With my mother at the wheel, and all three sisters on the back seat with Baby Ted and my panda, we drove along the south coast of England.

‘Is that the Isle of Wight?’ I asked, pointing to a beautiful, deserted island just a couple of miles out to sea. Even as I opened my mouth, I realised the error of my question: the Isle of Wight is both inhabited and heavily populated.

I hoped that we would stop in a small town where all the identical, yet multi-coloured, houses lined up on the main street faced the sea. However, it was clear that parking would be impossible, so we drove away from the shoreline and up the hill for coffee in a farm house.

Afterwards, rather than take the car, we decided to walk down the steps back into the town. My mother was so weak and feeble I more or less carried her the whole way.