On the 17th it is the simultaneous birthday of my daughter and myself, so we are at the start of a fairly long period of pre-and-post events. This evening we are off for a meal on the Wessex Belle, which should be fun, then on Friday we have a fairly packed day involving a tour of the Houses of Parliament, a visit backstage to the Royal Opera House and finishing off with a meal in Veeraswamy. Then later I will have some other celebrations with my other sons and their wives, before facing up to wedding anniversary celebrations on 30th.

A quick review: decades ago I booked a box at the Royal Opera house to take my then 4 year old niece to a ballet, because if she got fed up she could move and play a bit without disturbing anyone. It was, without a doubt, amongst the worst seats I have had anywhere. What I had not allowed for was that the point of those boxes was to be seen, not to see, so they face into the theatre, not towards the stage. By squeezing into one corner you could see most of the stage ...