London has been sparkling in the sunshine. As I walked down Bishopsgate yesterday I was struck by the deep blue of the late afternoon sky. Beneath it, the buildings had a fresh appeal. It was like looking at an old friend or lover and seeing beauty you had never noticed before or long since forgotten.

Tower 42, the old NatWest Tower, sometimes looks a little weary to me. Not yesterday. The glass was gleaming in the sunshine. Its windows, and the windows of the buildings around it, reflected both the City’s traditional architecture and the cranes at work creating a new generation of buildings. A living art work.

Michael Tilson Thomas (aka MTT) was also sparkling yesterday. Reflecting on our rehearsal as I walked away, I wondered if he’d noticed that the sopranos were lost – almost to a woman – early in the evening’s last run-through of Villa Lobos’ Chorus Number 10. Still adjusting to the speed at which he took this piece, we were struggling to watch him whilst also following the music. If he did notice, he handled it with consummate grace, recognising the challenge of staying on track and urging us to prioritise maintaining the rhythm of the music over a perfect and precise rendition of the notes.

As I write, I think of my coaching clients. Isn’t that a great analogy for life? For what is it to sing each perfect note of life in tune, if in the end our life has lost its rhythm?