Yes, it has all been very quiet here for a while. What have I been up to? Well, a couple of my fabulous Finnish friends have been visiting the UK, and I took time out to show them around Bath, Bristol and London. Here are a few observations that resulted from that.

Jim Burns and Gary Erskine are very fine fellows and it was a pleasure to catch up with them at the Bath Comic and Sci-Fi Weekender. Thanks also to Andy Bigwood for his generosity. He’ll know what I mean.

The Bristol Museum and Art Gallery is bigger and more extensive than I thought it would be. Most of it is free too. Well worth a visit. Some of the stuff in there is now a little embarrassing, such as the tiger personally shot and donated by King George V, but they have done a good job of putting most of their older material into context. I was particularly interested to discover Rolinda Sharples who is the best of the local artists on display.

We had dinner at Harvey’s Cellars and very splendid it was too. The goat curry, ribs and creole prawns were particularly good, and I loved what they did with Bristol Cream — adding a touch of orange does wonders for it.

And finally, I am still very fond of the Old Operating Theatre, where we launched the Thackery T. Lambshead Guide to Eccentric and Discredited Diseases. As London museums go, it is affordable and delightfully eccentric. Hopefully being right next door to The Shard will get it a lot more visitors.