I was shocked when I thought that the small concrete block at the roadside was our new home. Relieved that it was not, I followed TPR further down the road to a turn-off on the left. A long, single track road that led further into the Lanarkshire countryside stretched out in front of us.

‘It’s up there’, said TPR. ‘I know that you are going to love it.’

The further we walked along the road, the more I doubted TPR’s words. It appeared that the hedges had not been trimmed for years, and in places fallen trees laid across the tarmac. This could not possibly be the main route to the house.

Eventually we reached our destination. It was not a house for one couple, as I had been led to believe. Rather, it was a kind of commune, the members of whom lived in chaos.

We were expected to live in very close proximity with a family of four. The mother was extremely bossy and the eldest son spent his days playing basketball in our shared sitting room. Worst of all, the others forced us to adopt their grocery shopping practice of home delivery from Asda.