Dearest Gentle Reader, This Author finds herself scarcely able to set down her pen, for this day has delivered no fewer than five dramas demanding attention, from a most emotional defeat in the halls of North Britain to a certain deputy sharpening her blade against her own party's leader. Add a contagion most alarming, a war of arithmetic abroad, and a countryside menace with four legs and no remorse, and you have a Wednesday that shall not soon be forgotten.

Dearest Gentle Reader, this day's dispatches arrive thick and fast - mortgages, machines, and a Kingdom whose allies grow rather harder to please. This Author's ink pot runneth over, and she rather suspects yours shall too.

Dearest Gentle Reader, This Author's teacup very nearly shattered upon the floor this morning, so breathless were the dispatches that arrived - one involving warships and a dragon that may yet breathe fire, another a most improbable party reaching for the atomic forge, and a third so delicious it simply must be read to be believed. Do not dare let this day pass uninformed.