Tomorrow Vince, the home makeover guru, is coming to plaster and paint the boys' bedroom. It's feeling too easy - i'm going to be at work and so will Ulysseys. The boys haven't yet decided whether it's going to be Grotto blue or Buttercup yellow yet, so no paint is bought yet. The Bionicles still glare from Jeremy's shelves and Grisham and Bryson haven't yet been evicted from Julian's.

Which reminds me: Julian, the eldest has a maths lesson tomorrow morning so he won't be here either. That leaves Johanna the princess who plans to bead a pearly purple necklace, and Jeremy who at eleven cannot be expected to make good cement dough or hold Vince's ladder securely. My urge to panic can go to rest because there will however be my third arm and child minder Jane. She can be counted upon to provide Vince with a steady provision of tea and biscuits.

Maybe when i return home at two in the afternoon, Julian and Jeremy would have agreed on the colour, Vince would have peeled off tired paint, plastered and painted anew, and Jane would have cleaned all the dust and paint droplets off the tiles. Dream on nymph!

Will keep you posted on how the renovations go. . . .

The photo shows the bouganvillae which clambers opposite the boys' cracked and peeling bedroom wall. Probably the better side of the view at the moment.