Numberz

Three hours travelling, six hours teaching, two hours marking, one hour at a meeting, all after four hours sleep: big plate of food, cup of tea... perfect!
The Daintees gig at the Half Moon in Putney last night was an absolute stonker. The band have got into their stride and the sound guy was really good, a gruff Glaswegian wha didnae smile but who put all his efforts into making a crystal clear sound for the band. Martin was hilarious but also the perfect crooner, John played some roasting guitar solos, Kate played drums with sharp precision and Lou underpinned it all with a big bass sound. Martin's guitar playing is really on form too and the PA system did the little Yiari justice. Paul Davey came along and saxaphoned merrily and could be seen grinning away in the background.
The band got a standing ovation, and they deserved it. They are in Portsmouth tonight and I know it's going to be a fantastic gig. Wish I could go!
I was told afterwards that my set was good too, and I was also roadying and selling CDs- one woman bought six. There was plenty of crap joke telling in the dressing room (my fave way of passing the time) and Terri and Graham turned up, the couple whose wedding the guys had played a few months ago.
It was absolutely the best way to spend an evening; sometimes I think back to the miserable evenings I used to have in the big house down the road, sitting watching things I didn't want to watch on a mega-sized TV on my own, and I do really count my blessings.

Today wasn't as bad as I'd thought it might be; my colleagues have rallied round and we dove into a pile of essays to double-mark, fortified by chips, chat and coffee. There are still trillions left but it's nice not to feel so isolated.
The chap across the corridor had brought in his guitar to be looked at by the guitar techie in the studios, and I persuaded him to show me. It is a solid-body wood finish Guild, absolutely beautiful, and when I told him that he retired purring back to his office!

The house is a mess (Offsprog Two has hosted two birthday parties this week that involved huge chocolate cakes) but I fit in rather well, really: hair all over the place, pasty tired face, notes scribbled in pen all over my left hand, holes in socks and pot belly. But I don't care, because the dreaded Thursday is over for another week, only three more to go till the end of term, I have survived, and some of the students even smile at me from time to time.