Sun? Was that what we saw today? If it was, it was rather nice. Warm, cheering and enough to raise the spirits. Short-lived, of course, and we're due for another soaking tomorrow, I hear. Hey ho.

'twas all happening here tonight: Fragrance Night kicked off the proceedings, culminating in the place smelling like yet another house of ill repute (as far as I know .... ) and LMs giving off aromae that outdid the finest fruit salads. One of them informed me, with enthusiasm, that he had smothered himself in at least 'ten bodywashes', which I assumed was not a wholly bad thing.

As for the LM who took it upon himself to be so bold as to arrange my ageing silver locks into the shape of a mohawk and inform me that I looked, er, 'cool', I thought it was time to call silent reading, punk look or not. (Not, actually, as unlike most of the residents of this establishment I was able to locate a comb.)

This was followed by shoe-cleaning of brown shoes, with five worthy winners. Mrs C, as clothing supremo, decreed that one pair of suede shoes could be included this week, which led to a most grateful owner thanking tonight's judge - your correspondent - profusely. I responded that perhaps he had swayed my opinion. (Oh come on, laugh.)

It' s Mrs C's birthday tomorrow, and she'll be ..........  It's also the Red Choir outing to Magdalen College to sing Evensong, and that really will be my final outside organ-ing. I've been incredibly fortunate to have played in no less than five of the Oxford college chapels, including, several times, Christ Church Cathedral. Do come along if you can. For those of you who are aficionados of the cathedral repertoire, the music will be Stanford in B flat and Balfour-Gardiner's Evening Hymn. I've selected the first movement of Mendelssohn's Sonata no. 1 as the exit voluntary.

So there we are then. All happy and content here.

Back on Wednesday night.

Goodnight.

Greetings from a waterlogged Summertown, and it's pouring with rain - again. It might as well be winter, to judge from the view from my 'study' here! Greetings, too, to our new Follower in Taiwan: it's nice to have you with us.

'twas an interesting morning, because I received a text at 9am from the Chaplain, telling me that, unfortunately, he had fallen from a ladder and hurt his back, so therefore the worship-leading this at this morning's service would fall to me. It was good practice for next term, though, as I was required to preach the sermon as well. Oh, and play the organ for the anthem, which I don't think will be part of the deal in the Abbey. (Although the Director of Music has already, it seems, put me down on his provisional organ rota!)

There was a rather lovely social for the 5th Year boys today, arranged by Mr and Mrs Ives of Mayfield. A coachful of girls from Tudor Hall arrived at 12.30, and were given a fine lunch with the boys (and with the staff, of whom Mrs C and I were among the number), then off to the sports hall for some indoor fun (supervised), and then to a disco in Macmillan. Tremendous, we thought, and so did the boys. The Newtonian LMs were opining tonight that just over a year is far too long to wait .... ! (They're grwoing up fast!)

This is bloglog number 488, by the way, so only 12 more to go before the magic 500 is reached. I'll have to try and dream up some suitable way to celebrate .... !

It's still pouring.

Goodnight.

First and foremost, thank you for all your kind good wishes, following the news of my new appointment. I'm very excited about it, of course, and I'm greatly looking forward to a completely new challenge. Milton Abbey is a great school, and the (now not so) new HM, Mr Doodes, is doing a brilliant job and making it a school of choice for many. I'm doubly pleased to be joining the school at such an exciting time in its history.

I heard from one of the LMs tonight that one of you had informed him that I no longer write the Newton Blog .... ! What?! How could you? All I said was that because Mrs C and I weren't around on Tuesday or Thursday nights, I didn't see much point in writing about something I knew nothing about! I will, though, probably stop when I reach my intended target of 500 posts, which is not far away now, but at the moment, and until I do, then you will continue to receive these bulletins. And you might even receive them after that; I haven't decided yet.

Incidentally, my new boss responded with great alacrity to the idea of a 'Chaplain's Blog', so you'll be able to see how things are going if you log on to the Milton Abbey website. (www.miltonabbey.co.uk)

It was suggested to me tonight that in order for the LMs to know what kind of a mood I was in, I should sport a different coloured pullover each evening. Blue for good, green for not quite so good, and red for danger. I thought the idea had some merit, actually. I'm wearing a blue one at the moment. It reminds me of my prep school deputy headmaster, Blighter Burton, who, in my mind, did much the same. (I don't suppose he really did, but such are the workings of the prep school boy's mind.) A tweed jacket meant that he was in friendly mood (well, at least vaguely approachable), a blazer indicated a slightly more edgy disposition, and that horrid, horrid, miserable grey suit became known as his 'murder suit'. Woe betide any boy who scored less than the passmark (which was always ridiculously high) in a history test when he was dressed in such terrifying apparel! I shiver even now when I picture said suit in my mind's eye .....  He it was who, in order to demonstrate the failure of King Canute to halt the waves, pulled the gym shoe that laid in wait in the drawer of the form master's desk from its evil repose, and started hitting the floor with it, shouting 'Stop! You wicked waves!'  Elvidge ma, the silly boy, laughed, and enabled Blighter B to enhance his improvised demonstration as waves of sound echoed around the form room.

