It’s about ten days before our friend Peter will be over to stay for the weekend of the Belfast Pride Parade. I’ve stayed with him many times on my jaunts to Bedford in the past year so it will be good to return the hospitality. However, anyone who has been in our flat will know that we have had an sitting room jam packed with boxes—until today.

This lunchtime, our cleaner Tracey and I have spent three hours clearing and putting rubbish out. No one who knows me will be surprised that we have uncovered many more books, so the Health & Safety Officers will be worried about the quantity that are up the stairs… however, until we clear the other boxes there is no room for additional bookcases – watch out Ikea, that might be next week!

So when Andrew gets home from work he should be pleasantly surprised. Now we’re not there yet. We don’t quite have a perfect sitting room or indeed a clear sofa. But… it shouldn’t be that difficult to get there during this week and next.