I'm back home. The car took a long time to cram, mostly because I decided to bring my bike home. This involved pulling off its wheels (easier said than done, as some of the screws had rusted), and then balancing the frame on the back seat. The chain had to be wrapped up in a plastic bag to stop the seats getting oily, and then wheels were balanced on the middle of the frame. It needs a lot of work doing to it (cleaning, gear lever broken, rust removing, mud guard filing etc), and I'm most likely to do it at home.

The Golem has gone well - we're all rehearsed up now until we begin before the performances in August. I've written out a full score and musical prompt sheet, and must remember to keep practicing this holiday, both so I remember it, and so that I maintain my callouses.

My room in London is now impassable for boxes - it's amazing how much stuff you accumulate over a few years. Today will see a massive unpacking session, and also some bicycle fixing.

In other news, I've put some new pictures up on deviant art

Going Home and finding Cubes of Irritation

I went home last weekend. It was really good to see the family again, and enjoy some home comforts, as well as a fantastic meal out at Frere Jacques in Kingston. I ate snails for the second time, followed by roasted pork with plums and savoy cabbage. It was all delicious, though I'm still not convinced by snails. These ones were much less garliccy than the ones I had in Paris a few years ago, which meant the underlying flavour of land-mollusc came through. It was strangely aniseedy, with a bitter tang. Not unpleasant, but certainly not delicious. I withhold judgement for the moment.

Also, while I was at home, I discovered an old Rubik's cube under my bed. I've not had a go at it for ages so I picked it up and had a few spins. I managed to work out how to get one side and a T shape on 4 other sides, but no more. However, once you've picked one up, they're very difficult to put down, and when I arrived back into Cambridge I found out how to finish it off with the help of a youtuber. Now I can do it every time - my quickest being 2mins 6seconds. If anyone is vaguelly interested, or cares, you can see my geeky video of me doing it in a slightly slower 2mins 30ish seconds. Just got to stop spending so much time working out what to do next, and I'll have it down below 2 mins. If I can be bothered!