I'm back. With a deletion...

Not for the first time in the history of the Thone, there has been something of a hiatus in posting due to pressue of work. Having worked two and a half weeks of solid twelve to fourteen-hour days, the last thing I have felt like doing on getting home is bashing something out on my keyboard.

That demanding regime is now at an end, albeit my ongoing workload is such that posting will be sporadic at best.

But as an opener, I thought I might briefly explain why I have removed the Grumpy Old Tw*t blog from my 'Good Reading' sidebar. Put simply, it wasn't the tidal wave of bad language in every single post; that doesn't bother me in the slightest: it was the vituperative references to Islam and to Muslims in general.

In fact, the word 'vituperative' is something of a euphemism for outrageous, borderline racist pronouncements supported, I'm afraid to say, by nakedly racist and in my view potentially criminal, comments from his readership.

So, enjoy his rants as I used to, I'm afraid that I can't encourage my tiny and probably shrinking, readership to visit his site again and as such, the link had to go.

Renovation, renovation, renovation...

Just a quick word as to the reason for the recent posting hiatus here at the Throne.

In a moment of weakness, I acquiesced to Mrs RToK's 'suggestion' that we needed a new bathroom. There is now a large gap where the bath and shower used to be and four bare walls which used to be covered in perfectly serviceable - if admittedly dated - tiles, all of which were forcibly removed by my own (once fair, now gnarled and scarred) hands.

The plumber is due to return this Sunday to install the new 'suite', as I have learned to call it; but until then, it's showers at either work or a neighbour's house.

Enough said, I suspect.

I'll be back once the dusty cave which once served as the family salle de bain is returned to a usable condition...

More excuses...

Just a very quick missive to explain my lengthy absence from the Blogosphere.

I'm afraid a very intense and busy period professionally, coupled with a sudden and unexpected, increase in grandfatherly responsibilities have combined to deprive me of sufficient spare time to write any posts worthy of the name.

I hope to resume my normal level of productivity from about the start of August or so...

Excuses old and new and a rediscovered passion...

Well, once again, it's been a while since my last post and the reasons for my lack of productivity are a combinaion of the familiar and the new.

Put briefly, I've been very busy at work again, but in all honesty, not so busy that I couldn't have tapped out a quick post or two, had I been minded to do so; and therein lies the second reason: during my recent editing exercise, I simply got out of the habit of posting and at the same time, lost my enthusiasm for doing so, too.

As if that combination wasn't toxic enough, a further conspirator raised its head in the form of my renewed interest in the history of mediaeval England, which has seen me with my head in a book for a couple of hours most evenings, the latest of which is Marc Morris's excellent biography of Edward I, "A Great and Terrible King: Edward I and the Forging of Britain".

Those of you familiar with the Throne will have anticipated that I bridled slightly at the use of the word 'Britain' in the title of the book - Edward was king of England - but other than that admittedly minor quibble, it is a good read at 480 pages.

Now I've finished that one, I'm planning to move on to similar sized works on the life and reign of his son Edward II (red-hot poker, anyone?) and subsequently that of his grandson, the arguably even greater Edward III.

Should keep me out of trouble, whilst I attempt to recover my writing 'mojo'...

Editing and generally tidying up...

Having read a significant proportion of my 'back catalogue' over the past week or so, I decided to remove some of the dead wood from the archives.

As some of you may have found yourself, once you start pruning, it's difficult to know where to stop, particularly when, like me, you are your own fiercest critic.

Consequently, with that somewhat time-consuming work still in progress, new posts will be a little thin on the ground for the next few days.

It's been a while...again.

Once again, a particularly busy period at work has robbed me of the time and opportunity to post as frequently as I would have liked over the last week or so.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about having a demanding job, particularly so in the current financial climate, but working several twelve or forteen hour days on the bounce doesn't half eat into the time available for posting.

However, the latest project was successfully delivered to the customer on Friday evening, which should mean that I have more time to burden you with my ramblings over the next month or so.

Meanwhile, thanks for continuing to visit; you are always welcome.