave.’, the voice encouraged. 11.30 am: Marmite time: the reduced salt type (which doesn’t taste as good) from the blue-capped jar (which doesn’t look authentic).

I returned to my on-line article. I’d like to have this off-desk by the close of the day. A project of this stature (which is slight) deserves only so much time and attention. However, while not wishing to make a mountain out of a molehill, I’m determined to give it my best shot.

1.30 pm: After a fast lunch, I pelted to and from W H Smith (aka the Post Office as well) – the most unutterably dull shop in town (any town) – to dispatch a parcel. 2.10 pm: Back at the anvil: ‘Bang!’ (one word); ‘Bang!’ (another word); ‘Bang!’ (and now I’ve a phrase); and so on. Having concluded the penultimate paragraph, I set about organising the article’s illustrations:

The final paragraph. Always a corker. I returned to it in the evening, along with email responses and various preparations for tomorrow’s teaching. The final part of the evening was taken up with tweaking the whole, inserting links and captions, and scratching my head for a title.