Mr Key has not yet fled the country – I will be leaving at some ungodly hour tomorrow – so my hiatus announcement was a little premature. I thought I would feel bereft at neglecting important Hooting Yard business for a few days, but in fact I feel immensely relieved. A few days ago I mentioned the Quaker I knew who was cheered by having a complete absence of activity in his brainpans, and I now understand what he meant. But fear not, I will return to the fray upon my return to Blighty.

In the meantime, here is a letter that plopped into my inbox yesterday.

Dear Sir or Madam,

Liaocheng Dongying Hengtong Metal Manufacturing Co., Ltd here.

Glad to hear that you are on the market for Automatic chicken cage.

We are a professional producer of the complete sets of equipment for raising birds. At present, it is an enterprise which has the import-export license and exports a batch of comp-lete sets of automatic equipment for raising chickens.

These products gained good prestige among customers and they are not only used in great-scaled biological raising farms in domestic provinces, but also exported to Middle Asia, South and East regions, Australia, South America, Middle East areas, Africa mainland and so on in great lot.

We are willing to wholehearted with all the friends and customers to establish good relations of cooperation, realize a win-win benefits, and create a magnificent performance.

If any interest, feel free to contact me.

Best regards,

Senior Sales Manager,

Fatma