Today wasn’t all bad though. I learnt some sign language from Kirsty, which was fun. I can now ask someone what there name is and tell them mine. I probably can’t understand anything they say to me, but you know, baby steps and all…

Had a particularly good blow at Abingdon Concert Band tonight, which included playing mostly the right notes in the mostly the right order and almost at the right speed. I even played piccolo in not only Beauty and the Beast but also Pirates of the Caribbean and was heard in a not objectionable way. Which is encouraging. And hey, as a band we were even playing so well that Sunday’s extra-rehearsal has been canceled. Here’s to a nice weekend to get out in the country instead!

Due to a high solar storm, the Northern Lights are apparently particularly active tonight. I’ve found this really cool website for forecasting where and when you will see them. You can even sign up for twitter text alerts for it.

~ However I have a task in hand, and that is to finish writing Mr Tumnal. Pleasingly, I have written a good scene this evening of two or more pages of Louis and Kathryn. They are in their, escaped from the clutches of Miss Leroy but haven’t resolved the situation that has engulfed them stage. I like where my brain is taking the story at the moment, and it is good to be writing again.

~ I have a fear that I may have lost the ability to draw. I know this sounds crazy but I used be so good at it. Okay, I wasn’t exceptional, but I used to be able to sit down and draw. Of late I have been picturing in my mind exactly what it is my drawing is going to be like, but when I actually sit down with pen and paper in hand it just goes to pot, and I just can’t do it. It may just be that I want to try and do something like woodcuts (or possibly even, once I’ve got my Adana printing presses fixed up, actual woodcuts), but its just not working for me. It’s very frustrating. Upsetting even…

I called Andy and he came over. He did what I should have done and actually unplugged it and plugged it back in and it came back to life. Not sure why that should have made a difference, and it turns out there had been a power cut about 6am and whilst the main webserver is on the uninteruptable power supply, the old, dying server won’t connect to it, so it, umm … died.

The day did improve after that, and the new office is really taking shape now with the nice new carpet now installed. Just seem some swish new furniture and we’ll be sorted! 🙂

On the way home from work, I was early enough to catch the John The Butcher before he closed up shop, and so stopped there. John is always so much more cheerful and chatty on a Friday when its quiet rather than on a Saturday morning when they’re rushed off their feet. Today he was telling me about his 10 days off over Christmas, and his Christmas party across the road in the pub for all his staff and how it usually takes three taxis for him to go home, and then his trip down to the south coast between Christmas and New Year for some r…r…

It’s weird, but before I met Emma, although I liked Bicester and my little house (which I felt very at home in and loved very much), I never really felt at home in Bicester. It just the town I lived in, and at some point I might leave. At some point, we still might leave, but until then I’ve been feeling much more settled in a Bicester life. And getting to know the local butcher, and also Hayley and Spence on the veg stall are also part of that. Slowly but surely we seem to be putting down our own roots in the world. It kind of feels nice.