I'm currently on the train on my way to London. I have a two day development session, which is part of this three year leadership programme I've just been accepted onto.

It's come at quite an inconvenient time. Deb has just had her stitches out, Alex is having some trouble at school, and Jessica has decided to get all anxious again about me being away. So I'm just hoping that everything at home hangs together until I get back.

I'm just coming to the end of Jacques Lefort's chapter in the Economic History of Byzantium (which is available online from Dumbarton Oaks). There's some fascinating analysis here of the detail and development of the rural economy of Byzantium. In particular around the trend for the countryside to change from a village commune organisation to a structure based more around large estates, and the interaction between this and economic development. Historically, the movement towards large estates has been seen as a retrograde step, leading to stagnation - and that this was part of the background to political collapse in the 11th. Century. What Lefort does is place the movement to large estates into the context of economic growth and expansion, a natural trend that fitted in a structure that was always a mixture of social organisation in the countryside. He also outlines how this was a rational decision for the peasants, and not necessarily one which involved impoverishment.

Overall then, a fascinating analysis, with lots of implications for the period that I find interesting - that is the transition to civilian rule in the 11th century followed by collapse and domination by a few great families.

On the bus home now. Rough week at work, doing the school run in the mornings and then coming in. I'm shattered. It doesn't help that Alex has been very angry and anti-school all week. It culminated today in a huge row to get dressed. Got there in the end, but it really takes it out of you.

Roll on the weekend!

Picture of Deb after the operation.

Deb is in hospital at the moment after having had the operation to have the (benign) lump in her neck removed.

Even though we'd had this planned for some time, it made for quite a fraught day. She went in yesterday morning while I did the school run.

Then she was in theatre for a looooong time. I 'phoned the ward just about every hour; and she was brought back up about 14:30.

So we went in to see her last night and she was fine. Groggy but fine.

Hopefully she'll be home today. Alex can't stop saying how much he misses her.

Pictures from the top of Moel Famau and Moel Fenlli. We climbed both today! Hard work but great in the sun, although a bit chilly at the top in the wind.

Sitting on top of Moel Famau! Just finished our picnic and on our way down Bright sunshine but windy and quite cold.

Flippin' eck, that was some week at work. The project I'm working on just keeps accelerating, and add that to holding down the day job...

Still, hopefully the wheels haven't fallen off anything quite yet. I've planned that for next week ;-)

Good weather in prospect over the weekend so will hopefully get some walking done. We managed about 15 or 20 miles over Easter while I was off. Mostly in small bits, but with one of 5 miles around Hockenhull Platts. Short trip to Burnley, and a great time finding all the panopticons. Great fun standing on the hill next to the singing ringing tree. You'll have to search for it if I'm not making sense!

So where to now? I really want to do some longer stuff in the Clywdian range, but I'm not sure the kids are up for it yet. Particularly after getting lost on Moel Findeg last weekend.

Reading Byzantines again. It's a slow march through the Economic History of Byzantium, which is fascinating but hard work.

Walking our favourite walk in Cheshire again. We are currently sitting in the Summertrees cafe near Willington. There's a field here which once had llamas in. Jessica is now disappointed every time we pass that they aren't there any more.

Even so, it's our favourite walk. We must have done it 8 times over the last year. It's about 3 miles circular which is just perfect for a gentle stroll. The kids find 5 miles a bit more strenuous. We're working on them.

Long pause in blog posting to be explained later.

You can now keep an eye on what I'm reading via twitter and bkkeepr at http://bkkeepr.com/people/4harrisons