I’m writing this on Monday 31st August after some of the most stressful days I can remember. Paraphrasing it will omit tedious detail.

Moving house is known as one of the most stressful things you can do. And I can confirm that this belief is factually correct.

With days to go, our top-end (second hand) cooker decided to break, so we had to find a replacement quickly. A nice South African man living in Cambourne was the eventual answer. Except that, when the gas fitter eventually turned up to fit the cooker, the door didn’t close properly and we were told we needed new hinges. Amazingly we found someone who could supply and fit the hinges - after we left for Denmark. Which meant that Kit (Daisy’s brother) needed to be on hand. Back comes the gas fitter who then tells us it needs a right angled connection pipe that he doesn’t have. So we contact a fail-safe heating engineer who tells us he won’t fit previously enjoyed devices.

Meanwhile, with the Passat stuffed to the brim with boxes, we suddenly can’t find Daisy’s passport. Which was kind of important.

Thinking it might have been in one of the boxes in the car, I began to unpack it, whilst Sarah held back the tears in the kitchen, which was the only room left to finish off and clean.

After considering all worst-case scenarios, I decided to try looking in the new passport wallets. It was then I discovered that Daisy’s passport was next to Sarah’s.

Once our blood pressure had lowered to an acceptable state, we continued to get ready to go.

Kit very kindly offered to clear our fridge and freezer. Oh, and run a line of gloop around the bath. Sealant, I think they call it.

Then, time to set off. We took our final turn out of the gravel drive and trying to forget our over-crammed shed and door sills that hadn’t been finally painted.

The trip to Harwich was boring but it didn’t take long. Our Premier Inn was five minutes from the port and the girl on the desk was very amenable. I was worried about my three bikes being left on the roof of the car overnight. She told me to take them into the room. On the first floor.

Within half an hour we were toasting our trip with a drink in the bar downstairs, just before closing time. Then it was back to our room to spend the night with the bikes and full tea and coffee making facilities.