By rights – and with all things being equal – I should have been flying in from New York today.

That was the plan.

It was my daughter’s 18th birthday at the weekend – I know: 18 years! Where the hell did that go? – and we had always planned to take her to NY for the occasion.

But, we were thwarted by the plague, of course.

And with lockdown restrictions still in place at the weekend, there was little we could do by way of a celebration.

And so, the house was filled with balloons and friends and family took it in turns to come round and see her.

And she had a fancy birthday cake made specially for her: a chocolate cake, covered in chocolate with chocolate on the top and some added chocolate to give it that chocolatey taste.

Fortunately, she likes chocolate.

We made the best of a not-particularly-good situation and she was OK with it.

After all – as she points out – there’s always her 21st.