My Mum and Dad are with us at the moment for their traditional pre-Christmas visit. They “had” to come this weekend and I said that if they came then they would have to trudge round Plymouth with me because I had appointments.

My first was at the hairdresser at 10am and we found ourselves in Plymouth and parked 40 mins before I needed to be there so we popped into Costa for a coffee and this is my flat white shining in the sunshine at the start of our trip. I must say that the young barista in the store was brilliant – he explained what a flat white was beautifully and it was exactly as he described. Great service Costa.

I started in an independent hairdresser (small business Saturday). Then I went to meet a young man who had arranged to buy some textbooks from me…job done. Next on the list – an appointment with the optician to collect my new varifocal glasses. (They’re proving very challenging but I’m hoping to lose the nauseous feeling and get used to them soon.) Lunch at another small independent business. Finally a trip to another independent business to collect my treat to myself for getting a job and getting my first pay packet as an employee. (You can see what my treat was tomorrow.)

I must say that from this moment until we arrived home after the trip, the whole day was a joy.