I was talking about some early childhood memories to my mother on Saturday. I have very few, most of which I have blogged about here. I told her about a children's party I had been at where the parents had (rather contrary to 2009 Health and Safety advice) started a fire i the living room with wrapping paper, in order to distract from their garden, where Santa Claus was making a getaway on his sledge...

Anyway, I remembered where the house was in the village, and so my mother remembered the host's name. "Oh, Mrs Humphries! She was the woman who told your father he was married to the best dressed woman in Surrey."

"You've never told me that before!"

"I think it was Surrey. Maybe the South East of England."

Well, the remark didn't save my parent's marriage. But normally mum only talks about the bitter divorce and aftermath. Normally? For the last sixty years.

So it's nice to get a glimpse of happier moments at last.