On Tuesday, we went to the reception for the opening of the Fortitude exhibition at the Royal College of Physicians, next to Gandalf Corner.

It’s an attempt to make a historical record of the experiences of healthcare workers during the covid pandemic, and I think it’s a worthwhile one. L— was there because she had submitted several artefacts in the exhibition. I was there as a +1 (and to enjoy the free prosecco). The speakers were interesting, as was the exhibition itself. I spotted Chris Whitty in the crowd.

The exhibition is free and open until the middle of next year, so pop in if you’re nearby.

Our garden office arrived on Thursday. It was impressive to watch: they put down a level platform, carried in some prefabricated panels from their van, and by lunchtime there was a building there. The rest of the time was taken fitting the roof, painting, and varnishing, but by mid afternoon it was all done. Our garden is a little smaller, but now L— has a room of her own for work, crafts, or anything else. There’s a small shed at one end of the office that is perfect for bicycles.

It’s expensive for a shed, but cheap compared to a larger house, and it was really very little hassle at all.

We had a fancy meal at Studio Gauthier on Thursday night, thanks to a two-for-one tasting menu deal. The atmosphere is more relaxed than Gauthier Soho, but the food is every bit as good.

The logo has a very Memphis Group look about it. Everything comes back into style again if you wait long enough.

After our previous experience we eschewed the wine pairing in favour of a bottle of house white, a decision which I felt very good about the next day.

I ordered a bicycle trailer, specifically the Klarfit Companion. It arrived from Germany on Friday, but I haven’t had a chance to use it properly yet. I’m excited about the possibilities.

On Saturday evening I saw a fantastic performance of Aminta e Fillide in Rotherhithe, a convenient five-minute walk from home. The singing was phenomenal, and the staging was entertaining from the moment Camilla Seale’s delightfully expressive Fillide banged the door open and rushed onto the stage, wine glass in hand, leaving the audience visibly temporarily confused as to what was going on.

My mandolin-banjo repair failed. I had neglected to account for one of the points of stress, namely the part of the rim where the eight strings are anchored. It sounded great and played perfectly for a few hours, but the plywood couldn’t take the strain in that direction.

The good news is that I know I can make it into a great instrument. The bad news is that I need to make the pot again, and differently this time.

A few links:

  • jam.coop is a new music platform being built by some friends of mine that “will be 100% run by and for the benefit of musicians, fans and the people who make it.”
  • exkeymo-web builds installable customised Android key layouts. The demise of Heroku’s free hosting means you have to compile it yourself and run it locally. I used it to make a US International layout with Caps Lock remapped to Control.
  • A video about Blockhead (experimental digital audio workstation). There are some interesting ideas in this.