SMALL MERCIES, LUCK AND MINOR MIRACLES...

Thankfully received an email from my pal and studio engineer John Spence to say that the DAT cassette that had been chewed up and trapped in Fairview's DAT machine has finally been freed from its confines by studio owner and boffin Keith Hurd. The cassette has suffered a certain amount of damage but it appears that only two tracks have been lost beyond repair, which, considering what might have happened, is a minor blessing.

Therefore, the 'AUDITORIA' album has now been pieced together from a combination of my CDR backup discs and the surviving sections of the DAT tapes and the album is now intact and awaiting manufacture. Next task is to come up with suitable artwork for the packaging.

Another job ahead of me is to create some new backing tracks for the 'Orchestra Futura' set at December's 'Plectronica' event. I also need to consider which of my solo set tracks to put in place and how many new tracks I'd feel confident enough to include. Sorting these things out is as convoluted as deciding upon an album's running order. It takes time and care to get it right.

Tomorrow is the beginning of September, and also Autumn, to a certain degree. Time is flying by and what once seemed an eternity to sit back and let things happen has now become an intense panic to get things done. The sense of time running out, of a mysterious deadline ahead, fills me with anxiety. No time to waste, no time to lose, just hands to the pumps and the hope of something coming down the pipe that will satisfy my dreams. Never satisfied though, never happy with what I've done. A permanent state of disappointment.

On a lighter note: Emiko and I drove to Harrogate this afternoon to call at 'Ramus' the fish emporium on the Kings Road. Bought some good quality seafood to put in our freezer but ate some of it tonight for dinner. (Is this sort of information of any interest to fans? It may be of interest to my much loved offspring in years to come, when I'm no longer here to relate these stories.)

Happy times Emiko and I have managed to grab from my intense musical work, which, in its obsessive nature, intrudes dramatically on more ordinary pursuits. I guess I'm a difficult man to live with in some ways, but Emi loves and appreciates me despite the cantankerous and pre-occupied nature of my life and work.

Tonight I've completed a video for the track 'Cross Country' from the album 'Model Village.' Nothing spectacular, just a pleasant amble through some areas of North Yorkshire captured on my camcorder recently. It adds to the previous video I've made for the track 'Windmill Interlude' from the same album.

These videos are made quickly and without artifice. No slickness or what some people might consider as 'professionalism.' They're nothing more than a camera pointing at my world, as narrow and limited as it is, and reporting it back to the viewer with a soundtrack that hopefully helps illuminate the subject matter a little. Snapshots of moments...

Absolutely inundated with Facebook notifications and emails, private messages from this website and domestic mail. Finding it so hard to keep up with everything. All I want to do is to concentrate on the work, the music.

But all this other stuff continually flows in, unasked to some degree, but an inevitable by-product of what I do.

Things could be worse and I'm lucky to have found a place that resonates with some people...