Our castle walls have been breached. Our fortress has fallen.

An insidious vomiting bug has somehow broken through our pitiful defences and is stealthily picking us off, one by one, much in the manner of Christie’s And Then There Were None.

This is why I haven’t posted for a week or so. As I rally the troops, armed with bowls and buckets, I have sent a despatch to City Jackdaw to inform you all that normal service will be resumed once the battle is won.

In the meanwhile, on the positive side, I think that this is the ideal time to begin that New Year diet I had in mind.