Oh, ye'll tak' the high road...

In a bid to escape the Mandy-fest that will doubtless saturate the media later this week, I'm off to the ancestral lands of Clan MacHeath to spend a week or so in a remote Highland bothy with no links to the outside world.

Normal service will be resumed when I get back - plus the occasional bonus post if I can find a working computer in the vicinity.

I don't normally publish a pick of posts - I'm assuming that when readers get round to Newgate News they've already checked out the best blogs - but just this once, in case you missed them first time round, here are a few pieces I've particularly enjoyed recently:

Anna Raccoon waxes lyrical on how a quest for curtain material became a cross-cultural odyssey (27th June)

JuliaM gives her signature treatment to a journalist's 'terrifying ordeal' at the paws of an urban fox (19th June)

Mrs Rigby gives an illustrated talk on the Vuvuzela and its relatives (14th June)

Demetrius has A Grand Day Out at the seaside and decides not to invade France (5th May)

Gloria Smudd muses on her son's sixteenth birthday (26th April)

I'll leave you with the welcome news that Plato is back in circulation and will, I hope, resume blogging soon.