… you know how the rest goes. I’ve just lost a wedding string quartet gig, due largely to the impossibility of getting some other people together to rehearse. So after some fairly substantial time and effort into cat-herding (aka organising musicians), I find myself now not with the prospect of £120 fee in a couple of weeks (and at some point I’ll need to post some rather big and heavy books of music back to their owners). But, in the world of self-employed music which, judging by my experience hiring freelancers in publishing, is lawless even by the standards of the sole entity economy, I can either take it on the chin or take the lass who actually has the gig from the client to the small claims court for the fee I would have got. And I don’t think I’m going to do that.

My availability is increasing. Where are the jobs with a prospect of earning people? I feel like hibernating too but literally doing so won’t stop me having to pay rent and taxes …