MSB was clearly disappointed that the promised scones were not in evidence at our wee tea party. I hadn’t the heart to tell her that this was due to her early arrival (and that TPR and I were still in bed 15 minutes before the appointed time. I had managed to take the red lid off the jar of self-raising flour in readiness for baking after our wee ‘snooze’, but was still in the  bedroom when the doorbell rang).

MSB was also somewhat shocked when I took the mugs of tea out into the street to pitch camp on Bonnington Road, opposite Broughton Primary School, and expected her to sit there on the pavement with me.

‘It’s sunny here’, I explained, ‘And from this distance we can appreciate the different murals on the school wall’. MSB showed no enthusiasm whatsoever for this plan.

When I returned to the house to top up our empty mugs I found a beautiful, brand new, six-foot long planter at the top of our steps. TPR explained that MSB and DB had brought it for us as a present when they first arrived.

Now I began to understand why MSB was so moody. A mug of tea on a cold Edinburgh pavement was hardly fair exchange for such a thoughtful gift.