MUST TRY HARDER

So, how many lightbulbs does it take for a man to walk a week in a fortnight? This is the sort of stuff Vic and Bob get paid a lot of money for and Derek and I do out of boredom mainly, and a need to inhabit our own universe as opposed to the one currently on offer.

Universes aside I did learn that Madonna was leaving the UK so there's one of many reasons for me to return. Never a big fan of the so-called Madge I did cite her nine years ago as one of the many reasons I left the Motherland. That and AA Gill's depression, CCTV cameras and that general malaise felt when life seems to be passing you by in a youth obsessed society overun with chavs and feral children out to get you.

On a lighter note, I am still none the wiser on the authenticity of the Nunilo and Alodia story. Sometimes Nunilo is referred to as Nunila and even Nunilon. One source by Carlos Maria Lopez, is titled Historic Aragonese Problems of the Ninth Century which left me reeling when I read that all the details on the two sisters are 'incoherent' and that there is a 'labyrinth of dates and contradictory documents'. This sounds like most conversations I have here which leave me none the wiser and reaching for the phone to call Stephanie. There seems to be some discrepancy as to where the remains of the sisters are buried. If I understand it correctly, the Andaluscians have them but then again the Aragonese think they are up here somewhere and a bit of them in Navarra. The author is convinced however, that after all the studies carried out there is, as always, one thesis which is a 'great strength', The Aragonese one.

His words, not mine and I wouldn't want to argue with him especially if he is Aragonese. Well, October seems to be a busy month with more hospital appointments, a new job, friends over, and a lecture on our old mate Franco, from Paul Preston. I have only done a week at the new school, San Viator, and despite the usual nonsense at least the school has windows that let in lots of light and I can see people walking past in the corridoor. Not like that prison I was in before where you felt if anything happened no one would come to your aid as they were too busy elsewhere doing other stuff as opposed to teaching or supporting teachers.