driving to Saint-Bernard
On Sunday we were near New Glasgow, and today we're headed for just past New Edinburgh.

Yesterday was a day off: some practice, then off with the Greenberg/Dunlay clan to see the 40-odd tall ships down at the harbour (it was the Natal Day holiday), followed by pumpkin ice-cream, and rosewater and mint sorbet in Halifax public gardens, sitting under the large statue of one Robert Burns. Back home for more practice (some harpsichord, some frisbee) and then DG decided to set about tuning his Estey suitcase organ to A440. He'd just about done the 8 foot stop when I headed for bed around 1am.

This morning I was in The Music Room doing my piano, melodica and harmonium overdubs for Chris Norman's Christmas album.

Andy and James came along too for moral support, and also so that I could moan at them for playing so many unexpected chords! I really like recording sessions where there's just me doing overdubs. It's just sad attention-seeking really. It's harder to get a good feel, as nobody else's playing will respond to yours, but the technical and mental challenges are very absorbing. I did the seven-minutes of 'In fields of frost and snow' in one complete take (attention-seeking again), and at the end put down a few takes of Coilsfield House on the Steinway D in memory of the night when I played it in New Orleans. I don't think I've ever recorded a piano solo before. It turns you into a tiresome hyper-critical unpleasable pain - the treble register of this rather nice piano suddenly felt quite inadequate, and the acoustic of the room didn't feel up up to snuff any more either. Sure enough, Chris came out of the control room afterwards and said, 'Were you happy with the way the inner voices came out there?' Oh well, I'll listen back in a few weeks when I've forgotten what it was like.

Afterwards I was nicely adrenalised. It's strange to feel like that at 2.30pm without having played a concert.

later, Saint-Bernard
The harpsichord's now tuned, in the incongruously enormous church built here by local artisans from granite over a period of 30 years, and finished in 1942. There's just time to go and skim some stones at the beach with DG and Betsy before we go to meet Suzie at our digs in Clementsport.

On the way here I had my first ever encounter with true Canadian culture in the shape of a visit to Tim Hortons. We made the girl behind the counter laugh so much that she gave me a bumper helping of Timbits. Apologies to non-Canadian readers who may not appreciate the significance of this. Or care particularly.