I have finally managed to find a copy of Sutcliff's "The Rider of the White Horse" about Thomas Fairfax (a man who I am delighted to discover, is also called Black Tom. I bet Sutcliff will give him a dog. Black Tom's Dog! For £2.50! There are second hand copies floating around still but most of them seem to be at least twenty quid and often much more. 2.50 is the bargain of the year!

Now I need to make time to read it...

In other news, because people keep emailling to ask if we have been overtaken by 'a great dark wave climbing over the green lands and above the hills, and coming on, darkness inescapable', no, thankfully we haven't. We are a long way above sealevel, fortunately - if waves are crashing on the shoulders of Hingston Down, then I'm afraid most of the rest of you will already be fishfood. It's even sunny at the moment although there's another storm on the way, so fingers crossed for the poor souls down on the coast.