Good evening, one and all, and welcome back to this cyberspatial corner, after what I hope have been excellent hols all round. We did have a lovely time, but unfortunately I succumbed to some kind of lurgy, which rendered me voiceless, although that did have its upside, as such a predicament prevented me from getting into spirited debate with my mama-in-law. Five years ago such was the vehemence of our Christmas cracker that it caused me to write a letter to the editor of the Daily Telegraph, who kindly published my thoughts - about forgiveness! The most irritating thing of all, though, was that my arguee was (probably) right. Still, all's well now, and it was a pleasure to dispense (larger than normal) glasses of Stone's Ginger Wine throughout the Yuletide season. After all, 'tis the season to be merry ..... Wer-hay!!

I recal the beginning of my equivalent Lent term, back in 1966: I was in a dorm with a dorm captain I couldn't stand, and we were a little too close to the HM's study for comfort. Not a great start, but it got better, and all turned out for the best in the end. Today, in 2012, all the LMs have been in cracking form, and everything just got back to normal as quickly as it ended in December. Mind you, the football helped, and caused plenty of excitement .....

Our new gapper matron is Miss Harriet Lade, from Australia, and she has already begun to show that she's going to be a very capable and competent successor to Miss Alex ! The gapper ladies are, henceforth, going to be known by their surnames, and as Harriet herself pointed out, there might be some initial confusion when Mrs C is talking about items of clothing that have been, er, mislaid. (Oh go on, smile, at least ... !)

A short term, but I hope another fun, fulfilling and rewarding one. For those of you who are interested in such stats, this is post number 441, so my final goal is coming ever nearer!

Goodnight.