No 2 SIL telephoned to find out whether I’ll come to Windsor for Christmas, as she’s assessing the bed space in her house. As a less-demanding visitor, I will get the pull-out sofa in the study — among the bookcases and close to the coffee-maker, so my favourite spot.

The Windsor-based branch of the clan are fruitcake eaters and marmalade fans, so I have some work to do before Advent sets in.

The Christmas visit will be a golden opportunity to move several sets of really good children’s books on to the youngest generation, who are just about ready for Narnia and Harry Potter, and the tweens who might like Susan Cooper. That will clear at least two shelves in my library. The Puffin paperbacks that my brothers and I read back in the ‘60s are just too foxed and tattered, so they will probably end up in the recycle bin. After I read them again, of course. It’s time for a refresh of E. Nesbit.