On Sunday, we celebrated my Grandma’s 80th birthday with cake and wine and an incredible amount of family. Also, my Uncle brought his new puppy, which is a standard poodle, and therefore HUGE. My Grandma gave a little, slightly tearful, speech about how glad she was that we were all there, we ate cake and talked about family stuff, and a good time was had by all.

I got really good at answering the question ‘What are you doing at the moment?’ My Aunt (technically, my Dad’s cousin, so my second cousin) said that she was impressed by my ability to avoid a proper job for so long. I said that it’s my only skill, and it’s funny that people won’t pay me to do it. By the end, I was ‘Living in London, doing some freelance writing and looking for something more permanent’ which sounds really good, and not at all like I eat cheese in my pajamas at three in the afternoon. (This almost never happens, but I do have a lot of 10 a.m. baths.)

I’ll be at my Dad’s for the next few days, which is in Dyrham, near Dyrham Park, where there is very little to do and an empty house, so I’m treating it like a writer’s retreat – which means going for walks in the deer park and thinking deep thoughts about things. Don’t worry, I’ll show you the photos.