Rag doll and stuffed penguin destroy discipline (Rousse)

S returned home to the White House from yet another bender. I cornered her in the upstairs kitchen and demanded that this outrageous behaviour stop. She eventually agreed to add some discipline to her life, and said that she would start by tidying her bedroom.

Of course these plans came to nothing. Within minutes one of S’s flaky friends came in through the kitchen skylight. The moment her feet touched the lino she transformed herself into a rag doll. S joined in the “fun”, taking on the form of a stuffed penguin. I now had two hopeless cases on my hands.

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Sales rep sings badly for his supper (Rousse)

It was imperative that we raised more money. C and I sat at the table with a sales rep and discussed our strategy. Then C’s mobile rang. The name on the phone’s screen read “Michael Tait”.

While C chatted to Mr Tait, the sales rep decided to make some calls himself. His means of persuading others to part with their money was to sing (badly) down the phone.

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Official: Dorset is not north of Darlington (Rousse)

My cousin B’s sense of direction was terrible. She’d successfully driven the pair of us all the way to Darlington on our journey from Somerset to Scotland. However, when I suggested that we should stop off for a cup of tea a little further north, we ended up in Dorset.

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Storms and vandals in Seaton Carew (Rousse)

Three vandals bleached sections of the Fiat’s paintwork for a laugh. I caught one of them at it and dragged him home to confess his crime to his sister FD.

FD lived with her sons and ancient mother in a newly decorated Victorian house on the beach front at Seaton Carew. I pitied the family on stormy nights in the north sea: how did they ever sleep through that kind of racket?

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Bike transport by plane: how much will it cost? (Rousse)

It was very kind of my Canadian cousins to send me off with the gift of two white bicycles (one complete with trailer shopping basket), but how would I persuade the airline to carry them in the hold, and just how much would it all cost?

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Postman in shorts steals Belle’s heart

As soon as I saw him in his ‘Smart Chav’ label beige shorts, I realised that the postman was the new love of my life.  Excited and blushing, I filled the kettle to make him a cup of tea while my ex boyfriend T invited him to sit at the kitchen table and enjoy a bacon sandwich.

Later, and not for the first time, water streamed down the walls of my bedroom turning it into a grotto.

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Dress alteration with a paperclip (Rousse)

I recruited TM to help me choose my dress for the party. I eventually settled on the sea green Didier D ball gown that I’d recently bought on George Street. The only problem was that the hook and eye on the shoulder strap dug into my flesh. There was no time to sort this out with needle and thread. Instead I used a paperclip.

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A canine sleeping companion (Rousse)

Perhaps SC had lent him to me? How else could I explain why B the wee dog was lying next to me asleep in bed?

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Queen meets her great-great grandmother in holographic form (Rousse)

We all knew that BB had been working on something rather special. I was excited to be the first to discover the output of his secret project.

BB unlocked the massive door to the St Andrew Square house and I followed him in. Inside the vast space was not the computer lab that I expected, but a huge gallery. On plinths at the centre were animated sparkling silver holograms of members of the royal family, dead and living. I walked over to a young Queen Victoria and struck up a conversation, while Queen Elizabeth II looked on, eager to join us. This was the most amazing application of computer technology I had ever seen.

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NHS equipment failure and a biked-themed party (Rousse)

My dermatologist was becoming increasingly frustrated with the radio next to my hospital bed. He’d turn it off, then two minutes later BBC Radio 4 would spring back to life again. I protested that it wasn’t my responsibility. The radio was not mine, but issued by the hospital. We eventually worked out that there were five switches to turn to “off” for any chance of an uninterrupted conversation.

Later that day I saw my dermatologist again. He accepted my invitation to come to our bike-themed party and turned up in tight cycling shorts.

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