I went to Gaydon on theM40 for the launch of the Warwick University Formula Student car. The competition runs next weekend.

Back in Leamington I have started to change the pictures round, in particular I have put into a frame one of the bush outside Port Elizabeth in South Africa and another of the river Avon near here. The pix which were in the frame have come out for a bit of interference � one of these is a view in LA up the coast from Venice Beach towards Santa Monica and the ocean terrace where Robin lives.

The other is a view of the High Sierras in California � a lake some 10,000 feet up. The former can be improved I feel. The latter is rather too timid - whether I can do something about that without spoiling it is open to question. Anyway the two new pix look quite good behind my stove � next to one from the Scilly Isles and one of the Hurt Wood in Surrey. Great name for a bit of Surrey � actually the view is looking towards the place V Wms lived quite a while

I have been developing the MM performance concept in discussion with Andrew. We are looking at the idea of putting a solo flute phase at the beginning which is from Coltrane � a transcription of one of his classic solos. I thought it might be �Countdown� but I am looking at Milestones instead � the key suits better � the Trane solo line � treated as a solo flute piece. Its really something to engage with those notes � the freshness and intensity of invention. Hope my neighbours can handle that. There�s a thing around the note the G � on this flute � I hope that isn�t going to turn into an issue.

I played some of the line on the guitar � an astonishing experience � mind expanding in the true sense. I don�t know why I ever stopped practicising Trane and Bird lines � its obviously a good thing to do every day � JSB too. There was a time when I learned a lot of Bird heads off by heart � bits of Armstrong too.

Listened to some of a programme about Janacek � didn�t realise that he lived in Brno � a place I have visited a couple of times � where you still get a feel for Central Europe before 1989. J�s piano pieces from the 1900s sounded good to me. He seemed a bit like a musical Strindberg. I even heard some modal jazz in Brno � I found it very moving actually � like the music was carrying some of its old radical values

I watched The Shock of the Pseud part 2 on Saturday night. I think he�s over doing it . The big idea at the moment is back to painterliness and its unique values. Its not as if anyone abandoned that idea � I didn�t hear people saying that you shouldn�t go in the Rothko room because the paint will warp your mind � go and look at some cool conceptual art instead. I thought it was interesting to see all those Kiefers. No one is going to drop Bacon , Freud (and his interpersonal void) and they only dropped Hockney because it was just too easy � not that he cared a stuff probably.

The idea that the camera isn�t adequate to the current expressive situation is an interesting one in my view � a kind of �new times� signal. Paul mailed about his son � a film cameraman � and also about going to various 60s events during his Apple years.

I had lunch in the local Pizza Express � something I have never done before � and read more of Totton and Ackroyd poetry in parallel. You can�t miss the snow. Its even in De Rien which is dedicated to PW

�there�s snow about

we�re exposed to the air

pierced by a glance (its how I got that hole�

Paul was saying its not so much the cure as the attitude to the cure that counts.

There�s also this question of London Gothic. You can�t say it isn�t in PA � that would be stupid. Its just not in the poetry or if it is I haven�t found it yet. There was a thing last night on R4 about the lyric impulse and the divine � a sign of �new times� if ever I heard one. Totton has been scouring the conceptual universe for about 40 years for such signs if you ask me.

There�s a quote from Trane via W Shorter is the Porter bio where WS reports that Trane was so into pattern that he genuinely wanted to learn how to speak English backwards � to get a new angle. This is not a joke in any sense.

Actually I once taught myself to play some Christmas Carols backwards - step in the right direction?