Friday 6th July - Labyrinthine Days

10 m (33 ft) high fountain of Pāhoehoe lava, Hawaii, United States
picture from wikipedia

At this stage of the term, all my schedules and diaries and calendars go into meltdown.


The regular pattern of my days and weeks disintegrates into a stew of harum-scarum ingredients to be fitted in wherever possible; school concerts, instrument inventory checks, extra piano lessons (I usually enter around half a dozen students who often need extra lessons as the reality of the exam draws ever closer), and exam appointments (I accompany about twenty - thirty instrumental exam candidates who all need rehearsal slots). Add a seasoning of routine blood tests, optician appointments and visits to collect glasses, an unplanned trip to the vet etc etc and the schedules become unmanageable.



I have given up on the diary function on my mobile phone, and stopped using the excel spreadsheet that I use to schedule piano lessons. The only way I can deal with the last couple of weeks of term and the shifting quicksands of the appointments is with a written schedule that I can alter (IN PENCIL) at a moment's notice. And then rub it out and change it again.
Technology just doesn't function as effectively as paper when the chips are well and truly down.

Labyrinth at Meis, Galicia, possibly from the Atlantic Bronze Age
picture from wikipedia

Sometimes I feel as though I am being dragged, kicking and screaming, through a maze


but it is actually only a labyrinth.

There is ultimately just the one path through each day with no dead ends, no false trails.

I just have to begin at the beginning, and follow the path through to the end.