Hot! I love it. It's now getting towards evening, and a little bit of a breeze is coming in. I'm sure this is the hottest day of the year so far. It's great as long as you don't have to exert yourself too much, or be productive in any way. It's hard to persuade oneself to do any work, but work I must. I've been practising a lot each day for the last few days, which I've hugely enjoyed. This is great, because it hasn't always been so enjoyable. I'm a little bit pressed because so many deadlines are approaching, but when I'm not worrying about them, I'm enjoying myself.

On the 4th of July we had a riotous and wonderfully enjoyable party, to which a great many people came -- more than we expected. It was to celebrate my becoming a British citizen last December. Lots of people brought their kids, and the weather co-operated. We all enjoyed it very much, and had lots of fun. Towards the end of the evening, our friend Katrien arrived from Belgium, and I spent the weekend catching up with her while Zan was away playing in York.

Now we have Wendy and Richard of Fretwork staying with us for a couple of days, and I'm going to leave my desk pretty soon to go and cook some food.