DIY July and August

This is the only photograph from July and August - the place was so full of dust perhaps I simply did not dare get the camera out of it's case.

These month's emails trace the seeds of new friendships and the discovery of the quiet delights of life in Frome - the Canoe Club, Diva's cafe and the Farmer's Market, the walk along the valley to Mells and gossip at the Keyford laundromat.

The news at last, that I had been awarded funding for not one, but two years to complete the PhD at the RCA filled me with confidence and excitement. This was mixed with anxiety that I would have to put this gentle place on hold again for a little while at least.

The accounts are full of receipts for an apple tree and araldite, a cooker, a clematis, copper pipe and cupboard doors, a second hand fridge and half a roll of roofing felt, buckets of white paint, plaster for patching and a peach tree, roses, radiators, rollers and roofing insulation, worktops and wood, tiles, tape and lots of tea for Dave, Dave and Dave, Ben, Ned, Colin and Clive.

No hot water and the floors in bits meant a fairly spartan existence, sleeping in a bag on the floor and waking early to swim at the Frome Leisure Centre before the team showed up thirsty for tea. The bath became the sink where I learnt to make a kettle-full of water do a whole day's washing up.

Preparations were also underway for the launch of the Eye Hospital and Bate Museum projects and I went to serve at the Vipassana Centre in Hereford: so utterly peaceful - and with endless hot water!