Well, the harmonium nearly made it back in one piece - two panels came apart in transit, but this morning a friendly joiner has glued and clamped one of them and taken the other one away. Once I've got myself a reed puller (a bit like a screwdriver but subtly different) I can set about tuning it, in some of the spare time I haven't got. Earlier tonight I was drilling holes in the study floor to run speaker cables: it's only taken me four and a half years to get around to that job.

There's been a veritable email flood of mutual congratulation from Suzie and everyone in the band after last week: we all seem to have enjoyed it rather a lot. And now the discussions turn to running orders, cover images, translations of the texts, and first edits appearing soon on a website which I'm not going to tell you about. 

I've also been starting to work out what I'm going to play in my overdubs for the Chris Norman Ensemble Christmas record (it's not cheesy at all, honest!). Once I've taken some musical decisions, we can get to the logistical and technical ones, because I might be recording it in Glasgow in the next fortnight, in Halifax NS at the beginning of August, or some of each.  But I feel some gratuitous gospel piano coming on.