Hilary Seabrook - writer, podcaster, musician

Mini-MOB took to the Kings Arms in Hitchin again tonight. Rhythm section lead by Mike O'Neill, with Thomas on bass and John on drums. Front line me on alto, James 'Youth' Harold on trombone and Dave Marks on trumpet. A nice gig that'll never make me rich but is very entertaining to play. There are some people that you just sound great with, and I love working with Dave and Youth. The set was all standards, with Nicki Lawrence singing a few along the way. She has an amazing voice and it's great to play behind her. Tenor player Laurie turned up and did a couple after the break, largely to prepare for his music college audition on Friday. He'll do fine. All in all, a lovely gig and the punters seemed to like what we were doing.

Having spent a couple of hours at my desk this morning, I then trudged around the M25 to Romford, then onwards to Croydon. Final interviews at Royal Mail's mail centre and home soon after 9pm. It was a long day, made bearable by working with photographer Justin Grainge. I interviewed, then he snapped. It's an interesting project - with goalposts moving daily and the occasional wicket being thrown in for good measure. What we'll end up with is eight pages of photo-led features that focus very much on front-line staff. It's very much a team effort, with designers putting it all together back at the agency. I'm actually excited about seeing the final version in print. The best jobs use teamwork and I think we'll end up with something to be proud of.

Sue Shearing's latest film 'No Smoke' makes us question how far we can be pushed. An interesting film and I hope it does well for her. Read my full review here .

Well, I was caught short by talk about the First Sunday in Advent on the radio this morning. Because Christmas Day falls on a Sunday this year, I thought that would count as the fourth Sunday. Apparently not. Usually, this is the weekend when Florence, Freddie and I would get all the Christmas decorations, cards etc out and start decorating the house. It does feel strange not to have Florence around and maybe that's one reason why we're behind. So, Wednesday will be the day to do it. End of November and then the run-up to Christmas begins with a vengeance. Today, I had a real flashback to a moment in 1991, when I sat with Harry Connick Junior (I arranged the seating plan, so why not?) for the premiere of 'Memphis Belle'. During the film, he sings ' Danny Boy ' and it's a great arrangement. In church today, we sang a hymn to the same tune and I came over all emotional. My life was very different then to how it is today!

Spent a couple of hours this afternoon interviewing Paul Archer, of Burning Codes . What an interesting man and I felt a great empathy for him and his intentions. 3,000 words need to be written in the next few days, whilst listening to the albums.

I enjoyed writing this review .

Tonight was the leaing do for a colleague who left school at the same time as I did in July. Such a joy to meet old friends I haven't seen for months. In some ways a difficult event, but made pleasurable by the people who were there.