I nearly launched myself into the first writing of my Xaghra’s Revenge fantasy but decided to indulge in some fantasy short stories to limber up.  Sometimes ideas for stories pop out of nowhere but now and then a title comes first. With my memory being more leaky than a British summer, I’d forgotten where it came from but the title: Witch’s Alien stuck with me as a hook for a curious tale. It could be read in several ways, though it is tricky to do so upside down. So far, I have a post-apocalyptic Britain and the community NHS in the hands of a witch, whose familiar is rather odd.

 Speaking of odd, I only noticed in today’s Tour de France that none of the riders sported tattoos. The winner today is only 24-year-old Linus Gerdemann – well done that man! So many of the riders are of the clubbing generation where a tattoo doesn’t mean you’ve been to prison or the navy as it does for my age. Some body art tattoos are wonderful and only one person stops me having erotic art on my upper arm.   That the professional cyclists seem not to have tattoos is probably a fashion statement but I wondered if it went further. Is there a toxicity issue when the tattoo inks mix with embrocation oils? Or do the cycling rules disallow the tattooing of a go-faster stripe? aahh.