I was answering e-mail from a subscriber a few days ago which involved me writing the below:

I’m sorry that I have to answer this during a phase of hiatus. The problem is that I signed up for extra work from the EU, because for complex reasons my household is down to one income at the moment, and the deadlines turned out, once contract was signed, to be near-immediate and nigh-impossible. At the same time, most of my weekends are going on helping relatives clear my mother’s house while she moves into a supported residence via a care home and at least one knee replacement. I should probably tell the blog at least some of this…

And, well, I should, so why not all of it? But in case you were especially worried, spread it around: it’s not just me. The excellent Liz Gloyn has spoken for us all in UK humanities at her blog Classically Inclined. For the moment I, like her, am safe. But for longer than the moment, bigger solutions are required and they’re probably going to keep me from blogging for a while. I will pick or wrap things up here once some of these things are completed…