Me and Iggy Pop at The Toolshed, Frome's new contemporary arts space. Stephen Haines trained initially as a waxwork artist and still makes meticulous measurements for his work. "I see Iggy as a sort of muse," he says: "When he goes on stage he's in another zone. That's what art is like. You become a sort of shaman. It's what life is about." I've been thinking quite a lot about art and life this week, and Alan Bennett's insight into his own process: “I write plays about things that I can't resolve in my mind.” I think this must be true for most artists ~ even when we aim to entertain, there's usually a journey of self-discovery.

And now summer has meandered into autumn almost imperceptibly, with walks & picnics and for me a big life change. You could call it ~ Oscar Wilde would ~ the triumph of hope over experience, but I'm choosing a less cynical quote: “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Explore. Dream. Discover.” It's attributed to Mark Twain though online opinion is unconvinced (one commentator with the splendid sobriquet 'Dude the Obscure' insists Twain would have blenched at such psycho-babble) but it resonated for me, and I have and I did and I am.