Er. Rather a strange salutation, you may be thinking, but perhaps it becomes a little less strange when I tell you that I've just been reading a fascinating article, passed on to me by one of my doctored colleagues, about how we are prone to sticking -er on to the end of nouns. And just in case anyone is thinking that I'm about to follow a road upon which may be found a bishop and an actress, well, I'm sorry to disappoint. So, er, yes. Thinking through the Newton gamut (if one can do that without seeming too surreal), we could have 'late-getter-upper', 'laundrier', (although that looks like a rather indecent French verb, to me), 'pant-and-socker', 'duveter', - oh, etc., etc. You know what I mean.

We are in what we call 'the silly season' here at SF: exams, report-writing, the occasional minor fall-out in the staff room during which (if one is a witness rather than an arguer) one feels rather as one did when watching lions doing unmentionable things on the telly when one's parents were in the room, and an earnest desire to see the woods for the trees. i.e.: the end of term amidst the chaos. To be fair, things are very well organised here, and I'm not just saying that because he who is (in addition to being the colleague of whom I spoke earlier) in charge of exams is also a Newton parent.

The residents were thrown into confusion yesterday morning, as Newton duty board announced that Mr Bryan AND Mr Porter were to be on duty last night, in our absence. It was all very easy to follow really. Mr Bryan usually does Tuesdays. Mr Porter assists or presides, depending on the week, on Thursdays. Last night was Tuesday, which meant that Mr Bryan was on duty. However, Mr Porter, who normally does Thursdays, in one capacity or other, was also on duty on Tuesday this week. Thus, a Thursday duty master, who normally shares a Thursday night with Dr Dean, became a Tuesday duty master, sharing his Tuesday evening duty with Mr Bryan, rather than his normal Thursday partner, Dr Dean. Mr Bryan did the first half, and then Mr Porter took over from the end of silent reading until Mrs C and I returned.

Er, yes. Simple.