I always knew that the last semester would be a tough one. However, I never expected the tiredness and stress of getting the Lux Locus Auction – www.luxlocus.wix.com/luxlocus fund raising activity up to speed would drain me so much. Two weeks ago we had our first break in 4 years for one night courtesy of my sister who paid for us to go to Morston Hall. It was only a 30 hour break but time enough to let the virus re-activate. I have suffered for many years with these things but the effort required to blast off from a standing start to get things moving withing 7 days has drained me of almost everything. On top of that, interncine conflict has also reared its ugly head almost a year after that first occurrence. Hopefully I’ll weather that type of viral activity and it shall not re-occur once the show is over as I shall be able to avoid re-infection just by physical avoidance.

On the fund raising front, Kickstarter is going well and we are on target. We have had superb support from many well known photographers and some not so well known. We were also rejected outright by a very well known photographer but on the whole the experience has been one of helpfullness and generosity. I contacted Sam Mellish last semester as his work was influential in my decision to take up the chance to study for a degree in photography 40 years after missing the last opportunity. He was very generous and donated our first pieces so it was his picture of The Blue Sky Cafe that went into the local paper this week to publish the event . Thanks Sam.

In 10 weeks it will all be over and I shall be wondering where the last 3 years have gone. It has been an interesting rollercoaster of an experience with more highs than lows.