Yo!

Hello everybody. What did you all do with your Bank Holiday Monday, those of you in the UK, at least. I went home to be in the bosom of my family - the two married siblings, my youngest sister, parents and grandmother, and mostly read and ate. Happy 49th to my uncle Peter too! Before I departed the Potteries, I also called in on Anita, who has quit the boredom of Dublin and previously New York for the giddy heights of Stoke-on-Trent. Hope she can cut it in the land of Arnold Bennett, Dinah Craik and Stanley Matthews.

I notice, for all you football fans (soccer to the Irish and American readers) that Stoke are in the Europa League places, and for a few sweet hours, were in a Champions League qualification spot. Still, it's early days.

I'm not in for long today - a union negotiation meeting this afternoon, then home to pack all my polyester clothing for 5 days at the UK School Games, which start on Friday. I get to go down tomorrow and the athletes arrive later. It's going to be exhausting, challenging and enormous fun. I'll try to post sometimes, but if it's anything like last year, the day starts at 6 a.m. and finishes at 2 a.m. so I may not be too coherent. It's a whole week off swimming too, which isn't good for my shapeliness.