My working life is an endless whirl of meetings at the moment. Meetings in person. Meetings on the phone. Skype and videoconferencing meetings. Why so many meetings? We are coming to the tail end of a VERY long restructure process that has been going on for years. At least, I hope we are getting to the tail end. Because, seriously, I cannot take much more. Merging three programs into one is a complicated business, and while my work is only a part of the entire restructure it is truly enough to keep me busy until Christmas at the least. What is keeping me sane? Well, as usual my beautiful piano students keep me entertained. This afternoon saw an impromptu version of The Tickle Song….a composition by the father of one my students. It has words and music (none of which I can remember now) but they are very entertaining. I also spent a wonderful hour talking Debussy’s La Soiree Dans Grenade with my advanced student. We chatted about Debussy, motifs, musical picture painting, sounds, texture, character. It was an absolute treat. She also bought me half a kilo of cherry tomatoes and a hand of bananas. So you know, music accompanied by fruit and vege. What’s not to like about that? In other less fantastic news I think my hot water system is on the way out. Cool showers are not my favourite thing…even in a Queensland summer. And it also seems like someone may have declared a plague of ants upon my house. They’re springing up everywhere….even in my bedroom! I swear this is nothing attractive to ants in there!! What is going on? Still on the upside, when I bought my coffee on the way to work today I got a free one for some reason. So you know…swings and roundabouts.