02:39 monday 29 november – rosevear , st agnes

i feel i’ve been neglectful of these transmissions . but the fact is i’ve worked more or less non-stop since returning from london .

putting together the isles of scilly initiative website , building the distributed apprenticeship pilot around it , preparing for the legal formation of the digital workshop , designing the final version of the logo for the school for social entrepreneurs , working with the school’s design group on innumerable stationery layouts implementing it , building homepages for everyone connected with the school , setting up a pilot for a distributed seminar with the school , throwing round ideas left right and centre about infrastructure technologies .

i’ve had a couple of visitors too . james smith , the sse’s director , and simon darling , a friend who used to be unilever’s e-commerce potentate . it was a pleasure to show them both round , a chance for me to remember what it was like to see the islands for the very first time . but each visit had its ulterior motive and incorporated long stretches of intense debate .

this is harder than i’ve ever worked before and i’m finding it tremendously exhilarating . i don’t know whether i’ve used this analogy before , i’ve certainly thought it , but the experience makes me think of surfing . a sense of being thrust forward by huge forces , a mountain of green water constantly poised to collapse over me . but so long as i remain nimble , so long as i judge my posture and attitude well , i continue to ride it onward .

usually i get up around midday , eat a leisurely breakfast , then work until seven or eight when nik and i will cook and eat together . after that i’ll get back to work until four in the morning . i manage to find time to get outside for a bit most days .

yes , it does pain me to spend so much time in front of the screen and so little time on the rocks or the sand or the heathland or passing the time of day with the islanders . but there are things i must do whilst i have the energy and the opportunity . i do not expect this intensity of focus to be required of me for long .

but i think i need a day off . maybe sometime this week .

it’s been great sitting down to supper with nik each evening , the first time i’ve shared a meal regularly with someone for a long , long time . we’ve both been pretty adventurous with our cooking , and we’ve got into the habit of baking bread . in fact i took a couple of loaves of wholemeal out of the oven a few minutes ago . kneeding dough is splendid relaxation .

i handed over the big bedroom to nik this evening and transfered to the smaller one he’s been in until now . the last of my chatels came over from st mary’s on thursday ( the third attempt ) so i could unpack my futon and spread it out . the mould had got a bit rampant in my absence , but a quick hoovering soon saw to that .

so i’m all in one place again , the first time since the beginning of may .

having finished my work for the day i made some dough , kneeded it and left it to rise while i went out for a walk . there have been strong winds for the last couple of days but this evening it fell still and a thin mist rose . i walked out onto wingletang down , my heart thrilling as the sound of the ocean grew louder . to my left i could hear the high-pitched crash of surf on the southern tip of gugh . to my right i could hear , or rather feel , the awesome sub-sonic rumble from horse point and the western rocks . i rested on a granite boulder, able to discern the foaming whitewater in the darkness . the great waves of the south-westerly swell driving in relentlessly and destroying themselves upon the rocks . the bishop’s sweeping beam punctuating the hazy sky , silhouetting distant black islets .

as i turned and set off home i could see the distant light from rosevear , the rest of agnes sleeping . later , as i neared the house , the light spilling from my studio windows onto the lane seemed almost indecently bright .

: cH