Belle knew that I had been overworking so she invited me to her hospital where I could take a few hours away from my computer. The catch was that I had to do this incognito and in silence. Creeping around the operating theatres really was not my style, and the only way that I could keep my mouth shut in the staff room was to cosy up on a sofa next to Belle with a copy of Take a break.

It was not long before I was drawn back to work. I’d already been fretting about my next conference keynote and my anxiety levels rose even further when I sat under a table at the front of the auditorium listening to first speaker. I concluded that they must have all the time in the world at the Oxford Internet Institute: this guy was delivering his entire speech in verse.

In another attempt to relax I visited my sister J and her family in the beautiful south. There’d been a few more changes to her house: a stone sign to direct walkers off their land and onto the railway path, and a strange contraption that looked like a cross between an upturned bath and an oven had taken the place of the front door. It was now extremely difficult to get into the house and I wondered if our mother would ever be able to stay there again. Somehow I managed to negotiate entry. I then headed straight upstairs to raid J’s wardrobe and came away with a shocking pink denim skirt and a matching mohair bolero cardigan.