I discovered that Daily Mail sub-editor RH was the secret writer of scores of award-winning television dramas. This was on the same day that I overheard him say that he hardly ever watched television.

It was my brother-in-law JS who tipped me off with this news in Stockton. We had all stopped off at the White House on our way home back to Edinburgh after a reunion weekend in Nottingham. It was the first time that I had been back for years. I walked through the remodelled rooms, tracing the old layout. Although it was over thirty years since we lived there, our presence lingered in a display of dolls that included one of ours, and a patchwork cloth made by one of my sisters.

We were invited into the drawing room. The residents were much younger than I expected. Indeed some were just a few years older than me. Just about everyone had a dog. There was even an enormous, sloppy St Bernard. I asked about cats, but learnt that they were banned due to the number of people who are allergic to them.