Sink or ... Sink

Following the advice of my physio (and she's been on the money so far - no headaches for a week now) I hit the pool at the weekend to work on my back.

Believe it or not (less of the smirking at the back there) I used to swim a fair bit - every day in the year before I went to university and two or three times a week before our second kid entered the picture. So a few lengths of the local pool shouldn't have been a problem.

After two, I was starting to feel tired.

After four, it felt like someone had strapped a baby elephant to each arm.

All the while, I could see my children off to the side, laughing. I'd like to think that was because they were enjoying whatever game they happened to be playing, rather than mocking their poor dad as he went under for the third time.

The good news is that it can only get better. And my physio was pleased, at least.

Meanwhile, the good Simon Guerrier mailed me the rough pencils for the front cover of Old Friends over the weekend. The work of series stalwart Adrian Salmon, the image offers the first look at a pair of characters all those involved with the book have been messing around with for a few months now.

But you'll just have to wait until you get to see for yourselves ...