And finally

The last lot of shots from my holiday in Shropshire. I'll be back to moaning about things tomorrow, so make sure you come back, y'all. Click these to enlarge.

Landscape through a gap in the stonework at Stokesay Castle

Actual live mistletoe!

The 12th-century equivalent of a Bond villain's lair: Stokesay Castle

'…be more redy to hear then to give ye sacrifice of fools': good Biblical advice for students coming to lectures

More good academic advice from the uncovered murals at Stokesay Parish Church

Fluorescent ladybird about to be gobbled up by a carved fish

The Lawley and Caer Caradoc. I climbed both of those. 

The Wrekin, The Lawley and Caer Caradoc

Ferns bending in the wind on the Long Mynd

Top tips for Church Stretton: Burway Books is completely magnificent - a brilliant range of stock and nice people running an independent shop: I bought some Browning poems and Cavazzoni's The Nocturnal Library, not something you'd find in Waterstone's. The Long Mynd Hotel is green, friendly and relaxed. The Studio is a tiny restaurant serving beautifully-cooked food by the friendliest people (and several cafés were rather sumptuous too). The village is pretty, relaxed and nestled between good hills. I bought a brilliant new waterproof (rock and roll) in an independent outdoor shop, gourmet packed lunches in Van Doesburg's deli, and fine local beer everywhere. Paradise!

While I'm feeling cheery, I'd like to publicly thank Mr Berghaus for his wonderful boots. I've had mine for ten years, and haven't ever bothered even cleaning them, yet they're still waterproof and I've never had so much as a blister from them. Usually when I buy things without friends to advise me, I end up with something totally unsuitable. Not this time. Best things I ever bought.

Toodle pip. It's all misery from tomorrow: marking season is upon us. I've just failed one essay for suggesting that women 'should' only want to find a man with whom to have babies, and asserting that any woman who's previously been involved with pornography deserves 'no sympathy' if she's raped. Thankfully, this chap isn't representative of the class. I hope.