In court

Hello all

has my recent absence been noted? I doubt it, but never mind. I was called away to appear as a witness in the trial of a head of department of a university where I used to go and mark exam papers under mysterious circumstances (you can read the original post here). I have been advised not to say anything about what went on, so I won't. I'm more worried about my own court case for assault on Toby Hancock-Jones. Dolores has been trying to offer sympathy, but it isn't getting through. I'm feeling decidedly maudlin at the moment.

Denise still hasn't returned. She rang up the other day to say she is in Derby visiting an old school friend. The Institute is quiet at the moment, so I'm not in too much of a hurry to replace her. I was in the village on Saturday and someone asked about her whereabouts. When I said that she had handed in her notice, I was simply told that 'the storm clouds are gathering, aye' before being shooed away. I wouldn't have minded, but I was trying to withdraw money at the time, and to have a bank clerk speak like that was slightly unsettling.

Dolores is reading an awful lot of books about breastfeeding and raising babies to maximise their development. I had assumed that rearing another child would simply revive skills gained during the early years of the twins, but my ever-astute wife was quick to remind me that much progress had been made in the last ten years, and she didn't want to make the same mistakes again. She followed up this surprisingly frank admission of guilt with news that Twin Y had broken his nose fighting with a girl whose bag he snatched. When interrogated about the incident, he eventually admitted that he had dropped a pack of playing cards in the bag earlier to avoid confiscation. When retrieved, the backs of the cards had instructions on various real-life hustles. He claimed that he had found the cards on the street, though wasn't clear where.

I really love the twins, but I have to admit, Dolores is doing the right thing.

J McC