Bruce Springsteen was amongst the dozen or so guests at the highland lodge over Christmas. Bruce and I exchanged a couple of words as I was gathering some of my belongings from the deck as the first stage of packing to return home.

I had become even closer to another celebrity during our week’s stay. One afternoon, this prominent British comedian threw a dandelion head at me as a token of his affection. He had no idea how much this meant to me. I popped it into my pocket to press later.

The other attraction of this holiday venue was the heated fresh water loch. Here I swam in the open air every day, enjoying the warm water with my other swimmer friends. These included my gym pal AF.