KA won the argument and she, SM and the children would stay the night in Edinburgh rather than face the long drive back to Hexham. As KA got E and R ready for bed, I rummaged around in the green bathroom for four new toothbrushes. The only ones that I could find were all yellow so I hoped that each member of the family would be able to remember which one belonged to whom. (I also discovered two tiny baby electronic toothbrush attachments in the cupboard. This was very puzzling. I had no idea that such implements existed, and I couldn’t understand how they had come into our possession. Perhaps this discovery was also linked to the strange new arrangement of bathroom fittings in the room? The last time I looked I was pretty sure that the bath was not positioned against the window.)

With the children now tucked up in bed in the spare room, I made a move to put the futon up for KA and SM in the study. Then my work mobile rang in the kitchen. This was most unusual given that it was the weekend.

When I eventually worked out that the call was about an honours project I was furious. I couldn’t believe that a student would have the cheek to ring me on a Saturday night. She seemed to think that because she “knew” my work friend KT (and I must say that I doubted that she was telling the truth) she was entitled to special favours. She wasn’t.