UK readers who grew up watching the BBC in the 60s, 70s and 80s will recognise this picture and understand what it means. For the benefit of my overseas and younger readers, however, it’s called Test Card ‘F’ and was used to indicate that the channel was functioning but that there wasn’t a programme on right at that moment.

Much like the blog today, in fact.

By which I mean that, if you’re here looking for the usual Monday post, you’re out of luck. Sorry about that! Normal (if slightly delayed) service will be resumed on Wednesday, though, so please do stay tuned.

This seems like a great time to nudge those of you who haven’t yet subscribed to DLaM to do so. It’s simple to do – click on the orange ‘follow me on RSS’ button over there in the top of the right hand column and follow the instructions. And, hey, while you’re at it, why not click ‘Like’ on Facebook and follow me on Twitter and Google+?

Go on – I’ll wait. (And if you’ve already done it, why not check out this story from Molly Beer over at Vela? It’s great.)

Bravi! Now you’re all subscribed and up to date. Roll on Wednesday, eh? And as a bonus for being so patient, there’ll be a big announcement: hang onto your hats, Maniacs; the times they are a’changing …