Last use of "Vicissitudes"? This very day!
As for the hairiness, the simple answer is I couldn't be arsed to shave or get it cut over the past year, and I've spent far to much of my life faffing around with shaving, ties, collars and all that bloody nonsense.
Given Max Hastings' horror of both beards and the Welsh, I'd love to see his reaction if I strolled into the Reform Club and tried to blag a bottle of Rioja wearing a Wales shirt!
And I bet my Barbour stinks a lot worse that Geraint's after this year's lambing season...