I hear that some of you fathers are not without your similarities to me! I learn tonight, for example, that some of you are forbidden from consuming too much chocolate, and that to compensate for this, you have been known to indulge in a little fridge-raiding ...... ! I have to admit that a chilled Coke is often very pleasant when one's attempts at grabbing the Cadbury's Dairy Milk or the Galaxy bar have been foiled - but wouldn't a few squares of the delicious bar have been so much better? I was thinking the other day about my own boyhood days: was there not some concoction which consisted of a dollop of ice cream and a Coke? I can hardly remember it now, but I almost convinced myself that the ice cream was place within the Coke, but that may be my memory playing tricks on me. Didn't it have a special name? Whatever it was called, though, I remember it being a true highlight of a summer evening. Perhaps one of you could enlighten me .....

I must say that your LMs have been great tonight: it hasn't been the greatest of days, for one reason or another, but the Newtonians, on seeing what must have been a slightly more sombre lodgemeister than usual, all ensured, to a man, that lodgemagisterial spirits were lifted quickly, and by the time we came to silent reading, I was ready to assist in an operation that required me to rescue a teddy from possible suffocation - much to the adulation of the crowds that had gathered in Kingfisher. All was well, and a cheer had to be quelled.

Shoe-cleaning was most enjoyable for all, with small edible rewards on offer for those who made an effort, and more generous rewards for the four winners. I managed to secrete no less than three Heroes of different kinds without let or hindrance.

Which brings me back to where I started, more or less.

And not a word to SWMBO, if you wouldn't mind.

Goodnight,