The frustration of last week’s hip injury escalated this week, culminating in my being admitted to hospital for two days.  The good news was that all of the suspected serious causes (stress fracture, tumours, and so on) were eliminated.  The problem seems to be a combination of effects from my old long-distance running days that led to some bleeding into the bone, exacerbated by a bike accident last November that tore some cartilage, all of which were aggravated to the point of causing acute pain a couple of weeks ago when I was doing lots of walking and carrying some unusually heavy loads.  The bad news was that I have to remain on crutches and anti-inflammatory medication for another couple of weeks, and even worse, I am supposed to rest!  Not good - I don’t like doing that!

Everyone here has been very gracious in accepting the inconvenience my hip injury is causing to them.  My students have been coming to my house for their classes, and teachers have been making the long trek to my home when they need to see me.  The messages of goodwill have been abundant and

deeply appreciated.  Unfortunately, I had to miss chairing Wednesday afternoon’s staff meeting - which I hate doing at any time - because it clashed with my stay in hospital.

And so, after the week I have had, I am sure you will understand when I say that the truly positive highlight of my week (apart from getting out of hospital) was the students’ music concert that was held in our home on Friday evening.

Music concerts in the Principal’s home are a long-standing tradition at LPCUWC that preceded my arrival seven years ago.  However, they have really grown enormously in popularity during the course of this academic year, and Friday evening’s concert attracted just over 110 students to our living room - a record number - with the overflow spilling into the kitchen, up the stairs, and at one point, out the front door.  That number represents about 40% of all the students in the College!

The reason for the popularity was obvious for all to see on Friday evening.  We have an incredible range of musical talent among our highly talented students, and their willingness to share that talent generously with their

friends was wonderful to see.  And the range of performances and musical styles was sensational - indeed, eclectic!

I even had the chance to experience one of the finest performances I have heard of John Cage’s three-movement composition, 4′33″ - right in the comfort of my living room.  I must confess, however, that it was not until Jack’s performance of that very mellow piece began that I realised how many students we have with bad coughs in the College at the moment.

Usually when Di and I host these music concerts in our home, I make a point of getting photos from a range of perspectives, both upstairs and downstairs.  Being confined to a chair by my hip injury on this occasion meant that my photographic creativity had to be curtailed somewhat, although I am sure my appreciation of the music - and our students’ efforts - was enhanced as a consequence.

I have uploaded a gallery of 24 images of the concert (all from the perspective of the same seat - sorry!).  Please enjoy them by clicking HERE.