Dearest Gentle Reader, a Sunday this warm ought by rights to be peaceful - yet This Author's pen has not rested a moment, for the day brings a judge whose reasoning defies all decency, a border system that managed to grind half the Kingdom to a halt without even switching on its machines, and a spy who has arrived not in a cinema but in a gaming parlour, stripped of his licence and apparently his experience. Pull your fan close and read on - the shade, at least, is merciful.