I can't note what I'm currently reading through bkkeepr. It's "The Imperial Administrative System in the Ninth Century" by J B Bury. Still the book on the middle Byzantine civil service, but not in print. I found a pdf for free download. I'll have to root out the URL and post it. Anyway, I've nearly finished and I'm then moving onto "The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies".

Will post on the kids school progress later (on the bus perhaps?).