A couple of weeks back my US relatives visited. They don’t live close, so when the opportunity arises to hang out the chances have to be well and truly leapt for. For me, this meant moving all my midweek appointments, storming it down to Portsmouth in the middle of the night, catching the last ferry of the day to the Isle of Wight, and then heading back to London just 24 hours later. What fools family makes of us all, eh?