They sit around the whole time, drinking hot chocolate with marshmallows in, toasting their feet on a home-made fire. The whole time.

Andy and I had a lovely time this weekend at Roni Jay's house in Devon. I think it's Devon. Near Newton Abbot - that's Devon, right? We camped, which we both thought was quite brave and it turned out it wasn't horrible at all. The weekend came about because Hazel was inspired to gather us together for a Richard Craze Memorial Camping Weekend. Good old Rich was clearly about, somewhere, making sure it all went smoothly - his three young sons are absolutely charming and delightful and the weather was glorious. Great fun was had by all.

A word, though, on tents. In the olden days, I did the Duke of Edinburgh's award - all of them, even Gold, because of the promise of my character being built. They made us lug the most phenomenally heavy trangias, food, clothes, boots,sleeping bags and tent up and down hills in foul weather. It was horrific, and if my character developed at all it was purely on the neuroses front. Modern tents, it turns out, are light as a feather and a cinch to put up. I bet they existed even when I was doing DofE. Grr.

In other news - you couldn't make up what just happened to me and a SIM card. Suffice to say I pinged it so far across the room I didn't see where it landed and had to spend five valuable minutes hunting for it. It was in a coffee cup.