A surfeit of etymological issues is burgeoning. I now learn that Mr Bryan is very concerned about my use of the word 'geriatric', because, in his expert opinion (and who am I to argue?), if one refers to a pediatric ward, the children within it are not 'pediatrics', thus, in the same way, persons from within a geriatric ward should not be styled as 'geriatrics'. See what I mean by being surrounded by a firewall of erudition? And to think that it wasn't so long ago that a former colleague of mine thought that 'erudite' meant super-glue. How we've moved on.

And as for Dr Harskin's comments about omniba (see 'Comments' from yesterday; the only one I've ever received - actually, no, that's not correct: I received one about a grandmother who all but disgraced herself while reading the content of this website), that, sir, comes from 'omnibus', which, unless I'm much mistaken, is already plural. It's getting silly now, as I couldn't help but think about what the singular of Ba Ba black sheep might be. (Yes, prep school humour; I know.)

Dr Dean's the duty supremo tonight, and I haven't heard a squeak. He's been reading to them, in the clubhouse, and, to judge from the silence, they were all either asleep or entranced. Or both, of course.

I did an interview for the telly today, and I'm due to be on the wireless tomorrow morning, talking about the Afghan music college. So if you happen to live in the Oxford area, you can hear me wittering on at around 7.30am-ish tomorrow, and you can see me filling the frame adequately on BBC local TV sometime between 6.30 and 7pm.

Comments welcome - as long as they're decent.