Good evening from a tired, but happy Newton. Despite examination fever, it's been a good day on the whole, with no-one looking completely panic-struck - other than a few members of staff, perhaps, as increasingly large sheaves of script are stuffed into their lockers. Boys have been running up to me all through today telling me about how well they've done in English, French, maths, history, etc. - always a worrying sign. Still, I'm sure they've all done brilliantly.

Tonight we relented and allowed a bit of extra-curricular viewing, which was good for relaxation purposes, even if most of what the various broadcasting channels had to offer was complete tosh. I suppose sometimes it doesn't really matter, though, and I recall with some amusement the occasion when, after a particularly difficult parents' meeting, the HM for whom I was working at the time (not here) retired to his living quarters, poured himself a large glass of Luncheon Dry and a generous handful of peanuts (yes, it was the 80s) and settled down to watch whatever was on the telly - at lunchtime. Remember Camberwick Green? I know that's what it was, because I had to go and ask him something about something - or someone. Poor chap, he didn't know where to put himself. So, to his credit, he carried on as if this was his daily routine. Actually, for all I know, it was.

Talking of Luncheon Dry (Harvey's, remember that, too?) that reminds me of a staff pantomime of Aladdin, in which the rather wicked author (one of my colleagues) cast our alcoholic Head of Mod Lang as the Grand Vizier, Lun Chon Dri. How we got away with it, I shall never know. As far as I know, he never noticed ..... (My colleague had very dri sense of humour, you see.)

Enough Tales from Memory Lane. Sleep well.