Easter.

Ho-hum, Sir Richard Arcos here again. The family spent Easter with us at Lesser Pudding. The American side mingled fruitfully with the English side, the Everards, the Rules and our Vaughan grandchildren only fought once.

Easter was celebrated by the villagers in the traditional fashion. A great parade was held in the village, and the gates of the manor house decorated with ribbons. The villagers marched to the nearby village of Dutcholm, where they broke into the church and stole the communion plate, in a re-enactment of an incident in the fourteenth century, where the monks of Lesser Pudding Abbey pillaged Dutchholm Priory on Easter, with the help of foreign mercenaries. Some of the villagers dressed up in armour as mercenaries, while other wore the habits of monks.

It would be a marvellous ritual if Dutcholm agreed to it, but they're just getting rather fed up with this taking place every year. Still, We'll be returning the plate at Ascension, in commemoration of the intervention of the King.

Lynette Madison and the Girl in Grey visited, two of my favourite young people. I gave them both copies of the re-issue of my magnum opus, 'A Whip for Free-Willers.' They both looked disgusted. Which was a bit harsh. I mean, maybe it is banned in most bookshops, but...