We have the grandson staying with us for a few days, and today I took a day off work so we could go round introducing him to my family.

Though he is only small, it requires enormous resources and some logistical feats to move him from one place to another. By the time we put a pushchair, bouncy chair thing, car seat, nappies, several thousand bottles of milk, change of clothes and everything else into the car there was not enough room to take everyone, so we had to leave Charlie at home.

I think Mariah Carey or Joan Collins travel lighter than the average three-month-old child.

First port of call was Dad in Letchworth. Timing was not great – he was not really in much of a condition to meet his first great-grandchild. Ironically it seems to be an everyday stomach problem which is causing him trouble rather than the cancer, but he still looked worse than he has for a while.

Next we went across to Essex, leaving Dad with a bit of peace and quiet and moving the circus to Mum. Within 10 minutes of us arriving there sister Mary arrived with her three kids so it was a bit of a full house. Fortunately Mum likes being surrounded by lots of family.

Eventually we packed up and came home. Only a couple of visits and about 250 miles driven but at the end of it I felt more tired than if I had actually gone to work.