In the week that Labour won a landslide election in the UK and Mark Cavendish (fellow Manxman and childhood friend) cemented his 35th stage win to become the greatest Tour de France cyclist of all time, I was working in Paris with Les Talens Lyriques. This was just 20 days before the opening of the Paris Olympics. Having finally finished my book, ‘Just’ Natural Trumpet (www.justnaturaltrumpet.com), I was able to spend my free time—which had formerly been taken up with seemingly endless writing and editing tasks—walking from the hotel (near Gare du Nord) to La Seine Musicale (a distance of 11km). I did this so that I could spend as much time en route listening to Beethoven’s ninth symphony, which I will be performing from memory at the BBC Proms with Aurora Orchestra in August. I observed the construction of the Olympic grandstands along the Seine on my route. I was in Paris from 3–6 July 2024 to record Antonio Salieri’s Cublai gran kan de' Tartari with Les Talens Lyriques and Christophe Rousset at La Seine Musicale. We performed this work as a staged opera in Vienna earlier this year, and it was great to revisit this music for this recording. On this occasion the soloists were: Carlo Lepore (Cublai), Anicio Zorzi Giustiniani (Timor), Marie Lys (Alzima), Äneas Humm (Posega), Fabio Capitanucci (Orcano), Giorgio Caoduro (Bozzone), Ana Quintans (Memma), and Lauranne Oliva (Lipi). I really enjoyed the recording; it’s always a pleasure to work with Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques and it is such a relief to have finished my book, which will be available soon!