I don’t want you to get the impression I’ve left this to the last minute. Nor that I don’t know my Gameboy from my Gameboy Advanced (note to self don’t say cool to the young salesman in the games shop) but this evening has been late night shopping for presents for Alex.

Toys have certainly moved on since I was a kid. I remember the local toy shop with its selection of toys. Almost at the top of Giffords, a large shop set on the main corner of the town. Giffords stocked everything from washing machines to nails. The hardware section on the ground floor was my favourite. It had what seemed like hundreds of drawers of bits and bobs, the topmost accessed by a ladder on wheels which ran around the store. When my Action Man’s hip became dislocated it was the lady at Giffords who fixed him with a crochet hook inserted in a very private place. I blame that for my distrust of hospitals.

I don’t have a problem buying for Richard or Alex. Ideas seem to leap out. Karen and Elizabeth are easy as well. The person I have a problem with is Joanne. Already a person with defined and refined tastes it’s hard to find the right thing for her.

This year, I think, I will have the same problems with someone else.