What a fortnight, by God! Blissfully married, to start with, and yet more after that. After five long years of hard slog, false starts, blind alleys, and alternating between spinning my wheels, being the squeaky wheel and watching the wheels go round and round, I have satisfied the requirements of my degree. Now, I require satisfaction! In the sense of pleasure, achieved through rest, that is; not in the sense of honour, achieved through combat. I’ll freely admit that I don’t duel very often… these days.

But I seem to yet again digress. I have, barring some last-minute catastrophe or hilarious filing error, completed my academic qualification – it’s all over bar the piece of paper, the gown and the handshake. Now I have to decide what to do next! I shall finish Moby Dick – stunning read! – and in the process start making even more jokes about Quaker fishermen. I shall take up my Milton and give it the attention it deserves, and try to satisfy myself in my own mind as to whether he was, as said Blake, a true Poet and of the Devil’s party without knowing it. Ah, speaking of, I shall delve further into Byron, who knew it every step of the way.

(Incidentally, that’s the complete quotation-turned-folk saying – when you make an accidental rhyme, what you’re reciting is a contraction of “I’m a poet in the service of Lucifer and I didn’t know it.” (This is a complete lie.))

…and I’ll probably do something that isn’t reading, too. Get the bicycle’s tires pumped and take it for a ride, for instance (gosh, that sounds rude.) Wistfully consider outfitting the bike with Edwardian gewgaws and investing in a cloth cap and knickerbockers (that sounds a bit rude too; at least, if you’ve seen the same Edwardian bicycle-pump pornography as I.) Miss Merah’s own cycle needs reassembling, so we’ll take it in to the shop… talk a stroll in the park, meet some ducks… ah! Freedom! Freedom to love!

Hopefully in among all this, I’ll remember to feed my readers! You desire content, witticisms, wry observations – and wry observations you shall have! It’s high time I made some more cartoons… and the museums and galleries of the city deserve an update on their present exhibitions. You know, I think there might even be room for, say, an informal walking tour of a collection or two. So keep your eyes close and your ears closer, FrillyShirt aficionados, and don’t touch that valve (because it releases furious tigers!)