Goodnight.

Well, dear Friends and Followers, welcome back. And that's just what I said to the LMs when they arrived at SF after their jolly excursion to Cornwall! They seem to have had a really good time, and most said that they enjoyed their camping experience, as well as the train ride from Oxford. I think I might have enjoyed the latter rather more than the former, but that's just me. As I've said before, camping and I are not the most suitable of bedfellows. And I share Mr Clarkson's loathing of caravans and caravanning, although I'm not convinced that dropping grand pianos on them from a great height is a particularly good use of a fine musical instrument.

Anyway, it's good to have the LMs back, and I'm sure you'll be regaled with many a tale before very long. I don't doubt that there'll be a degree of hyperbole, but never mind: as a wise HM once said to parents, 'If you promise not to believe everything you hear about school, I promise not to believe everything I hear about home'.

Mrs C, Miss Lade and I oversaw the laundry going to the correct baskets, and there was plenty of it! In the event, though, all the LMs were very efficient, and they managed to follow the copious instructions on the board almost to the letter.

I promised that you would be the first parents to know news of my retirement plans. Well, things have not quite turned out exactly as I'd imagined, as I've been appointed as the Chaplain of Milton Abbey School in Dorset. Yes, you did read that correctly. I'm delighted, of course, and greatly looking forward to a new - and somewhat unexpected!  - challenge. As you know, our daughter, Alice is there at the moment, and she's done amazingly well. The new HM, Mr Doodes, is coming to the end of his second year, and the way in which he has gripped the place is truly awe-inspiring. I wouldn't go and work for him if I didn't genuinely believe that, because, frankly, at my age I can afford to be choosy. Still, we can talk about that in due course.

For now, I hope you will be content in the knowledge that your LMs are tucked up happily, and, without doubt, sleeping like logs.

Goodnight.

INTERNET IS NOW UP AND RUNNING AGAIN.

SCHOOL E-MAIL IS DOWN AT THE MOMENT, SO NO MESSAGES ARE BEING DELIVERED OR RECEIVED. ALL SHOULD BE RESOLVED BY LUNCHTIME TODAY. PLEASE PASS THIS MESSAGE ON IF YOU CAN.

My Friends and global Followers, you join me just before the point of apoplexy, following a most interesting evening in which 'we' endeavoured to prepare for the forthcoming Cornish experience. I'll spare you the details, so suffice it to say that one hour after we started the process, we had almost completed it, and pants, socks, pyjamas, swimmers, towels and kitchen sinks in the form of sleeping bags had been placed with the amount of care that you would imagine Year 6 boys to lavish upon their belongings into their bags. Tomorrow there will be more of the same, and the culmination of the Great Preparation will happen on Sunday morning, when Mrs C and I will bid our charges the fondest of farewells and see them walk in a crocodile (yeah, right) to Oxford Station, Messrs Edwards and Bradwell assuming standard and vanguard positions. (Do any of you remember the Standard Vanguard? I used to think they were rather good cars, in fact, but the name was a bit strange, in fact.)

I have to tell you that we' ve been rather fortunate with the weather today, as downpours were forecast, and they don't seem to have happened. I expect they'll arrive tonight.

In view of our packing procedure tonight, it hasn't been much of an evening in happy, cosy, familial lodge terms, but everyone seems happy, and all is well.

For now, though,

Goodnight.

Welcome back, my Friends and Followers! I hope you have all had good and restful hols, as we have. It was good to see so many of you this afternoon, and I shall treasure as one of the highlights of my time at Newton the moment when I was told, quite rightly, to leave the laundry, I having opined that it was 'a place in which I did not feel comfortable!

There was, as advertised on the board, a lodge meeting tonight. Well, when I say 'lodge meeting', I mean there was a bonding session between Cheska and the Newtonians, in which she held forth, and then started making a nuisance of herself with Isla. In the end I had to tell both of them to leave the room, which they did with their tails between their legs. I have to tell you, my friends, that the younger one is rather more spirited than her older sister, and not afraid to make one aware of the fact!

Mrs C and I read the HM's recent e-letter with interest, although I don't doubt that some of you might be wondering what my 'exciting plans for life post-retirement' may be. I can't tell you at the moment, but be assured that if there is news to be broadcast, as there will be within the next two or three weeks, you will read it here first. As for future blogging, well, I did ask my future boss whether he thought that a ********'s blog might be a good idea, and he opined that it would be an excellent one.

So then, here we go again, one more time. I hope this will be a great term for everyone, and let's hope the rain doesn't keep pouring down for too long. At least the grounds and the pitches are getting a long-awaited soaking.

Goodnight.