No more Itchy Fridays.

The Kilts' last outing. Suits for formals next year. Sighs of relief all round.

He found that his mum and grandmother were right when they told him that girls find suits sexy. Lots of attention (and hugs) at the Leavers evening it seems. They were treated to a silver service meal (with waiters he reported, evidently impressed), then a ceilidh/disco with a live band and a smoke machine that set off the smoke alarms in the school. When his mum arrived to pick him up the lawns in front of the dormitories were filled with weeping smalls wrenched out of their beds by the bell!

Whilst England swelters we have maintained a nice temperate 19 degrees with a downpour almost every day at some point. You'd hardly think it was the same island.

I've done almost nothing interesting and certainly nothing worth reporting. So sad. Lots of reading though: Susan Hill x 2 (that's enough for the time being. Sansom (not bad but I'm uncomfortable in Tudor times. Too many bad smells; too much pain. Rankin: his first published novel 'The Flood' which is good (would be pleased to have achieved it myself) but obviously by a 'young' writer. Then 'Bleeding Hearts' which surprised me by being, in tone, akin to American crime fiction with lots of shooting and racing about from one seedy motel room to another. Well written but no surprises. Then a couple of re-read Rebuses. A Kathy Reichs re-read - OK but I prefer 'Bones'. The novels seem humourless and self-congratulatory. I think that's the danger with first-person novels. Not one that Sansom falls into.

Must be time for some more Reginald Hill. I wish the Red Cross would pull some in because I'm on a budget here and trying to eschew Amazon.....