Thursday - Must be Thailand

Robin is in Thailand, or rather, was. Communication has been difficult today, and that combined with a large, and ever changing, time difference, is making life difficult.
However, after a short trip into Phuket, most of his time has been spent in practice.
All the musicians I know, find practicing in a hotel or cabin, a rather self-conscious affair.
Robin is always concerned how much the sound travels, and when you play a guitar as powerful as his, then it can often be heard quite a way off. Believe me, I've walked the corridors of many hotels around the world, and reported back if it can be heard in the lifts, bar, 2nd or 5th floor.
It isn't too bad if you are running through the concert itself, but the majority of practice, is actually scales and arpeggios.
They are something that most people don't really want to listen to, especially for 2-3 hours at a time.
The solution is a pair of socks.
To mute the sound has more than one benefit.
This quote sums it up:

'For these abstract exercises I mute the violin and put a piece of tissue under the strings. I could say that to practise with a heavy mute or, as I once did, with a soaped bow, saves my ear from being dulled with a surfeit of sound, and that this self-imposed continence makes the pleasure of performing aloud all the keener. Beyond that, however, mime obliges me to internalize the music until I can 'hear' it in my digits, muscles and joints, until the body becomes a sort of aural intelligence, an instrument perfectly tuned and playing independently of me, a pure voice.'
Yehudi Menuhin

I would, however, recommend that a clean pair of socks are used...