Piano, Latvia and Force-Feeding.

My day job is teaching the Piano, term has now finished and pupils have all passed their exams. It is odd how I seem to get more accomplished when 3 hours of my day are eaten up with teaching than when I have 12 hours ahead of me with absolutely no structure! I will shortly be off on a boat around Scandinavia, Latvia and Russia (St Petersburg). These cruises are not exactly good for the regime as they tend to force-feed you with several meals a day. I have been listening to a Flute CD today (soloist - Andrew Anson). I have rehearsed with Andrew on two occasions and he is starting to programme my compositions in his concerts which is exciting and of course, great publicity. I don't have much to say about the London bombings and the killing of an innocent man by the police here - I know this might sound strange, but the weather here is so heavy today that I can't seem to focus on these important 'real' news events. I live only about 11 miles from the centre of London but can happily avoid 'town' for months on end. I was on the tube (London Underground) just one day before the 2nd round of bombings (which caused no deaths fortunately) - I didn't feel nervous travelling by tube - you just have to get on with your life, I suppose. When I return from my trip I hope to be able to settle down to my novel again. At the moment life seems like a perpetual fight to remain optimistic in the face of huge negativity set up by just about everyone I am in contact with.