We are finally ready for our week in the sun and will be reclining on the beach in Skiathos by the time you read this.

This is an especially nice thought now the weather here has cooled off and gone all rainy.

I spent most of my first week off getting things ready and taking advantage of being at home to get various bits and pieces sorted out.

First of these was the cooker, which had emitted a high-pitched tune every time I put the grill on.

At first I quite liked my singing cooker but in the end the noise became so loud it sounded like the Queen Mary was embarking on a voyage every time I tried to grill a chop.

I phoned the company and they sent a nice man round a couple of days later who fixed it in a jiffy.

Then I had to sort out both the dog's insurance and our life insurance, which I did very efficiently over the internet. Modern technology is good sometimes.

Then I helped him indoors build a wall around a flower bed in the back garden. We did this in the rain, which made it a bit more difficult than it might have been, but the end result was good.

I also managed to sort out a few other things, like cleaning out the pond, and after all this was ready to pack.

"Don't you think you've got too much stuff? You're only going for a week," said him indoors watching me try to stuff too much stuff into too small a bag "If I was going I'd only take a pair of shorts and a couple of T-shirts.

"Well, I suppose I don't need all this," I said, looking at the ever- expanding pile on the bed.

There was a lot but I always find it too hard to choose what to take.

It's all right when him indoors is coming away too because we just get him to carry it all but seeing as we were going to have to carry our own luggage this time I realised it would be sensible to download some of it.

"For a start, you don't need all those shoes," he said.

"You always take about a million pairs of shoes and then spend all your time wearing an old pair of flip-flops because they're comfortable."

I had to agree. I do that every time. All my glamorous high heels stay at the bottom of the wardrobe and I live in an old pair of espadrilles.

"And why are you taking about 14 dresses?" he asked next.

"They're to wear at night when we go out," I replied.

"But you can only go out seven times in a week," he said sensibly. And you are allowed to wear the same dress more than once you know."

I agreed and removed seven dresses so I still had a bit of choice.

Next he wanted to know why I needed ten T-shirts and five pairs of shorts for daytime wear.

"In case any of them get dirty," I explained.

However, I did reduce it to two pairs of shorts and five T-shirts.

We went through the rest of the pile, halving most of it, although I put in one pair of high heels just in case I needed to feel glamorous.

By the time we'd finished, it all fitted snugly into a single small holdall.

I had to admit his method of packing resulted in a much lighter bag than mine would have been.

Next, daughter appeared.

Well I guessed it was daughter because the person was hidden under a mountain of clothes, quite possibly everything she possessed, with about ten pairs of shoes dangling from her hands. '

"You don't need all that," I said. "We're only going for a week. Look - this is all I'm taking."