Little Madam and Tiny Flirt started their new school this week and it’s been a roaring success. Every day I’ve collected two happy and exhausted children and driven them home amidst excited chatter of what they’d done that day.

I know the paying of school fees is a real strain on the family budget, but it feels so good at the same time, you know? These two kids haven’t been able to do the sort of things that we’d always wanted to do with them: no swimming, no sports, no music, no drama… simply because Little Nutter takes all of our time up in caring for him. So, at long last, they can do these things - a 2.5 hour slot is allocated at school every afternoon for these sorts of activities - and they’re thriving on it.

And I think I am too. I’m getting almost all of my work done at school before I leave to collect the children in the evenings, so I have from 6pm to do home and me things. AND I’ve discovered a very interesting new thing, during my drives into the wilds of North Yorkshire.

Did you know there are loads of farms that have tables at the ends of their drives selling things? Enormous trays of eggs for £2 and monster bags of cooking apples for £1. Bargain! So we’ve been feasting on posh apple pie - you know the sort, with the confectioner’s custard underneath the apple - and still have enough left to make some chutney.

We should have done this years ago!