One Daughter - 15 now. The last few weeks have brought a new diversion - she has aquired a young man. The game now is to find out about this young man - so that every time she decides to tell me something - I already know ( please note this is a game for two players - Tim and myself - when she tells us things - we act surprised and also note - we stay out of her room). It is a really funny feeling , having a daughter who is dating. My brothers have promised to come round and be intimidating - big lads , my brothers .

As for pets - we were reduced to mice as I'm somewhat allergic to cats, dogs etc. They were fun. We had two male mice - Gandalf and Bilbo. When they were young they kept getting out of their cage and we had to have a net curtain nearby to throw over them as they scurried past. I came home one day to find a very round mouse fast asleep in the food bag. However, when they got older all they did was fight viciously and we had to separate them.

All the best

Julie