I left my school friend KC in charge of the mixed selection of beautiful green-striped turtles that were climbing up our side of the bath. This allowed me to drive south to collect my mother from my cousins’ house in the Borders.

There were several members of my family that I did not expect to see at our meeting point. These included my maternal grandmother, in reasonable health despite being 110 years old, wearing a blue dress and sitting happily in a wheelchair.

Most impressive was my cousins’ antique kitchen cupboard. It was as tall as their massive house and, as such, was treated like an entire separate wing of the building.

Before I returned home I weighed myself with SY and CS. SY was (unexpectedly) only 8’7″, and Carol 11’4″. I prayed that I would come in at under 10′.