In June the red rose blooms, that's not the flower for me

Meet my new assistant. When he turned up he said something about being able to help me with contracts (my Japanese isn't brilliant, as you know) so I put him straight to work.

It's been a rather tiring week, with too many trips into deep Devon - a lovely county, but not when most of what's on view is the M5. Yesterday it was a 6.30am sunshiny start to Barnstaple, where I was taking part in a programme review, but never saw the sea. On Monday it was to Exeter for medical stuff, plus lunch with the great-granddaughter of Captain John Lewis (master of the St Cuthbert), who had contacted me after reading my grandfather's account of the disaster in this blog. I wonder what the stern Captain and his Fourth Officer would have thought if they could have seen us - she with a selection of Iceland lollies, I with my trusty cheese and watercress sandwich - picnicking on the dry slopes of the old castle moat? Ah, mutabilitie!

What else happened this week? Ah yes, a very interesting seminar paper on Wednesday by a lawyer colleague on the application of international law to child soldiers - including, of course, those who serve in the British army.