Today we arrived back home after what feels like months away, but which was really only 15 days. We spent six days in Mallorca, where my lovely inlaws looked after the children, I found myself busily editing my next book whenever trips to places with names like 'Aqualand' came up, and the sun shone without stopping.

After that we went to London and stayed for a few nights in a house belonging to friends who were on holiday, which meant we were able to pretend to be the sort of people who live ...