… so at the end of my first proper week’s blogging, I’m going to have to have a week off.

This is Chesil Beach, Dorset, and I’m going here to spend a week in splendid isolation working on my as-yet-unnamed new book. I’ll be reading about life in India in the 1830s, the roasting of pale malt, the brewing heyday of Burton-on-Trent and conditions aboard tall ships in the mid-Atlantic, and trying to fashion it all into a witty yet informative compelling narrative that you – yes, you – will hopefully want to rush out and buy some time in 2008.

Beer will be drunk. Peter Matthias’ A History of the Brewing Industry 1700-1830 will be fallen asleep on. The dog…

Captain

will be taken for frequent walks, during which I hope to stumble not only on the beach’s 18 million pebbles, but also on profound insights into the human condition – perhaps even some that still sound profound when I sober up the following morning.

See you in June…