“It will be covered in the packaging test plan”, I say, hearing the tone of my voice change as I look at the clock. I flick the mute button on my headset and sit back, exasperated, as we sink into another mire of argument.

Eventually we all give in and happily embrace the weekend. For me it hasn’t come a moment too soon. With the windows open all day and the sky high and blue we had to eat outside and Martin had called earlier to arrange a last minute barbecue.

I grab some beers and head down the hill to be met by Richard with a whole new load of school books to read and practice handwriting and maths in (using only a pencil and no biro).

The meal is an amazing feast of salad, bread, pork and beef cooked a la Thai and mackerel, fresh and hot from the coals. Pudding is prepared by Richard and Joanne: marshmallows toasted over the embers and served on bamboo skewers. A few are a little high on the carbon content and one never made it to the table, burning as it was on it’s stick and consigned to the fire below but the ones that are served make a wonderful end to the meal. Hot, melting and all the better for being outdoors.

With darkness comes the candles. Martin offers me one of the communal padded shirts which shuttle between our houses on evenings like this and we settle down to plan the weekend, watch the bats, the airplanes overhead and the stars as they slowly appear.