I had a wonderfully music-free day yesterday: I installed a CD drive into my parents' computer and got them connected to the internet at home for the first time, and then I did my accounts.  Accounts are the bugbear of every self-employed musician - it only took about four hours to do, but I've been putting it off for seven months.  The other major achievement of the day was raking up leaves in the garden, out in the cold sunshine.

So this morning rang some journalists to tell them about our plans for a post-concert session on Thursday, and sent out a couple of CDs to interested parties around the globe.  Then off to St Andrews in the Square with Marie to plan staging and lights for next week, and an amble home via the bookshop.  I emerged with Neil Slaven's book on Zappa, and to my delight, the reprint of Michael Nyman's book 'Experimental Music' which I first borrowed from the local public library and read on a family holiday about 20 years ago, and haven't seen since.

The deeply scary but wonderful Diamanda Galás is playing in Glasgow next week, and the not remotely scary They Might Be Giants the week after.  I haven't seen either of them live before, so I hope the babysitting works out and I get to be a grateful audient.

I had a phone call the other day from someone who'd heard me playing the fortepiano on the radio and got my number from the BBC.  He was looking for advice on instrument restoration, and recommended I learn one of the Weber piano sonatas.  Sounds like a good idea.  One of my favourite records ever is Alan Hacker's 1978 recording of Weber's clarinet quintet, and spookily enough, two of the players on that record will be in ConCal on Thursday: Carolyn Sparey and Duncan Druce will be our viola players.

It's just dawned on me that in a moment of mental weakness earlier in the week I agreed to do four days' playing in the RSNO in December and January.  I think I said yes because Roy Goodman is conducting Messiah on the 2nd January, and I've never worked with him before, but even so, on past experience sitting in the middle of a vast symphony orchestra trying to be musically interesting is far from rewarding, and the money is rubbish.  What was I thinking of?