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I wrote this blog � or one probably rather like it before Christmas and � and having checked my spelling like a good blogger managed to then consign the whole lot to the depths of computer Hades instead of this page on the website, where I hope it now nestles comfortably and securely this time round.  After spending some time baring my tedious life for your perusal I then stomped off in a huff before deciding that I could bear to give it another go.  This time I am backing up as I go� I am capable of learning still, you know.So wish me luck, dear reader�.My last contribution to this page was written as I contemplated rehearsals for House of Ghosts, the play that occupied my time from the beginning of August through to the beginning of December. It was an exhilarating, if initially intimidating, experience.I was not, (some might think strangely) intimidated by the fact that the great and much missed John Thaw had played the part before me.  Perhaps I should pretend I was � but truthfully my reservations were related to me, not him.  Someone thought he was right to play it on TV and other people � the director and producer � thought I was the man for the stage version.  That is very empoweringand very uplifting.My reservations grew during the rehearsal period, when I was working with a talented and delightful bunch of actors who were dependent on me as 'the lead' to provide the framework of the play in which they could show off their considerable wares to best advantage. And in common with any actor playing 'the detective' in a play, I discovered that the bulk of the lines were mine � and it was often comprised of a series of questions and quite random thoughts. Driving the lines into the Baker cranium proved almost a challenge too far � and without the wonderful support and encouragement of the director � Robin Herford � and the rest of the cast -  I doubt that I would have succeeded towhatever extent I did.But as always happens when you think that this part is the one that is going to expose the fact that you are a fraud and should never have been allowed anywhere near a stage � several weeks later you find yourself riding the part like a steady old cart horse rather than the untamed mustang that you kept falling off a few short weeks earlier.The tour was largely well received, I am glad to say.  Some reviewers found the image of John Thaw too strong to eliminate from their memory, but most of them were kind enough to find favour with my version of the great Oxford genius and curmudgeon.I was also lucky enough to make several good friends among the cast and crew, whom I hope I shall work with again in the future.  Indeed, some of us may re-assemble either later this year or in the Spring of next year, as there is a strong possibility that after a few re-writes by the writer, Alma Cullen, that we may take the show out again to pick up the dates that we missed on the last leg.  The original intent was to continue the tour in the Spring of 2011 but those plans were cancelled when they could not get a continuous run of dates at theatres.  So the plan is now to 'improve' the play here and there and try to get a tour list together either in the Autumn of 2011 or Spring of 2012.Aside from Morse-ing I have managed to fit an a couple of Big Finish audios and will have run into some of you at Conventions or Signings in Newcastle, Swansea,Cardiff and Newbury.My second volume of my Bucks Free Press column selections (Second Thoughts) was published and � thanks to you wonderful people � has sold enough copies not to make a pauper of the publisher Tim Hirst. He is now waiting for me to finish the last of my short stories so that 'Gallimaufry' can be published.  I am afraid that the stresses and strains of touring, followed by the inevitable energy collapse that follows a long tour when you are a decrepit old thespian like me � has resulted in my failure to deliver the finished script in a timely way.  My apologies to those of you who have pre-ordered it.  I just hope that you consider the wait worth it when I finally get my typing finger in gear.  I succumbed to Norovirus just before Christmas.  Its other name is the Winter Vomiting Bug � so I will leave the rest to your imaginations there.  Christmas Day I was well again � hurrah.  Then on Boxing Day man-flu struck.  I am sitting here with a bottle of linctus and oddles of kitchen roll, blowing my poor reddened snout as I type.Yes I know…No sympathy from the girls out there � but you chaps will understand, I expect.I should hope to be hail and hearty by the middle of January when I start filming a rather nice part in  Doctors for the BBC.  And then I have a few Big Finish audios to record before unemployment stares me in the face yet again.Sadly Coronation Street has not yet beckoned.  Although I am enjoying watching my friend Will Thorpe playing a villainous thug superbly, which is doubly impressive when you know, as I do, that he is just about one of the nicest, gentlest people I have ever worked with (Strangers on a Train).My current leisure preoccupation is the Fantasy Footballleague which the cast of House of Ghosts started in August. My team were briefly top of the league at Christmas before being dislodged by Glynn Sweet, who played Superintendant Strange, just after Christmas. I suppose that is onlyright as my superior officer. Fortunately Lewis hasn't overtaken me --- yet!I should of course be writing my short stories, tidying my 'study' which is a mess and doing scores of other household chores � but I'm not well at the moment.  I will when I'm better –honest injun.