Mary and I have a sort of pact that we do not buy each other surprise presents; we tend to spend our money on the Grand Sons and, to a lesser degree, our kids who are all in their thirties. Of course now and again one of us will break the pact; last year it was me – Mary had commented on many occasions during the year that she thought the Nintendo DX Brain Training game was really good and I couldn’t resist it. On Christmas Day I gave her a parcel with the game in it followed by one with the Nintendo in it – the look on her face was priceless; a mixture of pleasure and guilt.

I should have known she would pay me back this year – I have been saying that I was going to get a remote control helicopter for the past seven years as we have a reasonably large garden so this year I was presented with two small parcels, each with batteries in, followed by a very large one containing a Falcon 3D model helicopter with a  35½” (65cm) diameter Rotor. My turn to feel guilty but boy, am I going to have fun.