Back at work for just two days: Wednesday a staff meeting and training day, then today spent in the Victorian schoolroom with a school from Grimsby. Two very different classes: the morning's had three remarkably silly boys in it who wouldn't get into the spirit of things at all and kept giggling which somewhat spoiled things for the other children, while the afternoon class which had several children with obvious learning difficulties behaved beautifully and will have taken a great deal away from the day. Sadly - and it is always the problem of bus companies charging a huge premium if they cannot return in time to use the same buses on the school run - they had a very short day with less than four hours on site, arriving at about ten and leaving before two o'clock.

On Saturday I'm off to the beautiful Yorkshire Dales for a week. I've booked a cottage near Hawes. On the off-chance any burglars read my blog, I should point out that the house will be occupied, and the steady flow of visits from large young men and their dogs (not to mention friendly neighbourhood policemen drinking tea) will continue unabated.