chilly start, vapour trails, summer school, greek dancing, kitchen refurb, conted open days 2015, teymour shahabi, courgettes

Last night's clear skies and full moon brought a chilly start today. Out cycling the cold air streamed down from the north. Only after a while was it refreshing.

Heading towards Black Bourton, I looked up and saw this grid of vapour trails across the rising sun.

A lovely reception and formal dinner at Exeter College last Sunday to mark the beginning of the Creative Writing Summer School. A pleasure to work with the students this week.

There was a wonderful library staff party on Thursday - such a relaxed and warm atmosphere. Shame I left to catch my bus before the Scottish and Greek dancing!

At home, it's the kitchen refurb. Inevitably a bit of dust, the dry mealy smell of the wet plaster and that strange echoey emptiness of the room. We're camping in the rest of the house, which is filled with all the kitchen stuff that is spread everywhere and you just can't understand where it's come from and how it fitted in. It's a tiny kitchen!

And sometimes in the early morning, the theatre of the kitchen seems to have deserted it. It's just this impermanent-seeming space that could be cardboard. Cardboard skimmed with milk-chocolate plaster and daubed with paint samples. The old lino so obviously worn and dented. It's extraordinary how much life all that stuff gives the room; how much it absorbs the kettle's pop as it is about to boil, which now rings in your ears like a gunshot. Still it has been fun to select the floor tiles and decide on the paints. Soon it will be a new, almost unfamiliar place to explore and make our own.

It's also great to see Billy again - the renaissance man, who, as well as painting and decorating, made our pond, redesigned the garden and sorts roofs, fences and plumbing emergencies.

Yesterday, I sent off the title and description of my session at the Department for Continuing Education's Open Days (25th and 26th September). The programme goes live soon.

Meantime, I've been following the YouTube videos of Oxford alumnus and aspiring New York self-publishing author, Teymour Shahabi - @teymourshahabi.

This afternoon, catching up with the allotment and wondering what to do with all those courgettes!