This last few weeks have been an almost complete break from anything to do with writing music, or even making any serious plans for new pieces, but I do think I needed to take some time out having completed a major project. I had hoped for a trip away this summer, however events conspired against that, but living where I do I can hardly complain about the scenery or indeed the weather we have had. Being a creature of habit, I do enjoy a certain amount of routine and predictability in my life, (a fact betrayed by my music which is often framed in classical forms with neat phrases of 4 or 8 bars!) but holidays by their very nature are less structured and prone to sudden changes of direction without warning, so the start of the autumn term next week is something I am looking forward to. As I have been writing this it has occurred to me that I have not yet mentioned what it was that I completed. Over roughly the last year I have been composing a choral work called Four Canticles for SATB Choir with piano accompaniment. The canticles are taken from the first couple of chapters in Luke’s Gospel and include the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis along with the Benedictus and Gloria which I have inserted in between. As yet this is not properly engraved, but I may add it to my catalogue of published work before too long.