Monday saw me back at school. Nothing much to report, just the usual 7.00 am to 6.00 pm marathon of paperwork. I believe I single-handedly finished off the Brazilian Rainforest this week. No real highlights, unless you count the minor miracle of persuading the Educational Psychologist to actually turn up and see a child. Wonders never cease.

Meanwhile, Charlotte had a flying lesson on Monday. She flew over Nan’s house in Thurcroft, gave her a wave from the clouds, and then popped in later with Lucas and Suraj to spend the rest of the day. Apparently, they all had a lovely time. Nan’s had a stairlift fitted so she can now glide elegantly upstairs, and she’s also acquired a new flat-screen TV to enjoy the sport in full HD glory.

Jamie shocked us all by deciding to clean the inside of his car. This is historic, it’s never happened before, and likely never will again. I took a photo for posterity. He’d been planning a trip to Mansfield at the weekend to see his girlfriend, but she ditched him, so he stayed home. A freshly cleaned car, wasted. A tragedy.

I drove to Nan’s in South Yorkshire on Friday night and gave the new stairlift a go. It was… underwhelming. Far too slow and nowhere near as thrilling as a quad bike. Clearly, I’m getting old, I even found her shiny new TV confusing. I couldn’t figure out how to switch smoothly from terrestrial to satellite. I miss the days of simply hitting the side of the telly.

That afternoon, I pulled up the onions in her garden and laid them out to dry. A cracking crop this year, it must be something in the South Yorkshire soil. After that, we settled in for a full afternoon of sport on the new telly: rugby, football, cricket… and for once, the good guys actually won (well, the ones we were supporting). Miraculous.

Sarah had a quiet week at school, though there was plenty of homework, which may have contributed to her coming down with tonsillitis on Friday. She spent the weekend stretched out on the sofa, groaning and watching films in classic invalid style. Sue and I joined her for Casino Royale on Sunday night, and we were both pleasantly surprised at how much we enjoyed it. I hadn’t expected to like Daniel Craig’s Bond, but he won me over. Though I still miss the gadgets and the one-liners of the previous films.