It's been a good day today, although as it's Tuesday, and therefore our half day, it's been a pity not to have seen our/your LMs this evening.

Not to worry, though, because Mr Bryan has been at the helm, and all has gone well. As for Mrs C and me, we have had the great pleasure of welcoming Mr and Mrs Michael Feben-Smith back to SF. Michael was a junior teacher way back in the 1980s, and was a fellow student with Mrs C at Southampton Uni, and we can both remember visiting him when he was a bachelor member of staff here!

It was a Tuesday. Mrs C and I were on the staff at Papplewick at the time, and we came to see Michael, before going on to Witney, where my parents were living at the time. We were due there for supper.

Michael, being the generous host that he is, filled us with the most wonderful afternoon tea, and, to be frank, when the time came for us to leave, we were st****d.

We expressed our thanks and made our way to Witney. My mother, being the generous hostess that she is (even at 93 now), had prepared a lavish supper for us both. As you can imagine, our appetites were not quite what she had been expecting - even mine, and that's saying something!

She smelt a rat. I could see that maternal look that only a mother can give her son. (As George W Bush put it, when he got the date of the Queen's accession to the throne wrong). It spoke a million words. And, as yet another baked potato was thrust upon me I began to realise how the boy in 'Matilda' must have felt when instructed to consume vast amounts of chocolate cake! I feared the worst.

'You've had tea, haven't you?!' came the accusatory query that required no better answer than a guilty countenance.

You can imagine the rest. Anyway, tonight it was our turn, and we were able to entertain Michael and Sally in the garden with a full-scale Chinese from Xi'an, accompanied by appropriate accompniment.

I introduced Michael to the Newtonians: I think he wished he'd never left.

Goodnight.