The Lady Novelist has been in London for nearly a fortnight, hence the lapse in transmission. This was spent, by and large, in the British Library speed-reading ten books a day and staggering out of an evening with revolving eyeballs. Returning to the deep north yesterday evening, I found that the trellis fencing was turning […]
We have some progress to report. The day after my last building related blog, a couple of chaps turned up in the afternoon and put the bottom layer of roof onto the building. This, in turn, allowed the reinstatement of the back door. However, they were not happy campers. It transpired that their boss had […]
The Professor has written to the Guide Dogs association to ask to be considered as a home for a failed guide dog. As University teachers, we feel that we may have some insight into the tale of the Guide Dog (failed). You are dealing by definition, with a good-looking posh kid. He or she may […]
By eight o’clock this morning, we were entirely surrounded by white vans. As the day progressed we discerned a certain atmosphere of grievance, generated by the fact that the official and sacred Trades Holiday is apparently in progress (we thought it was next week). I’m afraid we aren’t feeling entirely sympathetic; the words […]
Like much of the country, we have been spending more time than usual looking at the news. There is one name which has not yet been mentioned in the whole Murdoch/Brook/NOTW saga, and I think it’s time I blew the whistle. Ladies and gentlemen, it was the Tooth Fairy. I became aware of this shadowy […]
Monday again, and a notable absence of white vans. It’s getting just a bit boring. It’s not as if we’re suffering torrential rain or anything like that: I don’t think there’s a reason they can’t put this blanking structure up. Meanwhile, on a slightly more cheerful subject, in the last week I have come across […]
This morning brought with it one of the year’s less welcome moments. Going out around nineish on a fresh, breezy morning with promise of merry sunshine after torrential rain, I had no sooner come to a halt in order to encourage Miss Kit’s ablutions with glad cries, when I was surrounded by small black flies. […]
We have had a complicated and strenuous few days. The Greatest Living Shakespearean had announced his intention of joining us on Saturday, which caused a good deal of domestic anxiety, since as yet we do not have an extension and therefore, still have no central heating, and he suffers from the cold. […]