Lots of bad news come in, mostly from or about friends, is making for a change in priorities and in the pattern of life.

How much should I try to explain? The place I played on Friday night � is a place where over the last three or four years I have played fairly regularly, for and with a certain group of people. Not wanting to let that slip away was one of the reasons I made the effort to get there and do it in the face of a few reasons why it looked like a silly idea.

One of the people who was instrumental in a particular set of �happenings� in this location � which I have been very involved with - died last week . Exactly what happened is unclear but the circumstances don�t look too good. I phoned Pete Crowther to pass on the news . Pete is the guitarist who I have done a lot with at these happenings. It turns out his wife, Jane, is going through quite a serious problem with her health which is naturally monopolising his attention.

Four weeks today I am scheduled to put on something � the next one in the series. I already had some ideas but its all got a lot sharper. I came across this familiar extract which might be in the zone that I need to explore:

The dove descending breaks the air