3rd February 2007

I arrived just after dawn, which was supposed to be at 7.49 according to halesowenweather.co.uk, but I think that civil dawn came earlier today because all objects were most distinguishable by at least 7.30am. (Civil dawn is when the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon; objects can be seen and out door activities can commence.) I recorded 'The Grassmarket' as accurately as I could from that point until approximately 12 noon. By then my fingers were too cold to write, even inside my sheepskin gloves and I was very tired. So I came home. I fell asleep on the sofa. Our boiler broke three days ago, so it's actually not much warmer indoors.

I've decided to do the next four-five hours tomorrow, which should take me until sunset. I realise now that the experiment won't be complete until I've done the night shift(s) too.

I kept on meaning to create and implement a system for this recording, but kept getting too interested by what was actually happening at that moment, to make up, or keep to, any rules. I felt in part like a detective, gathering clues, in part like an obsessive and unconventional taxonomist, and finally and most worryingly, that even the objective of creatively representing something real, doesn't sufficiently explain this kind of behaviour.

Best from the bench.

Clare