1) Um. Not much to report, here, at all. Still “researching” my dissertation. I have barely left the house and am starting to feel like one of those Arctic explorers who write diary entries that get increasingly bizarre and nonsensical as the weeks go by. At the moment, I’m living in the world of Thomas Cromwell and Henry VIII. We’re like old pals. If you want to be on the same planet as me, at least for the next week or so, then you need to grab a copy of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall and immerse yourself in it fully. Good luck!

2) And some reading for those who hate historical novels: Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead. I found this to be a great book to curl up with to take my mind off beheadings and Cardinals and Papal Dispensations. It’s not an action-packed thriller or anything like that – more of a character study and an examination of family dynamics. If you liked Tigers in Red Weather or Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life, both of which I recommended recently, then you’ll love this. I hope. Find it here on Amazon.

3) Two cat pictures today! Lucky you. So long as you like cats. I have a horrible suspicion that I lose a load of readers every Sunday due to my penchant for posting photographs of Mr Bear in the Sunday Tittle Tattle. Anyway, here he is trying to stop me from working on the computer. Photo 1, top, shows the mouse being confiscated, photo 2, above, shows firm paw pressure being applied to my little finger, rendering me unable to type.

If you’d like to see many more cat pictures, on a regular (almost obsessional) basis, then you can always follow me on Instagram here. I’m also on Twitter here!

4) I haven’t been doing any online shopping (honest, guv) but I did have a little look on ASOS and they have started doing their final clearances. You have to trawl – and trawl hard! – but it is possible to find some quite astonishing bargains. I’m on the hunt for cheap dresses and swimwear that I can save for next summer – things that I can wear to the beach and get sand and seawater all over and not really care. Trawl ASOS here. Please do alert me to any particular bargains that you think I’d like!