I’m afraid I have to report two important (in my life anyway) signs of stress returning to my world. They are both types of eczema – one is that my fingertips disappear, with layer after layer of my skin flinging itself away from my fingertips. It’s not only unsightly but it’s also a bit uncomfortable. The other is that I get eczema in my ears, which I discovered a year or so ago is a major contributor to my hearing difficulties. I can hear, well frankly, bugger-all at the moment so I know that’s back too.

When, then, I picked up the phone at 11am this morning to hear a voice screeching at me: why are you there? Why aren’t you at work? I was scared witless thinking that despite the voice sounding as much like my sister as it could, that it might be my boss asking me why I wasn’t at work. I panicked big time. Had I misread my rota? Should I have been the person “on duty” today? No, surely not, I’m sure I’m supposed to work tomorrow, not today.

It was my sister, who’d misunderstood my new working patterns and thought I was working both days every weekend. Thankfully that’s not so. Why was she ringing me when she thought I wasn’t there anyway? Well because she didn’t even think about it until the phone started ringing so when I answered she was surprised. That accounts for her extreme reaction.

All she wanted was a recipe for an easy pudding. I suggested lemon meringue pie – too difficult, I suggested Delia’s prune and almond brownies (utterly gorgeous) – ergh – whe would NEVER eat prunes. When I observed that even our Dad had eaten the “disgusting things” and loved them she still wasn’t convinced. I suggested chocolate mousse – she didn’t have a recipe for chocolate mousse. We discussed the fact that Jamie Oliver has this fantastic, easy recipe for chocolate mousse but she didn’t have the relevant book (it’s the chocolate pots recipe from Return of the Naked Chef).

She wanted this because she was off to a "pot luck supper" and she'd been charged with making the dessert. I suppose I don't know whether I find it more painful that "pot luck suppers" exist - I spend hours making sure that my dinner parties have courses that "go together" or more painful that we've managed to pick up another American idea here. I'm quite happy (of course) for Americans to have their own traditions and cultural things but why do we have to import them? We should NOT embrace school proms - when did that one sneak in? Nor should we get excited over "trick or treating". Can't we think for ourselves anymore on this little island?

So I, like a potty person, spent ten minutes typing the recipe onto an email for her instead of being outside on a glorious, sunny day.

Still, I soon remedied that – immediately after sending the recipe and shutting down my computer, I got into the car with DM for a day out in the sunshine. Perfect.